Earth boots: front – Vermont Bus

A weekly summary of the State House

By Maggie Lenz and Nick Sharik on behalf of Atlas’s government questions

Part 1: If it goes as a voucher …

This week, the Scott administration revealed more details about its “Education Transformation Proposal”. At first, blush looks like your run on the mill, every day, without major deals restructuring the entire educational landscape in Vermont.

The plan will consolidate the current 119 districts in five major regional regional and introduce “School Selection Schools” (SCS), where both public and private schools will compete for the same set of public funds. Families would rank their preferred schools, and their main financing of $ 13,200 in taxpayers dollars will follow them to a public or private school. Admission to SCSS will be determined by a lottery system that will leave the educational futures of families (and taxpayer dollars) to a coincidence. Who has a tinge of dystopia to him.

Currently, students in areas without local public schools can use public dollars for training to attend private institutions. The governor’s proposal will expand this version of any student in the country. This caused alarms among stakeholders and has intensified concerns among public education staff. They claim that the plan will divert resources from public schools to private institutions, including some that discriminate against LGBTQ+ students or those with disabilities.

On Friday, Education Secretary ZOI SONDERS demanded during a legislative hearing that this plan is not a voucher system, describing it as a “deliberate ecosystem” designed to balance strong public schools with specialized training opportunities. But many leaders of Education in Vermont have met this week with a healthy dose of distrust. The prevailing sentiment: if he walks as a voucher, talk as a voucher and sends public dollars to private schools as a voucher, this can simply be a voucher. Regardless of branding.

Part 2: The numbers behind the front end

Quick refreshment: In 1997, Brigham’s decision required Vermont to change the way he financed schools, deciding that local property taxes were creating unacceptable inequalities between wealthy and over -cities. Since then, the state has been trying to balance its constitutional mandate for “essential equality of educational opportunities” with local control, where communities are raising and spending their own dollars on education.

The current system of the Vermont system brings together local revenue from state fund ownership tax and relies on higher “students’ weights” to support financing areas with high poverty, rusty and English trainees (ELL) S The administration suggested instead to determine a fundamental amount of $ 13,200 per student. And while some students’ weights will remain for additional needs, they will drop sharply from current levels: 1.03 to 0.75 for disadvantaged students and 2.49 to 1.5 for ELL, causing serious fears that the Vermont vulnerable students can see a far less support.

The administration cites somewhat controversial report from 2024 by Picus Odden & Associates, which claims that Vermont overcomes with $ 400 million and advocates for larger schools, less teachers and more consolidation. “The Picus model does not respond to Vermont’s landscape,” Vermont President Naa Don Tini said last year when the report was issued. “I’m not sure how he can come to conclusions about Vermont’s systems when he knows that the model he uses is not responsible.”

In a recent committee on the future of the hearing of public education, Dr. Pikus was asked by a representative of the Association of School Councils in Vermont, why his report proposes to reduce ELL funding by up to 82 percent, considering an area such as the large population to new American students of Winoski. He admitted that “there is something like a break” between recommendations and local realities, describing ELL needs as “unique for a short period of time.” Many education leaders are opposed to reducing fir and reducing poverty weights disproportionately on communities serving a large number of new Americans, as ELL education requires prolonged support.

Meanwhile, Dr. Tami Kolbe, a chief researcher at American Institutes of Research, has presented a different vision for legislators. This includes a higher amount of funding based on $ 15,500 per student, with more significant weights from the administration, 1.75 for disadvantaged students and 2.33 for ELL.

The proposal of Dr. Kolbe did not ask for the same spotlight as the governor’s plan, but it is a very respected voice in the educational space and legislators listen carefully and invite their backs for more readings. Her proposal will probably get more attention when the session unfolds.

Yes, capital against local government, frame -frame, may feel like a broken recording and tired refrain, but it remains central to understanding the realities that shape all this work. While the debate on the proposal for Scott’s education continues, legislators will be dizzy with navigation in this constant tension. Our educational system is at a huge crossroads of politics, which will change the way we finance, distribute, provide and experience education and through expansion, life in Vermont. The choice made here will create deep pulsations, formation of classrooms, communities and the future of Vermont for years to come.

Secretary of State Sarah Coupeland Hanzas with pages of the State House.

Curiosi: Weekly peeking the strange and intriguing events under the gold dome

Those who collapsed on Thursday morning the storm found quieter than the usual state home, as the schools, business and events in Vermont closed in the face of heavy snowfall. The vibration was a clean snow day. With the exception of a group whose studies were being held in continuous: legislative pages.

Each session is a handful of eighth -graders trading their classrooms for the halls of the State House. They spend a few weeks on delivery of messages (pen type and paper), observing production and maintaining school work, like everyone while sports their green jackets.

This morning, Secretary of State Sarah Coupeland Hanzas spent some time learning about this last group, leading them through the building and offering a lesson in democracy.

“Every time I meet young people, I remind them that democracy is about solving problems too big to deal with one person alone,” she explained. “These students have a seat from the front row of this process in action.”

While the group stopped for a photo, Copeland Hanzas pointed to the Wall of President Calvin Kulidge:

“If the spirit of freedom is to disappear in other parts of the Union and the support of our institutions must disappear, all this can be filled in by the generous shops held by the people of the bold small state of Vermont.”

As the snow enchanted and pressed the world outside, the moment resonated. “It’s my favorite,” she told them. The pages nodded in agreement. It’s not a bad way to spend a snowy day.

Secretary of State Sarah Coupeland Hanzas meets with pages of the State House.

2.8.2025. Atlas government issues

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