The Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont

On July 15th, Friends of Vermont Public Education members Greg Hughes and Ken Fredette attended the first meeting of the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont that was created as part of Act 183 (H.887) of the 2023 - 24 legislative session.

Both agreed that the commission makeup represented a broad spectrum of stakeholders, and that chair Meagan Roy did an excellent job of facilitating the meeting, keeping it moving forward at a steady pace even-handedly.

Members of the commission made brief but thoughtful comments on their views of the end game of their work during introductions. Some were clearly focused on education financing - cost containment measures to address rising property taxes. That was balanced by commissioners who, while recognizing the importance of rethinking how we support our schools financially, see continuing to provide high quality educational opportunities for all Vermont students as the paramount issue. These positions are not mutually exclusive, and in fact must move forward in concert for the work of the commission to be fruitful. Ken likens it to engineering and constructing roads: First and foremost, public safety is the primary issue, but always with an eye on the bottom line.

One concern shared by Greg and Ken - members of the steering committee at Friends - is the makeup of the steering committee of this commission, in that it could be seen as lopsided towards those who lean towards financial aspects of our public education system as being the primary concern. Further, the only specific charge to the steering committee is to: "Form a subcommittee to address education finance topics in greater depth." That said, there is also a more open-ended charge that the subcommittee: "May form one or more additional subcommittees as necessary." It is our hope that there will be an adequate balance by those more attuned student outcomes during discussions and development of other potential subcommittees. There is a provision in the charge around finance that: "This subcommittee may include non-Commission members.", and presumably that would apply to other subcommittees. Ken and other members of the public in attendance offered to serve on subcommittees.

Another concern is the timeline for initial recommendations from the Commission. Jeff Francis, currently the Executive Director of the Vermont Superintendents Association, but soon to retire and serving on the Commission as a representative of the Vermont Principals Association, articulated this well. Mr. Francis posited that the charge to: " Write a preliminary findings and recommendations report, including short-term cost containment considerations, for the 2025 legislative session by December 15, 2024." would most certainly place school districts that would then be near to finalizing their FY '26 budgets in an as great, or perhaps greater bind than they found themselves at Town Meeting this year. He said delivering a report six weeks hence would avoid that. Perhaps an ambitious target date, but not unachievable, especially given that it will be understood to be preliminary, to keep the conversation moving.

Acting proactively to promote the Friends' agenda of supporting and promoting our public schools in ways that taxpayers can support, Greg approached Vermont Tax Commissioner Craig Bolio to float an idea about reworking how the Common Level of Appraisal is calculated. While the CLA does not technically change the amount of money needed in the Education Fund to support public education, as mandated in the Vermont Constitution, it can shift where that money comes from to those who are least able to afford it as people of means buy properties here at exorbitant prices. We agree that this is an issue that warrants further consideration, and Commissioner Bolio indicated he was open to such conversations.

Here at Friends we are cautiously optimistic that the work of this commission will result in positive impacts for students and taxpayers in Vermont. We will be a presence at future meetings of the Commission, will keep our members updated, and welcome feedback from all of you.

Enjoy the remainder of summer!