Vermont Business Magazine Today, Friends of Vermont Public Education (FVPE) announced the filing of two formal ethics complaints against Senators Seth Bongartz and Scott Beck, citing serious concerns about conflicts of interest during the development and passage of H.454, Vermont’s far-reaching education reform bill. Governor Scott is scheduled to sign the measure Tuesday.
The complaints, filed with the Senate Ethics Committee by FVPE board member Geo Honigford, detail how both senators, while serving on the Committee of Conference that shaped the final bill, pushed for provisions that would directly benefit independent schools they are closely connected to.
Senator Seth Bongartz (D-Bennington), Chair of the Senate Education Committee, served on the Burr and Burton Academy board for 20 years and has done paid consulting for Maple Street School. During negotiations, Bongartz fought to set the threshold for public tuition eligibility for independent schools at 25%, a number many observers couldn’t explain. It turns out Maple Street School, one of his clients, has 33% of its students publicly funded. A higher threshold, like the 51% number proposed by the House, would have cut off their public dollars. The lower threshold preserved them.
Senator Scott Beck (R-Caledonia), a current Social Studies teacher at St. Johnsbury Academy, used his role on the H.454 Committee of Conference to advocate for changes that would directly benefit his employer. He pushed for increased funding for Career and Technical Education centers and high schools, including a provision allowing independent schools like St. Johnsbury to set their own tuition. He also worked to remove accountability measures, such as requiring independent schools to meet Education Quality Standards to qualify for additional public funding. St. Johnsbury Academy stands to lose significant taxpayer support under the bill’s new funding formula. Beck’s efforts helped insert carve-outs and funding increases that will cushion that impact and protect the school’s revenue, according to the complaint.
Honigford, who served for more than a decade in school board leadership in Royalton and across Vermont, added that this kind of behavior erodes public trust. “Bongartz has a long track record of speaking about independent schools as ‘we’ and public schools as ‘they,’” he said. “It’s hard to believe that when he got to the table, he suddenly forgot those loyalties and started looking out for the interests of all schools equally.”
FVPE and public school allies are calling on the Senate Ethics Committee to take these complaints seriously and begin a formal review. “This is exactly the kind of case the committee was created to handle,” Honigford said. “Vermonters need to know that legislators are working for the public good, not for private gain.”
Read the full complaints here:
Complaint: Senator Seth Bongartz
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ICyxZ0iPg1ZJQBxR1o9DRBQGVDwwWhgt/view?usp=sharing
Complaint: Senator Scott Beck (PDF)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cmcfYMfHXA8dd75cSWS-mR9ILEArNCgo/view?usp=sharing
Source: 6.30.2025. SOUTH ROYALTON, VT — Friends of Vermont Public Education
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