Non-profit seeking to grow VT’s middle class releases proposal to address education reform.
Vermont Business Magazine On Friday, Campaign for Vermont Prosperity (CFV) released a detailed policy proposal for addressing the state's education spending crisis. Interim CFV Executive Director, Ben Kinsley, noted that he had sent an email to legislators announcing the proposal and telling them that "in the current system there are roughly 2 districts for every SU - they are not being leveraged properly for their potential to achieve scale."
CFV proposes to consolidate Vermont’s 52 Supervisory Unions (SUs) around the 17 Career and Technical Education Regions. Since many services are already provided by the SU, this should gain some efficiencies of scale while still retaining community control of schools. The organization also believes that this move will strengthen post-secondary opportunities for students by fixing long-standing funding challenges for Career and Technical Education Centers. Other recommendations in their proposal would renew focus on student outcomes and advance a foundation formula that looks similar to the Governor's.
"As a former Deputy Secretary of Education, there are a lot of great recommendations in this report," said CFV President Pat McDonald. "I am so excited that our Advisory Council worked with us to sort through all the options and arrive at something that will work for Vermonters."
Campaign for Vermont has been involved in education reform since 2014 when they released a report examining the cost-drivers in the education system. Their work indicated that Act 46 would be ineffective at controlling costs. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics does show that spending has accelerated since the implementation of Act 46.
"Our largest concern with the five-district model," said Kinsley, "is that if we move the responsibility for a school many miles away, we risk severing the connection between a school and their community." Vermont’s rural schools often serve as de-facto community centers and are frequently highly valued by local voters.
The CFV proposal would retain local school boards and their community connections and empower them to work more closely with principals to focus on student outcomes. Most administrative functions already reside at the SU level, but the proposal recommends looking for any remaining services that could benefit from the newfound scale.
"Taken all-together," Kinsley stated, "this proposal creates a new accountability framework that couples structural governance reforms with funding reforms that will set our students up for success while also mitigating spending increases that have outpaced taxpayers ability to pay."
The full policy proposal can be found at CampaignForVermont.org.
CFV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization comprised of over 20,000 Vermonters and dedicated to the vision of a more prosperous Vermont and growing middle class. They seek to accomplish these goals by reconnecting Vermonters to their government and advocating for more transparent and accountable policymaking.
Campaign for Vermont
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