7 replies »

1. First, a hearty thank you to Rob Roper and Renee McGuinness for making this survey available to us.

   Please everyone. Take the survey. If you favor School Choice, as I do, say so and explain why. If you favor an alternative form of governance or the status quo, say so and explain why. But at the very least, let your opinion be shared with the Vermont legislature. Rob’s proposed comments are spot on.

   In case you might be interested, this is how I answered the survey:

   “From your experience or observations, what is currently going well in Vermont’s education system?”
   – The Vermont ‘tuitioning’ system, based on parental choice with money following the child, as described in ’16 V.S.A. § 822. School district to maintain public high schools or pay tuition’, works very well and should be expanded to include all Vermont students, as proposed by Rep. Michael Tagliavia in H.89, An act relating to school choice for all Vermont students.

   “From your experience or observations, what is not going well or could be improved?”
   – The quasi-monopoly public school model is failing, academically and financially, by virtually every measure, and should be augmented with School Choice for all Vermont students. School Choice, including homeschool, has a proven track record of success. Student outcomes improve. The cost per student declines. The monopoly status of the system must be eliminated because it’s the only way to facilitate parental and student autonomy while lowering the costs to taxpayers.

   “What factors are most important to the success of our education system? Select the top three.”
   – This question presents a classic false dichotomy. It assumes that only the factors listed are important to all Vermonters – a proven fallacy. No two people will ever agree on what these ‘factors’ are in practice, let alone on which ones are ‘most important’. This proven fact is why the monopolized Vermont education system is failing. One size (even ten sizes) doesn’t fit all. It never has. It never will.

   “Act 73 requires creating larger districts with the goal of increasing student opportunity while controlling costs. What do you see as the biggest barriers or pitfalls to be avoided in moving to larger school districts? Select top 3 concerns.”
   – Again, this question presents yet another classic false dichotomy. My concerns; The decline and loss of parental School Choice and the politicization of school governance in general.

   “What benefits do you think larger districts could bring?”
   – Another false dichotomy. Enabling School Choice and Homeschooling makes the size of a school district virtually irrelevant. The only caveat being that of student transportation. But because school districts aren’t required to provide transportation (with the exception of Special Education students) as it is, transportation is not district-size consideration.

   “How do we maintain or strengthen community voice throughout the district consolidation process and in future larger school districts? Check all that apply.”
   – Who is the ‘royal we’ in this regard? How can ‘parents and their children’ maintain and strengthen community voice? By giving them a voice in the first place. Autonomous, intrinsic, actions prove, over and again, to strengthen communities more than being extrinsically and arbitrarily assigned to a school district, or its one-size-fits-all curricula, no matter how big or small the district may be.

   “How familiar are you with how Vermont currently funds its education systems?”
   – Very Familiar.

   “Do you have any other comments to share?”
   – I hope those who presented this survey to me are sincere in their request for comment, serious about taking the comments at face value and acting upon them with transparency. I’ve served on my local school board and participated in more round-table discussions than I care to remember. But, without question, the most important and popular aspect to Vermont’s publicly subsidized education system is its longstanding School Choice ‘tuitioning’ program. Importantly, the only way for all Vermont parents and their children to have equal access to educational opportunity, is to enable School Choice for all of Vermont’s families.

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   • Re: The video:
     A typical propaganda piece with utopian expectations and not one lick of tangible specificity on how to achieve those ends.

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2. https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!edmv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F570907f2-3b88-4e2f-aaeb-066daebbf123_834x328.png

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3. Do you have any other comments to share?
   Reading and writing should be taught with a phonics based system such as the gold standard for decades – the Orton Gillingham method. Most students will learn with any benign approach but some students need the structure of a phonics based approach. “Whole Language” and now the “Three Cues” system took us away from that approach and have been proven by research and student achievement testing to have failed. Assigning students who are failing to learn to read to Special Education just adds to failure and additional expense. More children will learn to read and write if a return to evidence based reading instruction is adopted for all students. It won’t impede learners who have no difficulty, but will enable dyslexic students to learn life’s most essential skill.

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4. Thank you for sharing, Representative Rob North!

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5. The video right off the bat says Act 73 isn’t about closing schools, but then in the same breath they talk about minimum class sizes. Small rural schools aren’t going to be able to meet those criteria, thus they’ll have to close. They also need to address the schools that are geographically isolated, and border town schools that are closer to towns in the neighboring states than they are to any neighboring town in Vermont.

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6. Another issue we’re facing in our town is the state-wide school calendar. We are a geographically isolated border town who sends their 9-12 students to MA high schools. The mandatory state-wide calendar is not the same calendar as MA. This is a big hassle for families who have children in our town’s elementary school AND MA high schools. In particular, spring break is not the same week. This makes it difficult for families to take vacations, provide for child care and SPED needs and a host of other issues.

   The video also claims that students have more access to opportunity no matter where they live. This is not true for geographically isolated towns. There is no town in VT that can provide more opportunities for our small town school than schools over the border in MA. The task forces MUST take this into consideration and provide waivers for these geographically isolated towns.

   Geographically isolated towns also must be considered when it comes to school choice. Since the state reduced the list of public tuition-paid schools and eliminated any out-of-state schools as eligible for public tuition, our town cannot feasibly send students to any school on the approved list without forcing students to travel unreasonable distances over treacherous roads.

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