State policies and regulations considered in Archbridge’s index include “child-to-staff ratio requirements by age, maximum group sizes by age, required annual training hours for staff, and minimum educational requirements for center directors and lead teachers.”
Beginning in 2027, any individual can contribute up to $1,700 per year to a “Scholarship Granting Organization” (SGO) and receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit.
Reflecting at his Wednesday press conference on recent votes in towns like Calais and Worcester, where voters this week decided by about 2-1 to keep the small local schools open, Scott noted that the results were “not surprising,” despite the “unfortunate” reality of the schools’ situations. He specifically pointed to Calais, which is not anticipating having a kindergarten class next year due to low enrollment, calling it “indicative of the future” for many small Vermont towns.
First published February 16, 2016. Note the similar problems and proposed solutions, 10 years later.
We need strong incentives or disincentives to change the status quo. We need to make the school systems feel a little more financial pressure from the taxpayers.
I have very high property taxes. I don’t like to pay property taxes, but I can afford them. And I know that many owners are income sensitized. So, I would like to dig into that premise a little bit more because we throw it around a lot.”
University of Vermont President Marlene Tromp silent on dorm squalor while she lives with her entire family in ‘free’ campus housing.
State subsidies and regulation made childcare more expensive, less available, and less effective.
When schools shifted to remote learning and later reopened amid ongoing health concerns, attendance became harder to track and harder to maintain.
Bingham was selected as one of only seven finalists from across the state in an election that saw more than 1,000 Vermont fifth-graders cast their ballots. As a Cabinet member, she will serve alongside Vermont’s first-ever Kid Governor, Roslyn Fortin of Highgate, to address critical issues facing the state’s youth.
A new initiative in Bennington County signals a major shift in how Vermont enforces school bus passing laws, but the full legal framework won’t be in place until August 2026.
Scott’s speech was long on the need for change at the school district level, but did not dwell significantly on potential areas to reduce in-school staffing and curricular costs.
But back in Vermont, state policy allows schools to keep two separate records on your child, one of which parents cannot see!
The new law excludes the private Christian school in Quechee and all religious approved independent schools in Vermont from town tuition funding and other public benefits.
Their nominations have been submitted to the academies, which will make final admissions decisions.
The real solution is to reduce current education spending and put in place mechanisms that apply downward pressure on future spending. Many of the components of Act 73 do this, the governance changes are intended to reduce administrative overhead, class size minimums will reduce instructional overhead, and a statewide foundation formula will provide the mechanism for downward pressure on future spending.
When Federal promises meet property tax reality
Last year’s Danville eighth grade class saw 13 out of the 30 students choose another school. In 2023, another mass migration of eighth graders occurred
Hulsen filed an equal pay violation lawsuit in U.S. District Court in November 2020 claiming she was cut loose from her high school job when the position was redefined and a younger man was hired at a substantially higher pay rate for the new post in August 2020.
I’m very grateful for Jarrod Vaillaincourt’s excellent commentary in the Dec 10th issue of the Vermont Daily Chronicle. He exposes efforts by elementary school staff to market a new school-sanctioned “sexuality” club – to elementary school students! Although such conduct by public school educators is beyond revolting, it’s unfortunately not surprising.
Richard Heinberg, a senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute and a prominent voice on global energy trends, will give a public presentation on December 16 examining what he describes as mounting pressures on both the world’s—and Vermont’s—energy systems.
Families in the Plainfield–Marshfield region are voicing alarm over repeated sightings of a registered sex offender on local school property, a situation that has prompted residents to launch a petition aimed at state lawmakers.
Parents have the right to know what is going on with their child at school. That right is not surrendered at the schoolhouse door.
The final vote was 75-480 against the petition, thereby opting to keep 81-studentDanville High School open.
Student Government Association approves club after initial denial and pressure from a club member’s parent.
Parents of independent school students: rattle a few cages and get your school’s leaders to step up.
Governor Phil Scott has been, for some time, the clarion: the State is losing its young people. Flood recovery, increasing school taxes, healthcare costs, illegal drug use, and climate change took center stage. Meanwhile, the workforce kept descending. And institutions of learning have kept closing.
Scott said education taxes already have risen more than 40% over the last five years while student enrollment, performance, and educational opportunities have declined.
In all, a stunning failure and lack of respect for the will of Vermonters who have said that the status quo of our schools – educationally and financially is no longer working and needs dramatic change, very soon.
After hearing from more than 5,000 Vermonters who overwhelmingly said, “keep our local schools and local boards,” the Task Force chose to protect the community connections that make Vermont schools more than just buildings. Just as importantly, they recognized that the research shows no cost savings from consolidation and instead put forward a plan that actually achieves those goals.
What Sam Clemens said about his demise may be true about the plan contained in Act 73.
It’s time to hold the Unions accountable.
According to the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, public school students cannot be forced to use “preferred pronouns” when referring to others who claim to be “transgender.” The Court ruled that doing so is compelled speech and a violation of students’ First Amendment rights.
Gen Z wants straight A’s.
Neither the lengthy time frame nor the details were what either most legislators or Gov. Phil Scott had in mind when they passed the law this spring.
And Republicans have a second chance to avoid disaster.
What was once a proud and local endeavor to cultivate the minds of our youth has become a labyrinth of policy, regulation, and bureaucratic entanglement—so dense and disjointed that even the most earnest reformers find themselves ensnared.
“We face hard choices,” the document continues. “Some people in Vermont are going hungry and going without health care. Others are taking vouchers away from the academies and public schools to fund taxpayer funded ski schools that require parents to ‘top off’ the tuition…”
Barre bones of new report. More details soon!
Imprecise data muddles turf field debate at Champlain Valley Union
Beginning in the 1990s and accelerating with the Common Core State Standards in the 2010s, American education policymakers sought to “modernize” math instruction. The stated goal was reasonable: help students understand why math works, not just how. But the result has been a system so abstract and bureaucratic that many parents — and even teachers — struggle to follow it. Vermont remains part of that experiment, still aligning its math curriculum with Common Core as of 2024 despite years of flat test scores and growing classroom frustration.
Vermont’s EQS is failing miserably at its goal of enabling each student to achieve or exceed the performance standards approved by the State Board of Education. Vermont students are struggling with basic educational concepts, and there is no evidence that EQS is improving academic outcomes. It is unconscionable to continue to promote and spend taxpayers’ money on these programs.
New eligibility requirements for the state’s town tuitioning program under Act 73, which went into effect on July 1, blocks all religious schools from receiving public funds. Mid Vermont Christian school (MVCS) and families affected by the requirements are challenging the new law.
Each candidate developed a campaign platform centered around an important issue facing our state and a three-point plan for how fifth graders can address that issue in their own communities.
Education agency admits a years-long failure as student performance nosedives
The LGBTQ-inclusive program pays students to learn about gender identity and expression, sexual orientation spectrum, contraception, and safe sex practices for the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI’s) and HIV/AIDS:
A federal lawsuit, a First Amendment violation, and sworn allegations of evading public records laws defined the tenure of UVM’s new president and her top aides at Boise State.
The school’s positive impact on the lives of their students and experiences in the larger Deaf community are important stories that will now be preserved for future generations of scholars – and members of the Deaf community wanting to learn more about their history.
During October 14 oral arguments, a Supreme Court justice asked Hassan whether the Burlington elections would impact statewide spending and policy.
Jarrod Vaillancourt said he was inspired to approach the school board again after reading a commentary in VDC by SPEAKVT president Marie Tiemann.
A Paradox in Policy and Politics: While all of Vermont’s New England neighbors have passed Holocaust education mandates, Vermont lawmakers have actively chosen to become the regional outlier.
“We had a lot of volunteers in the streets, down Main Street and Weaver Street, positioning themselves at different blocks to have an additional presence,” Chavarria said. “People were watching on corners, making sure kids were OK.”
Parents can’t exercise their rights if schools never inform them about what is being taught or how their child is being treated.
State officials said results were mostly consistent with the previous year.
The Nancy Wicks Bemis, RN Endowment will provide scholarship assistance for undergraduate and graduate nursing students with financial need who demonstrate potential to become future leaders in the profession. Priority will be given to students who are Vermont residents.
The new center would expand CVCC’s construction trades, electrical, plumbing, and heating programs, with potential additions like business, cybersecurity & IT, diesel mechanics, digital media arts, and human and natural resources programs.
The Committee on the Future of Public Education created by the Legislature has launched its public engagement and input-gathering this week with an online survey to collect feedback from Vermonters regarding education reform and the redistricting.
Vaillancourt argued that despite increased spending, “our children continue to be well below proficiency.”
A student reported Martin was ‘behaving unusually.’
High school freshman talks about community organizing and attending Charlie Kirk memorial in Arizona.
“The old version of a large “group-style” bathroom created far more opportunities for vandalism, vaping, and fights to take place. This renovation allows for student privacy and removes the ability for large groups of students to congregate and misuse the space,” Messier said.
“America, if you look at it, who went to America? It’s not the people who were allset in the country. It’s not the aristocrats, right? It’s the people who had a hard time, who had their back to the wall, but reacted by doing something,” Fruehauf said.
From Vermont to the stars! Muller’s class marks the 24th group of astronaut candidates since NASA introduced the legendary “Mercury Seven” in 1959.
Local leaders, educators, and stakeholders will be present to share insights and respond to community input.
VDC brought our video camera to the AFP-VT forum in Barre last night and left with interviews with TPUSA-VT club founders, Planet Hank, and AFP’s regional director.
“Why would any adult even entertain the idea of putting hormonal boys and girls together in the same room for these intimate and personal moments?” Reighley wrote. “In the not-so-distant past, this was viewed as an absolute taboo.”
The posters and stickers are displayed in the main hallway, near the kindergarten room of the K-8 school.
Cuz the data says more charter schools, flexibility to adapt and incentives to perform.
Urgent request seeks to decouple capital construction debt from per-pupil spending formula
‘We conclude that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that the VPA’s expulsion of Mid Vermont was not neutral because it displayed hostility toward the school’s religious beliefs,” the two federal judges said.
Act 73 formed a statewide redistricting task force, which is holding meetings–one of which could be held at Oxbow next month.
The project, first identified in the 2016 Memphremagog Stormwater Master Plan managed by the Memphremagog Watershed Association, is now known as the Newport City Elementary School Green Schools Initiative. It supports ongoing efforts to meet Lake Memphremagog’s Total Maximum Daily Load requirements for phosphorus reduction and the Tactical Basin Plan workplan for the watershed.
Vermont summers pass quickly, and here we are in another school year.
Women freshmen still outnumber men 60% – 40%, although the gap narrowed by two percent this year. Also, the old Holiday Inn site on Williston Road is now student housing.
“We need to bring in community voice early, before there is a push. Too often, boards have made a decision and then enlisted the community,” Castle said.
Will he opt Vermont in to Big Beautiful Bill’s tax credit/scholarship program?
The camp, led by seasoned experts in EMSO, Cyber Operations, Electromagnetic Warfare (EW), and Information Operations (IO), offered an intensive three-day curriculum.
SPEAK VT President Marie Tiemann added that national developments raise questions for Vermont’s Agency of Education: whether it will respect parents’ right to opt out of controversial classroom material, and whether it will protect female athletes under Title IX.
Since 2010 Vermont has consolidated from 271 school districts down to the current 119. Act 73 contemplates further consolidation down to 10-20 regional school boards. At the same time, spending has accelerated to the point that Vermont now spends 79% more than the national average and outcomes have been declining since this latest consolidation effort. Yet Vermont students now rank below average for performance.
Act 73 may have redrawn the districts. But the fate of Vermont’s small schools will be decided locally—and likely soon. Act 168 gives communities a legal path to protect what they value. But the state won’t do it for them.
The traveling exhibit provides a rare and vivid perspective of military service through the eyes of Marines who have served in combat.
Happened during PCB removal project
Taxpayers and students are being ripped off, and no one is being held accountable.
Vermont educators were teaching the historical record—while their union’s national leadership was busy diluting it.
A school board member who also resigned said, I also must protest the significant weight the board majority has placed on narratives about the superintendent promoted by the SBEA. ‘
Over the past decade, we’ve grown ever more concerned about dubious strains of social-justice advocacy infiltrating medicine. Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, doctors’ pursuit of social reform coalesced, almost overnight, into a mission.
These states are calling this freeze unconstitutional, unlawful and an arbitrary decision.
This move from local to regional control is supposed to be more streamlined and efficient. But let’s think about this…
A growing discrepancy over content standards
What schools must disclose in 2025 (and why Vermont isn’t all there yet)
The crisis facing Vermont’s education had its genesis, not 30 years ago but 50-plus years ago.
Tromp comes to UVM after serving six years as president of Boise State University. The UVM Board of Trustees announced her selection on March 20, 2025, following a search that examined over 100 candidates.
Families have until Monday to lock in funding for independent schools
Republicans may have just been tricked into setting themselves up for defeat in 2026.
Vermont lawmakers voted Monday to ban smartphones and other electronic devices used by students during the school day. The goal is to improve academic performance as well as battle a disturbing rise in the rates of depression and anxiety among young people in the state.
Can the Vermont House and Senate agree this week on tuition for independent schools?
In order for districts to adopt the new foundation formula, some will need to make dramatic cuts (over $10,000 per student) and others will see massive tax increases (up to $6,000 per student).
I’m worried that the Vermont Legislature is pulling all-nighter after all-nighter, and in a year when they look back, they will regret the very urgency compelling them forward.
Four months in, Vermont’s budget Is balanced—but the real fight might just Be delayed
A House Education Committee member this morning told VDC that the H.454 Conference Committee is taking seriously Gov. Phil Scott’s concerns about affordability and implementation timeline in the current House/Senate versions of this session’s landmark legislation: transformation of Vermont’s public education financing and governance.
