by Austin Davis, Director of Government Affairs, Lake Champlain Chamber

Catch up quick: Last legislative session, the Legislature put together this commission in response to the massive spike in property taxes the legislature was passing as a way to allow those who work in the education space to deliver an interim report ahead of this session and a larger report ahead of the next. 

Hold Up, Pencils down, the fire alarm was pulled… If a voter backlash to increased education property taxes had not happened, then time would be a luxury afforded to the Commission. Alas, the erosion of the supermajorities means the Legislature will undoubtedly take big swings at this mandate from voters.  

Underwhelming Report: The report, delivered late to the Legislature, outlines the challenges and trends facing Vermont’s education system but offers no actionable recommendations for this session.

• Because many of the stakeholders at the table advocated restricting the Commission to only those working as superintendents, principals, educators, and on school boards, one would think that they would already have a solid grasp on the issues in the Vermont education space and would be coming to the table with more ironed-out solutions.

Appeal for inclusion? A redundant request

• The Commission is concerned that the electoral repercussions will mean the Legislature will move on without them, and they appealed to legislators to include them in their legislative process. 
• However, the existence or not of such a Commission makes no impact on the ability of those on the Commission to participate;
  • Every commission member is representative of Associations with very active lobbyists, except for the two Chairs of Committees of Jurisdiction and two members of the administration who participate in the legislative process on a day-in-day-out basis. 

What value does the Commission have? Most everyone at the table had a hand in excluding outside perspectives, from stakeholders such as employers and businesses, from having a seat on the Commission.

• This was an early and frequent criticism because those who do this work know when you control the process, you control the policy outcome;
• However, these stakeholders could not control the politics, and that has rendered the commission process potentially superfluous. 

What’s Next? Commission members made clear that they don’t want to work in cross-purpose to the Legislature, however, they feel they still have a role to play. 

• For now, they’ll watch and wait for that purpose to percolate. 

Republished from Lake Champlain Chamber Advocacy Update, January 10 2025.