The special interests that ruined the system need to be held accountable.
by Rob Roper
The Scott Administration made big news last week when they warned of an unprecedented impending property tax increase for next year of 18.5 percent. Driven by a 12 percent year-over-year increase in public school spending, they anticipate this will add another $650 to the bill of a $250,000 home. FYI, the median price of a home in Vermont in 2022 was $310,000.
Vermont already spends more per pupil than almost every other state in the Union at the official count of $22,953, but the NEA pegged the number at $25,053 in 2022-23, which is the number you get when you simply divide the education budget by the number of students. And what are we getting for all this increased spending year after year? An unmitigated disaster of falling student outcomes, rising classroom violence, and a shockingly arrogant lack of accountability or common sense by public school officials.
Here’s a rundown of some recent stories.
I have written previously about Curt Hier’s ongoing battles with the Slate Valley School Board in which Hier, a school board member himself, is trying to discover the extent of abuse in his district, particularly against students with disabilities, regarding the use of “seclusion and restraint” – euphemisms for locking kids in closets or pinning them to the ground. Rather than joining Hier’s attempts to get to the bottom of this, his fellow school board members joined with school officials to attack Heir, attempted to remove him from the board and block the information he seeks from becoming public.
Good news on this front, Judge Mary Miles Teachout sided with Hier’s public records request stating, “The transparency policy of the (Public Records) Act would be served by making such records available as long as individual privacy of students is protected. Without access to the only government records documenting compliance with its detailed policy on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools, the public has no access to information collected by the government on whether Rule 4500 policy is actually being responsibly implemented (Rutland Herald).” Umm… yeah!
The school pledged to appeal the ruling to keep their compliance (or lack thereof) with the law secret. We hear so often in the debate over school choice in Vermont that public schools are transparent and accountable, whereas independent schools are not. This episode should put the lie to that claim. Public schools are neither transparent nor accountable to the public, and don’t think they should be.
Note: “Seclusion and restraint” abuses are not isolated to Fair Haven. There is currently a bill in the legislature, H.409, to address this statewide problem.
In Morrisville’s Peoples Academy there was recently an incident in which a student was stabbed through the hand by another student who brought a six-inch serrated knife to school. While the details of what actually happened between the two students are disputed, the key beef school officials have is with the parent of the student who was injured for reporting the incident to the police.
According to the News & Citizen, Mindy Marshall, the boy’s mother, “… alleged that Peoples principal Phil Grant told her to keep the incident under wraps as he didn’t want the media reporting on the incident…. Marshall also said that she and other parents found it upsetting that there was no public communication between the school and parents that a stabbing occurred at the school.”
Again, so much for transparency and accountability regarding student safety.
In Hinesburg, a police chase ended on the grounds of the Community School where kindergarteners were outside playing. School officials refused to let the police search the area because they worried the sight of law enforcement officers would scare the children. Later a loaded gun and a bag of what is suspected to be cocaine were found – by students. Likely but unconfirmed they were second graders (WCAX). This is how public school officials interpret “safety first” for our kids.
Similarly, the principal of Burlington High School was compelled to resign after she resorted to pulling a fire alarm in order to break up a fight. Much was made about her judgement in pulling the alarm, but the question remains: what was happening that was so bad that she felt her best option was to resort to such a drastic action? And where were the school security officers? Oh yeah, they were let go because seeing them caused trauma or some such logic.
But despite all this the kids are learning, right? Wrong.
As has been reported, Vermont test scores are dropping significantly and have been for over a decade. A recent deep dive revealed that our public schools have been teaching kids to read the wrong way for over a generation. Along that line comes a story from the Brattleboro Reformer, Low Reading Scores Alarm BFUHS Board, in which the Bellows Falls Union High School principal revealed that half of the freshman class “were reading at a first grade or elementary school level.”
And for these kinds of results – culturally and academically — the people running our public schools want us to pay 18.5 percent more on top of our already exorbitant property tax bills? $25,000 per year per kid isn’t enough?
Clearly money isn’t the problem. It is the way the system is structured and being operated that is the problem.
Did you know that Vermont public schools don’t have to go through any accreditation process to show that they are performing to standards? Our independent schools do. Every five years. And it is an arduous process involving in depth auditing and outside review.
According to the Associated Independent Schools of New England, “The goals of an accreditation through AISNE are quality assurance and continued school improvement. AISNE accreditation is a system of accountability that requires self-reflection, analysis, and planning for the future. Comprehensive in scope, it is based on a set of standards that define the characteristics of independent schools. AISNE accreditation attests to substantial compliance with established qualitative standards, integrity in statements to the public describing the school’s program, school commitment to improvement, and sufficiency of institutional resources.”
In Vermont, if an independent school cannot successfully pass through the accreditation process – again, every five years – it is not allowed to receive public money through the tuitioning system. This is a big reason why you don’t hear stories about kids attending Vermont independent schools not being able to read or are being locked in “blue rooms” because discipline in the classroom is gone.
Public school advocates big line in trying to shut out and shut down independent schools is that they don’t have to do all the things public schools have to do. Fairness! Okay. How about the 2024 legislature passes a law that mandates every Vermont public school must follow the same, rigorous review and accreditation process that independent schools have to pass. That would not only be fair, it would also be of tremendous benefit to our students, families and taxpayers.
But until our public school system demonstrates it is capable of reform, willing to be transparent, can reasonably guarantee the safety of our students, and, you know, is competent to teach them to do things like math and to read, Vermonters should send a loud and clear message: not another dime!
Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. This article reprinted with permission from Behind the Lines: Rob Roper on Vermont Politics, robertroper.substack.com
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Commentary
Oh, but as our school board president has said a number of times, don’t worry about the cost because the state subsidizes homeowners with the homestead property tax adjustment. Talk about being divorced from reality.
Be careful not to bite the hand that feeds you. The homestead property tax adjustment is the only thing protecting Vermont’s middle class from the State education monopoly cartel’s anti-trust infractions.
The problem is uncontrolled education spending and abhorrent academic outcomes. Eliminating the homestead property tax adjustment does nothing to correct this tyranny and will, instead, make it worse for middle class Vermonters.
the homestead property tax adjustment is to hide from the second home owners how badly they are getting screwed over.
It also keeps people from knowing what is going on.
Just recently they passed a ruling, if your house is worth more than $500k, which is an 1100 sq ft ranch in Burlington, you can’t get income adjustment in retirement.
They are doing us no favors what so ever.
Neil: Your understanding of the homestead adjustment is incorrect. First, it’s not based on appraised value, but rather your income. Second, it has nothing to do with spending. Spending is based on what the local electorate approves… most of which, our school boards will tell you, is out of their control. Which is, of course, not entirely true either. And only a primary residence qualifies for the homestead adjustment. Second homes are not included.
The legislature doesn’t WANT to fix the schools. They want to cater to the unions, school boards, teachers, etc. – aka: Buy VOTES. (As if they need any with non-citizens & children now voting, mail-in ballots & drop boxes across the state, & all their zombie dimocrats not knowing what the f*** is going on in Vermont from a governmental standpoint party-line voting them in). Oh yeah, I neglected to mention probable election fraud as well.
Vermont is a failing, deeply corrupted state that is failing to adhere to the US & state Constitutions and is imposing a Marxist-type dictatorial governance upon the people. Perhaps if those purported “leaders” of the supposed “opposition” party did more than denigrate Trump (yes, again) and engaged in stalwart & highly visible media campaigns & challenged unlawful policies/bill through litigation, there would be change. Cannot be accomplished? Well then neither can there be change in VT. And continuing to preach to the choir is just a waste of breath.
Precisely. A virtual state monopoly on education enforced by a property tax is a form of piracy and racketeering that guarantees jobs for teachers & bureaucrats who could not compete in a free market. The very best people can’t function in that environment, and things will only get worse as the bureaucracy expands. The gangsters who depend on that system will just keep demanding more money and power, but performance will continue to decline.
What to do about this tyranny? … that is the question I continue ask.
Your observation that these people are running, or operating within, a tyrannical ‘protection racket’ is a spot-on reflection. That they continue to operate in this way is a mirror image of their personal character, not to mention our failure to demonstrate to them the ultimate demise inherent in their tyranny.
I suppose, as they continue to force their tyranny and harm on us, we will have no choice but to defend ourselves. Our constitution defines our options in that regard, within the rule of law. But when a tyrant is lawless, what other options do the rest of us have?
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”
― C.S. Lewis
What goes around, comes around.
Just create a comprehensive education services free market.
Allow all Vermont parents the option to use the State’s Average Announced Tuition voucher to choose the school they believe best meets their needs. Many Vermont parents already have this option. And there are pending court cases demanding that all parents receive the same constitutional protection.
Not only has School Choice been shown, over and again, to improve academic outcomes, it saves a tremendous amount of money.
For example, if I want to send a student to an alternative school for 8th grade services in my district (the very same district in which half of our BFUHS 9th graders currently can’t read), I qualify for the 2023-2024 Average Announced Tuition voucher of $18,266. It’s an amount more than sufficient for the purpose. And its ten thousand dollars less than Scott’s projected per student annual costs.
What’s not to like? Better academic outcomes. Significantly lower costs and lower taxes. Hello!!!
YEP!!!!. Funding institutions and their ever growing self-serving infrastructure has been a disaster. Fund the learners. Let them do business with teachers they want for curriculum and schooling services they choose.
Hmmmm….let’s think….Act 46 was sold to us as a means to fix all of this! Put into place five or six years ago. Just look at its goals…
(1) provide substantial equity in the quality and variety of educational opportunities statewide; (2) lead students to achieve or exceed the State’s Education Quality Standards….
(3) maximize operational efficiencies through increased flexibility to manage, share, and transfer resources, with a goal of increasing the district-level ratio of students to full-time equivalent staff; (4) promote transparency and accountability; and (5) ARE DELIVERED AT A COST THAT PARENTS, VOTERS, AND TAXPAYERS VALUE.
ARE WE THERE YET?????????? WERE WE SWINDLED?
–
This all started with Act 60 back in 1997. So, how’s it been going?
The cost per student has more than doubled.
Student academic performance has cratered.
Student enrollments have declined 25%.
And the Agency of Education has as many employees as there are students.
some replys take hours and hours to show up, do some vanish?
The only thing I’m certain of is if my property taxes go up 20%, I’m Out Of Here….
If education of our children is the goal, it has been proven, proven, and proven, we are not going to achieve it in our schools. And our government is very happy with that.
Vermont claims to want to help seniors. Instead they enact ever more taxes for ever more wasteful programs and initiatives that hurt seniors. They tax social security. Stop taxing social security. Put a lid on school spending when clearly all we get is ver more students who cannot meet basic competencies in reading, writing, math, and science. Instead we get students who question their sexuality, who are unable to think critically, who are ever more tolerant to totalitarian tactics. I have no children which is too bad. If I did I would home school them. I resent paying ever increasing taxes for useless school programs such as DEI officers etc. The schools are indoctrinating students with progressive left doctrines rather than educating them to be life long learners. As long as this continues I will continue to pay my taxes in protest. I suggest we all do this.
20 percent property tax increase means you need to demand to know where the money is going. First step needs to be to get rid of all DEI and similar stuff. Even Vermonters may start asking questions when they get that tax bill. May actually be an opportunity for Republicans.
So disheartening. Parents (those who cannot afford private schools) trust the state to provide a good education and frankly, the state is failing miserably. How has the system become such a money pit with tax dollars being shoveled into the hole with little transparency, community input or positive results year after year? I’d like to see an audit of the funds currently being spent. How much is actually being spent on the student as compared to the administration? Where is all of this money going? I think that taxpayers are deserving of a comprehensive, line by line explanation before we are made to cough up more money to feed the beast. I for one, want to know EXACTLY how the $25,000 per student is allocated. I cannot believe that it is being spent in a responsible manner when I look at the quality of education Vermont’s children are receiving. Taxpayers need to demand transparency in spending, in budgets, in the reporting of crime in our schools and the qualifications of those spending the funds BEFORE we are asked for another dime. The school administration has a union to fight for them – who protects the tax payer? Why do we not have taxpayer representatives sitting at the table? As such, I’ll be voting “no” on any budgets containing such an increase until taxpayers are given a voice.
As I have always said…
1. Institute competency testing for all teachers at a minimum of every three years. Shouldn’t teachers know the subject(s) they’re teaching inside and out? Oh… that’s too often or too difficult? Huh… Then why isn’t it an overburden to my wife, who has to take a comprehensive CPR test EVERY year, where she has to actually demonstrate competency before she is re-certified?
2. Institute outcome testing. Start with first grade and add a year every year until all of grades 1-12 are covered. Shouldn’t we expect our teachers to actually teach so that students actually learn?
3. Get back to teaching the old way – repetition, reciting tables, spelling, phonics, grammar – all lost these days. The goal should be to turn out students appropriately educated to their age level, not to see whose latest and greatest touchy-feely hare-brained idea can be implemented first. Teach kids to get the right answer in the simplest way possible. Isn’t that what employers are looking for anyway? Teach history not as a jumble of facts, but as a way to develop critical thinking. WHY did something happen the way it did? WHO was involved? WHAT swayed someone’s decision making? WHEN did it happen and what were the stimuli at the time? And for God’s sake, tell the truth!
4. Finally, I have to say it and I hate to say it. We’d all be better off if teachers were subject to an independent psych eval every five years. Or sooner if parent demand warrants it in a particular case. As the surveillance state always says, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t be concerned, right? And sadly, teacher mental health is not a new problem. It was a problem in the 60s and 70s when I was in school.
Would all that work? No doubt. Will it ever happen? Nope, not as long as our teachers are 97% liberals. It’s not easy, folks, but it’s still OUR responsibility as citizens. WE have to create change. Little by little, from the bottom up.
While I agree that there should to be standards and requirements for both teachers and the school system as a whole, I also believe that in some cases the faculty do the best they can. Teachers cannot teach when their classrooms are chaos. The classrooms are chaos because they have students who do not respect them or anyone else. These kids know they don’t have to behave because there are little to no repercussions to their disruptive actions. I’m reminded of the Principal who lost her job for pulling the fire alarm. I don’t know how many students were involved but evidently there were enough for her to panic. She could not defuse or control the situation and was likely in fear for other students and herself. What were her choices? Was she expected to dive into the fracas on her own? Teachers are in a tough spot. They cannot teach kids who don’t respect authority but then they get blamed for being a bad teacher. We also need to bring back parental responsibility, respect and consequences. These kids have had the upper hand and have been treated with kid gloves long enough. Do parents want educated children or do they want to end up supporting their illiterate and unemployable offspring? The system is broken and we all need to wake up. Throwing more money at a failed system is not the answer – I will oppose any higher taxes until the system is held accountable for how funds are being spent, how teachers and teaching practices are evaluated and finally, when parents are held responsible for the behavior of their children.
Bottom line is that we are not getting our money’s worth for what we spend. Throwing money at this problem has not given better results. We have a system where pretty much the only way you can’t graduate from high school is to drop out. Standards and rigor are a joke. Grade inflation, yup. Counselors, principles, superintendents will talk about the high acceptance rate for students wanting to go to college. It’s a sham because colleges are desperate for students because of the continued decline in the number of high school graduates so they have become, except for specialized programs like health care and a few others, pretty much open enrollment meaning you apply, you get in. Of course, the colleges then have to spend more money on programs to try to bring students somewhere near college level which is one of the reasons higher ed costs continue to rise. Ask your local school board what percentage of high school graduates can test at college level for reading and math and you will be appalled.
I was on my local school board for 9 years. I clearly remember my first meeting when I asked “If you had to cut your budget by10%, how would you do it?” I was greeted by incredulous faces and answers that it just wasn’t possible. Having been a dean at one of the VSC, I was used to that kind of scenario and we would find ways to make those changes. I thin the difference between wants and true needs has gotten lost.
What I can’t understand is why voters continue to approve school budgets with double digit increases year after year.
Re: “We have a system where pretty much the only way you can’t graduate from high school is to drop out.”
If only this were true. With half of ALL Vermont public school students failing to meet grade-level proficiencies in reading, writing, math or science, in any grade, nearly 90% graduate anyway.
One cannot exaggerate the educational dystopia we now face.
i opposed act 60. knew we would end where we are now enjoy/////
“ Education, or learning, is not necessarily that routinized curriculum and those classified subjects in textbooks which youths are forced to learn during specified hours while sitting in rows of desks. This type of education now prevailing all over the world is directed against human freedom. State-controlled education, which governments boast of whenever they are able to force it on their youths, is a method of suppressing freedom. It is a compulsory obliteration of a human being’s talent, as well as a coercive directing of a human being’s choices. It is an act of dictatorship destructive of freedom because it deprives people of their free choice, creativity and brilliance. To force a human being to learn according to a set curriculum is a dictatorial act. To impose certain subjects upon people is also a dictatorial act.
State-controlled and standardized education is, in fact, a forced stultification of the masses. All governments which set courses of education in terms of formal curricula and force people to learn those courses coerce their citizens. All methods of education prevailing in the world should be destroyed through a universal cultural revolution that frees the human mind from curricula of fanaticism which dictate a process of deliberate distortion of man’s tastes, conceptual ability and mentality. This does not mean that schools are to be closed and that people should turn their backs on education, as it may seem to superficial readers. On the contrary, it means that society should provide all types of education, giving people the chance to choose freely any subjects they wish to learn. This requires a sufficient number of schools for all types of education. Insufficient numbers of schools restrict human freedom of choice, forcing them to learn only the subjects available, while depriving them of the natural right to choose because of the unavailability of other subjects.
Societies which ban or monopolize knowledge are reactionary societies which are biased towards ignorance and are hostile to freedom. Societies which prohibit the teaching of religion are reactionary societies, biased towards ignorance and hostile to freedom. Societies which monopolize religious education are reactionary societies, biased towards ignorance and hostile to freedom. Equally so are the societies which distort the religions, civilizations and behaviour of others in the process of teaching those subjects. Societies which consider materialistic knowledge taboo are likewise reactionary societies, biased towards ignorance and hostile to freedom. Knowledge is a natural right of every human being of which no one has the right to deprive him or her under any pretext, except in a case where a person does something which deprives him or her of that right. Ignorance will come to an end when everything is presented as it actually is and knowledge about everything is available to each person in the manner that suits him or her. ”
—The Green Book
MG: I hope the paradox of your citation doesn’t escape VDC readers.
This excerpt on Education, curiously, was written by Muammar Gaddafi. While its logic is prescient, its prescribed ‘solution’, Socialism, has been proven to be antithetical to its desired outcome.
This is the ultimate paradox. That those who seek utopia fail to realize that the most efficient path to it is set forth by the precepts of Self-Determination Theory and Free Enterprise.
As the saying goes: ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.’