Rep. Laura Sibilia introduces legislation intentionally opposed to her constituents’ interests.
by Rob Roper
On January 10, Rep. Laura Sibilia (I-Dover) introduced H.634 – An act relating to school closures and the designation of a public school to serve as the public school of the district. It is another salvo against Vermont’s 150-year-old school choice system, “tuitioning,” and the independent schools that thrive – along with their students – as a result of this highly popular and effective program. The bill is not remarkable as the VTNEA and their allies (like Sibilia) are doing all they can while enjoying supermajority, veto-proof power to eliminate any competition for the public school monopoly – and plunder the spoils of the vanquished. What is more remarkable is Sibilia’s explanations for why she is submitting this bill.
At one point in her testimony she says, “I’m very nervous. I have seen within my district, around the state, rural communities that are in stress contemplating, we’re going to shut down [the failing local public school] and just give our kids choice.”
Well, if that’s what the voters in your district want, why wouldn’t you support the wishes of the people who elected you? And why wouldn’t families want the ability to send their kids to the best school around, public or independent, that fits their child’s and their family’s needs? Not only does this practice lead to better student outcomes, parents being more involved in their kids’ education, and generally more satisfaction with a school, it also increases the property values in the communities that have it.
Sibilia should know this because, as she says, “I represent both choice towns and non-choice towns in my district. And my pledge to my choice towns when I ran was, I will defend what you have.” So much for campaign pledges, as this bill intends to do away with that choice by forcing those districts to designate public schools that the kids would be forced to go to, eliminating options such as Burr & Burton Academy, the Long Trail School – not for nothing, two of the top performing schools in the state – as well as other independent schools in the region.
These are schools Sibilia acknowledges her constituents are “really happy to send their students to.” But, she wants to kill that happiness and force the kids to go to schools the parents would not be really happy to send them to. Why?
Sibila calls the independent schools “aggressive,” whatever that means in this context. I think it means not rolling over to do what she is telling them is best for them, their students and the communities they serve. And she is using this bill to punish the Academies because, she is “extremely [emphasis in the original] disappointed that they have not come to the table [and accept designation]… “which I have districts that will not. They refuse.” For good reason. Let’s hope they continue to stand up to this bully.
Now, the spin Sibilia is trying to put on her position is that expanded school choice would “leave rural communities behind. “We simply don’t have the ability to do that with the number of buildings, with the terrain, with the transportation, with the dollars…. So, I will never support it.” Which begs the question, has the woman ever been to the Northeast Kingdom?
The NEK is the most rural region of our state, with some of the most challenging terrain. It also has near universal school choice, in many parts full school choice from K through 12. They have figured out the transportation. They spend on average less money per student and get better than average outcomes. Parents can choose schools like St. Johnsbury Academy – a top school in the state – Lyndon Institute, Thaddeus Stevens, Riverside, as well as public school options in Vermont and New Hampshire. It works! It works great.
Forcing tuitioning districts to designate public schools creates an issue even the House Education Committee Chair, Peter Conlon (D-Cornwall), certainly no friend of school choice, called out. “If the issue is geography, one could foresee a small high school closing, and the nearest high school is one of the four academies, and this would remove that as an option. And, I guess, some might say that doesn’t seem logical. [It’s not.] How would you respond to that?”
She gave a non-answer, but a revealing one. “This is an extraordinarily challenging opportunity, and if we can agree on what the problem is that we want to solve, and we can all come together we can solve it…. Again, I point to where are the academies? The academies are driving toward market-based solutions. And that doesn’t work for me.”
So that’s the problem she wants to solve: Letting her constituents decide what’s best for themselves and their families doesn’t work for her. She opposes a proven effective model that many of her constituents have and more want because under that model she doesn’t get the control – people do. That doesn’t work for her, and sadly it doesn’t work for most of the lawmakers in that building.
Conlon said he looks forward to discussing the bill in his committee further.
Rob Roper is a freelance writer with 20 years of experience in Vermont politics including three years service as chair of the Vermont Republican Party and nine years as President of the Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont’s free market think tank.
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Categories: Commentary, Legislation
rept. sibilia/// why does searsburg have 50,000.00 dollars in back due taxes///ops it must be the education tax no body can afford to pay///
Funny, I thought you ran for the legislature to represent your district and not for your personal agenda, but what do I know.
Any, and I mean any, elected person to any office that will not represent their constitiuents’ wishes should resign at once if they have any integrity at all. Sibilia has none.
Those that were gullible enough to elect her need to be given better instruction on their obligation to investigate the candidate. Do not vote on party lines if the candidate is nuts.
Please understand, Laura Sibila, and most other Vermont legislators are at the beck and call of the special interest groups who control their campaign funding. It’s cronyism in spades. And, unfortunately, the few Republicans in the legislature are either impotent or complicit.
The antidote to H.634 is H.405. H.405 is an extraordinary School Choice bill that was proposed a year ago. It’s been sitting on the shelves of the House Education Committee since then, and even its sponsors have given up on it – I suspect by design. Even the Vermont Independent Schools Association appears to be complicit in this attack on School Choice. They are, apparently, content to take what few crumbs remain for them, keeping the tuition they charge as high as the State mandated ‘designation’ distinction allows. They go along to get along. In fact, many independent school administrators I speak to don’t favor expanding School Choice because they too will have to be more competitive – God forbid.
The public-school monopoly, and complicit independent schools, have become a classic racket, circumventing every anti-trust law prohibiting anti-competitive agreements and unilateral conduct that monopolizes or attempts to monopolize its relevant market.
It appears, because of Vermont’s corrupt super-majority legislature, that our only recourse is through the courts. Contact the ‘Alliance Defending Freedom’, the ‘Institute for Justice’, the ‘Liberty Justice Center’, ‘Parents Defending Education’, the ‘Liberty Counsel’, and other similar conservative legal support organizations.
And I know there are already legal actions against this tyranny being taken in Vermont as we speak. But discretion is the better part of valor. I leave it to those folks to identify themselves here on VDC for all of our benefits.
And there is another tack that can be taken, although I hesitate to mention it specifically here for fear that Sibila and the other legislative tyrants will seek to eliminate it too. Suffice it to say, your local school boards still have significant authority in this regard. And it’s easier to elect a sympathetic slate of school board members than it is to dislodge our legislative parasites.
But make no mistake, Rob Roper is spot on with this caution. Vermonters are spending the highest education costs in the world – yes, ‘in the world’. Only half of Vermont’s graduating seniors meet minimum grade level standards in reading, writing, math, or science. The nonsense promoted in our public schools has led to the highest drug use and suicide in Vermont’s history. Our young people are leaving the State in droves. Vermont’s public-school monopoly has become nothing short of an existential threat to our survival. It is people like Laura Sibila who are leading this Marxist dystopia. They must be stopped. Our children’s future really is at stake.
I agree wholeheartedly. H-634 is simply another scheme to prop up our (by and large) failing public school system, while at the same time placating the powerful education unions..
There is no way, no WAY, this bill, if passed, would stand up to Constitutional scrutiny. As I’ve said many times, we need to use lawfare just like the demonrats do; only difference in our case being that we’re actually backed by the Constitution. At least for now.
ms. sibilia has a penchant for representing her donor class, not her constituents.
She was vocal during last year’s “clean heat standard” or “affordable heat act” debate- and certainly not on the side of constituents. sibilia has shown many times that she does not choose to follow Vermont’s Constitution, nor her oath/affirmation of office. perhaps she labels herself as a ‘progressive’, in reality she seems a true marxist and favors totalitarianism- again seemingly to to the benefit of the donor/elitist class. It should not surprise anyone that she is advocating exactly as written in alinsky’s rules for radicals.
I always feel the need to take a decontamination shower after interacting with her.
Installed, belligerent, occupiers = banana republic. What’s in her wallet and portfolio and where/who did it come from?
Cloward-Piven Strategy
“The enemy is already here”. – Dan Bongino
Seems to me one way to make the public schools more desirable is to stop obsessing about the latest “equity” fads and start educating kids.
well neighbors…had enough yet?
If this were any other business, they would call it “racketeering”.