By Guy Page

Vermont ranks No. 49 overall in education freedom, according to the annual state-ranking ‘report card’ published by the Heritage Foundation. The Green Mountain State also ranks dead last in return on investment and civic education.

The conservative think tank did, however, find something to praise about Vermont’s education system. It recognizes Vermont’s use of federal waivers to better spend some small pots of federal money. Vermont expects to receive about $24 million in federal Title education funding in FY26. The state Agency of Education may set aside about $1 million for teacher training, contracted support and salaries. 

Normally, strict federal rules limit which educators can take part in training paid for by each Title program. But a federal waiver would give the Agency more flexibility to combine those funds. The Agency plans to use that flexibility to expand teacher and administrator training through Read Vermont, Count on Vermont and Everyday Counts; allow educators in different roles and settings to train together; avoid duplicating training already offered by school districts; and reduce paperwork required to track which federal program pays for each participant.

Other than that bright spot of sunshine, it’s all cloudy-to-stormy:

27th in education choice, down one spot from 2025. Vermont does fairly well in empowering families to choose among private schools in areas that lack district schools, but could do more to expand education choice. Vermont could improve its ranking by enacting a K–12 education savings account (ESA) policy, expanding eligibility for and boosting participation in its existing private education choice policy, enacting a charter school policy, and removing excessive regulations on homeschooling families.

47th in academic transparency. Vermont lawmakers have not adopted proposals to increase academic transparency, create a parental bill of rights, or reject the application of critical race theory in schools, Heritage said. 

36th in teacher freedom. Although 32 percent of teachers made their way to the K–12 classroom through alternative certification programs, bypassing university-based colleges of education, the Green Mountain State does not have full reciprocity of teacher licensure with other states. 

Educators in Vermont are required to pass the Praxis test, a teacher-certification exam administered by the Educational Testing Service. There is little evidence that this assessment predicts teacher quality or effectiveness. No school district has more than 15,000 students, so none is recorded as employing a “chief diversity officer.” 

Heritage advised that Vermont can improve its teacher freedom score by increasing the number of aspiring teachers that enter the K–12 classroom through alternative certification programs, allowing full reciprocity of teacher licensure or by eliminating teacher certification requirements altogether, and by eliminating the Praxis test mandate.

Dead last — 51st — in return on investment (ROI) for education spending. Vermont spends the third-most per pupil among states—$25,478 in cost-of-living-adjusted terms annually. Vermont ranks 26th and is tied with Rhode Island and Florida in its combined fourth-grade and eighth-grade math and reading average NAEP score. 

The Green Mountain State employs 1.69 teachers for every non-teacher in its public schools. Vermont’s unfunded teacher pension liability represents 6.9 percent of its state GDP. Vermont can improve its ROI ranking by lowering per-pupil spending, improving academic outcomes on the NAEP, stopping growth in non-teaching staff, and addressing its unfunded teacher pension liabilities, Heritage claims.

51st in civic education for the second year in a row. Vermont does not require high school students to take a course in civics, nor are they required to pass a civics or citizenship test to graduate. 

Vermont has a below-average number of classical education schools per capita. The Classic Learning Test (CLT) is not yet used for admissions purposes at state universities. The CLT is a college-entrance exam administered by Classic Learning Initiatives with an emphasis on classic texts, grammar, and quantitative reasoning. Expanding test choice beyond the SAT and ACT is essential to restoring merit in higher education admissions.

For more information, see the Education Freedom Report Card