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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
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Categories: Education
Way to go Vermont!!! Kinda makes you feel proud, doesn’t it?
…especially when writing that big property tax payment check…makes you wonder just what are you paying for. Because of the VTNEA, you are making a nice contribution to the democrat party to perpetuate the problem.
The fault for Vermont’s abysmal situation of preparing our yoots for a rewarding and fruitful existence is a 5-letter acronym: VTNEA. This teachers’ union OWNS the democrat party here and hence runs the legislature and many state agencies, even within the executive branch. All public-sector unions are on a pox on our society.
The best response to the education mess is to vote! I hear people say “things are so bad” and then say “there’s no point in voting”.
Actually, there is hope this year. More people are deeply concerned about taxes this year than 2 years ago, even though the jump was not as high. Last time I think they had hope that things would turn around. This time they are discouraged about the status quo and they are waking up.
We’re #51!!! We’re #51!!! Gooooo VT!!!!
Prop 4 will only make the situation worse. Vermont’s current “Education Quality Standards” (EQS) require teachers to master DEI instruction and incorporate it into every lesson. Who cares if kids can’t read, at least they will be made to feel bad about being implicitly rascist, white priveledged supremists, even though most of them have very little frame of reference because most Vermont schools are homogenous and those with non-white students do not have a history of students “sytematically” mistreating their classmates. Reading is everything, nothing else matters, but Prop 4 will prevent that common sense standard from being implemented because any attempts to prioritize literacy will be met with the Constitution.
Yep….Bloated and DEAD LAST in tiny little Vermont……fire 1/2 of these people…for openers…then totally deep revue of all VT ED Dept functions…..Start this now.
Seems like the Teacher’s Union is educating the kids, not so-called “certified teachers”. That’s the union’s mentality.
Every administrator (superintendents, principals and assistants) from the schools in Vermont that are not at 50% or more students meeting or exceeding expectations should resign. They are the so-called professionals not meeting our (the taxpayers) expectations. I’m being generous. The threshold should be 70% or more students meeting or exceeding expectations.
All the reason for barre town to keep voting NO!
Demand results!
I’m flabbergasted. What a shocker.
Vermont has been practicing – HOW TO WASTE TAX PAYERS MONEY and profit it us little in numerous ways. The homeless voucher system drained our pockets handily, too. WHY? Do you ever ponder is there a method to this madness? Not for the benefit of WE the people obviously, but then who? or what? To make us dependent, not independent and self directed. It isn’t just Teachers and Administrators that know what’s best for the students, it’s Big Daddy Government dictating what’s best for everyone.
How about a disgruntled group that wants to see Vermonters slip into BIG Government dependence – for Let’s Grow Kids, for homeless needs, and drain the people’s resources to do anything about it, but toss their hands in the air and comply – led by food, housing, and job needs into clustered settlements that will have us all walking to work, growing our food, and living like minions in settings like the major Utah developer displayed down in Strafford, Sharon, and S. Royalton. That’s why Social Emotional Learning is more important to them than academics. Everyone will need to be socially compliant without having a personal sense of direction in life. It’s called Tyranny and Communism.
If you don’t like this picture then PRAY – not just lip service prayers, but prayers that cry out from the depths of your heart. And figure out fast what your candidates really stand for.