A $1.9 million cut to a program that helps prison inmates earn a high school diploma has sparked concerns from Vermonters outside and inside the Statehouse.
At a House Corrections and Institutions Committee meeting Tuesday, three members launched a subcommittee to reach out to other legislators about the proposed cuts to the Community High School of Vermont.
The administration’s proposed budget includes a $1.9 million cut to the program in FY 2016. The result would reduce staff to 27 positions, just over half of the 51 positions approved in the 2015 budget.
The administration cites a decline in enrollment in the program as a reason for the cuts. In FY 2014, the school awarded 41 diplomas — a steep decline from the 148 diplomas awarded in FY 2007. CHSVT is an accredited high school run by the Department of Corrections to “assist students in their academic, social and vocational successes,” according to its website.
“Where I sit, when I was asked to make a budget reduction, to be honest with you, to pick the thing that represents the least liability to the state, this was it,” Andy Pallito, commissioner of the Department of Corrections, told the House Corrections and Institutions Committee on Tuesday.
Pallito said there is a decline in the number of young people in prisons and there are other alternative high school programs in the state that could help pick up the slack.
If the department doesn’t cut the high school, it could mean cutting sex offender programs, he said.
The Community High School of Vermont currently operates in all of Vermont’s prisons, as well as almost a dozen community sites. Under the proposal, all of the community sites would be eliminated, as would the programs in three prisons.
“We’re not talking about elimination of the high school, just bringing it down to a few select areas,” Pallito said.
But the proposed cuts strike many members of the House committee as troublesome. While acknowledging that this is a difficult budget year, the committee aired concerns that the cuts will take an unintended toll on other areas of the budget.
In addition to high school degrees, the Community High School offers trade and industry training. The program awarded 333 certificates in FY 2014.
Though there are programs outside the prison system that could offer services to fill in the gap, attendance rates are likely to go down.
“Maybe it’s not our job to help with awkwardness, but it is our job to help with recidivism,” said Rep. Joan Lenes, D-Shelburne.
“I don’t believe that if we get rid of our programs in the prison area and send them out that they will ever show up,” said Rep. Lynn Batchelor, R-Derby Line.
The governor’s proposal will travel across many committee tables over the next several weeks. The House Education Committee has taken testimony on it already, as has House Appropriations.
The three members of the subcommittee from House Corrections and Institutions will reach out to lawmakers in both other committees to collaborate on the issue.
Outside the Statehouse
Concern about the cuts to the Community High School of Vermont stood out at a joint House and Senate Appropriations Committee public hearing Monday evening.
Held over Vermont Interactive Technologies, lawmakers heard from residents across the state on the proposed FY2016 budget cuts, with calls to preserve funding for mental health services and to avoid cutting public safety answering points for 911 calls.
The cuts to the Community High School budget emerged as a recurring theme, drawing testimony from a wide range of Vermonters — from a faith-based organization in Chittenden County, to a teacher with the school in Lyndonville.
“I’m not kidding when I say I would send my own children to this school,” Sean Dobbin, the teacher, told lawmakers.
The quantity of comments about the cuts to the school resonated with Sen. Alice Nitka, D-Windsor, she said Tuesday.
“You could see from the commitment of the teachers what they do to get to these people,” Nitka said.
