Editor’s note: Vtdigger.org’s intern Steve Cormier wrote this story. Video clips follow.
Vermont’s five Democratic candidates for governor presented their views on education at a forum held last night at the University of Vermont.
In spite of the venue – the state’s largest higher education institution — and a press conference earlier in the day regarding the survival of the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, which may close if an Obama administration plan to consolidate federal loan programs goes through – they focused their attention on early childhood education.
This was the second appearance for the candidates in as many days. Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, who is running on the Republican gubernatorial ticket, didn’t attend the event.
Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz, Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin, State Sens. Susan Bartlett and Douglas Racine and former State Sen. Matt Dunne spoke before a crowd of more than 200 parents, students and academics at the Davis Center.
The five candidates were there to answer one question from former longtime Associated Press journalist and moderator Chris Graff: As a candidate for governor, what issues do you identify as most important in order to insure the quality of education for all Vermont students?
Each candidate was given 10 minutes to respond, and they soon agreed to focus on early education. They each drew a correlation between academic success and the state’s long-term economic future.
Shumlin said children who miss out on early education are more likely to become non-violent offenders later in life. It costs up to $70,000 a year to incarcerate inmates in Vermont, he said.
“Ninety-seven percent of (non-violent offenders) had difficulty learning how to read,” Shumlin said.
Racine agreed that preschool is crucial, and he talked about the problem childhood poverty presents to an individual’s entire education.
“The fact of the matter is that a child starting kindergarten today, if he or she is coming out of poverty, is starting out behind,” said Racine. “They are more likely not to graduate and they are more likely to become statistics.”
Markowitz said one of the biggest problems facing Vermont is getting 20 percent of students who end up dropping out of school reinvested into education and society.
“We need each one of our children graduating with a career or college,” Markowitz said. She said college isn’t for everyone, but the state needs to ensure everyone has an opportunity to work.
Bartlett said that Vermont spends nearly $14,000 on each K-12 student per year – one of the highest ratios in the nation – and that the state should expect more for its money.
“Do we get the kind of results we should get for that kind of investment?” asked Bartlett. “I think we can do better.”
Bartlett said K-12 education is the biggest business in each community and each district should have a professional business manager to handle school accounts.
Dunne agreed that Vermonters must receive the highest returns on their investments in education.
“There is nothing more important to a quality education than an excellent teacher,” said Dunne.
All five candidates agreed that teachers and communities need to work together to save money, and they presented a unified front against what Racine called an “us-versus-them mentality that’s developed between state government and our local school districts.”
How the candidates proposed achieving those savings revealed some differences. While Shumlin and Bartlett would like to help school districts consolidate – “We have 290 districts – we could do with a little fewer,” she said – Racine said consolidation won’t help much.
Dunne, an executive at Google, sees technology as a key solution; Shumlin proposed laptop computers for all students between grades 6 and 8; and Markowitz emphasized the need to help classrooms wire up. She told a story about one classroom that computers but only two power outlets: “So how is that going to work?” she asked.
