Editor’s note: This commentary is by Valerie Mullin, of Monkton, who is a Republican candidate for the Vermont House seat representing the Addison 4 district, which includes Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton and Starksboro. She lost a bid for that seat in 2014.
[O]n April 7 I attended a press conference public forum on Act 46 put on by the tri-partisan School Choice Caucus, an organization of legislators who represent or otherwise support school districts that enjoy school choice under Vermont’s 150-year-old “tuitioning” system. This was a truly eye opening experience as to just what a mess Act 46 is, and the chaos and discord it has unleashed on so many of our communities.
One parent who testified, Jason Bernier, of Elmore, explained that he works for a high tech firm that allows him to live pretty much anywhere in the country and work out of his home. He and his family chose to move from Rhode Island to Elmore precisely because Elmore has school choice. Less than a year after making this dramatic move, Elmore lost its school choice in a merger. These are the kinds of families Vermont needs more of, and Act 46 is chasing them away.
Another mother shared a heartbreaking story about how one of her children struggles with dyslexia and needs extra help, yet her other child is a high performer who needs to be challenged in the classroom. School choice allowed her to find the right (and different) environments for each child so that both have an equitable opportunity to thrive.
Decisions in Vermont are best made at the local level. Act 46 is a top-down approach that goes against this principle.
And, while most of the stories highlighted the importance of the diversity of Vermont’s independent school community, which provide appropriate learning environments for kids who were otherwise falling through the cracks in their local public schools, many of those same public schools stand to suffer as the result of Act 46 mergers as well.
David Kelley, who sits on the Hazen Union school board, explained that both his school and nearby public school, Craftsbury Academy (notably, one of the top performing public schools in the state), stand to lose many students, and with them hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of incoming tuitioning dollars, if their sending towns merge with other districts. If this happens, Kelley predicts both public schools will be decimated. Teachers and curriculum will have to be slashed immensely.
Worse, Act 46 will not save money. Get a load of this story from Franklin County! Currently the district of Georgia and Fletcher are choice town, sending their children to a variety of schools in the area. Georgia parents send many to South Burlington, one of the best public schools in the state. But, if these towns merge with Fairfax, they will lose choice and have to send their kids to Fairfax. Here’s the kicker: Fairfax isn’t big enough to handle the new students, so they would have to build a new $28 million building! This makes no sense, neither financially or for the children’s education.
These are just a few of the stories that were told in the two plus hours of testimony.
Here at home, due to Mr. Sharpe’s Act 46, Mt. Abraham will lose approximately $738,000 from our $13 million budget in state funding starting in the year 2018. We cannot make that same amount up in taxes as it will put us over the cost per student threshold, so our taxes would need to rise by $1.476 million, just to keep the same level of programs and teachers.
Decisions in Vermont are best made at the local level. Act 46 is a top-down approach that goes against this principle. It will lead to a larger, less responsive, less efficient bureaucracy making decisions out of Montpelier. Small towns will lose their voices when merged with larger districts. And costs will rise.
“A lot of the conversation around school choice is driven by fear and misinformation,” said Sharpe. I do agree with Mr. Sharpe on one thing, there is conversation due to fear. Fear of what the law he crafted will do to costs, lack of local control and do to the education of students in Vermont’s schools. Misinformed? I think not.
