State officials and education leaders said Tuesday that discussions will continue on revisions to address concerns about what the rules would do.
Members of the board traveled to Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester on Monday for the second hearing, following one in St. Johnsbury on Dec. 6 that also lasted three hours.
About 120 people signed up to speak Monday, and most did. Many others submitted written statements instead as the session continued and the overflow crowd estimated at more than 800 in the gymnasium began to thin. All but a handful of speakers were there to denounce the proposed rule changes.
“This is a dangerous thing. This does not make sense,” one of the final speakers told board members, echoing numerous other residents, local officials, private school faculty members, administrators, and current and former students.
They primarily focused on what they see as a threat to school choice in the board’s attempt to make private schools that receive public tuition funding more accountable for meeting requirements that public schools must meet. Those include not discriminating — in their admissions and the services they provide — against students with special needs and operating in an open and fiscally responsible manner.
“This is a community that cares deeply about education, as you can see,” Burr and Burton Academy Headmaster Mark Tashjian told board members at the start of the hearing.
He and other officials from private schools have been meeting with a subcommittee of the state board in an effort to revise language in the proposed changes to allay fears.
Tashjian said Tuesday morning, “Regarding continuing dialogue (with state board members), that will be an ongoing process. I am optimistic that the State Board of Education got a clear message that our system is working very well as is, and any changes that hurt schools in this area will be met with forceful opposition.”
At the conclusion of Monday’s hearing, board Chairman Stephan Morse thanked those who offered comments. “We heard some very passionate people. We heard you, and we will take that back as we work on these rules,” he said.
He said Tuesday that “(board subcommittee members) are still meeting with the independent school folks. In early January they will be back to us with some proposed amendments. Hopefully, we can come to some general agreement in time for the January board meeting. If so and the board approves, next step would be back to (the Interagency Committee on Administrative Rules).”
If that process goes as planned, he added, the board would host public hearings around the state before sending the rules to the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules for final approval. “Usually takes six to eight months,” he said.
The changes represent “potentially devastating public policy,” said Manchester Town Manager John O’Keefe. “This seems to be a classic case of a solution in search of a problem.”
Schools in the Northshire area, which include numerous private institutions receiving students from public districts under school choice, appear to be “working better than schools in Vermont as a whole,” he said.
Many speakers recounted how they had moved to this area of Vermont, or returned here to raise their children, in large part because of the schools and the choices offered.
According to state Rep. Oliver Olsen, I-Londonderry, an outspoken opponent of the rule changes, there now are nearly 20 school options for parents in his legislative district. But he and others contended that the proposed rules would make it too expensive for some smaller private schools to comply with state requirements and more expensive for the larger schools, such as Burr and Burton, thus limiting choice options.
“You say this does not affect choice,” another speaker told the board members, “but that is being disingenuous.”
Alexa Manning, founder and head of The Downtown School in Manchester, said hers is one of those schools that could be affected, possibly forcing it to accept only students whose parents could afford the tuition.
Another speaker said the rules would “saddle independent schools with mandates they can’t afford.” That person added, “Nothing here needs improvement.”
Another speaker said the current system offers private school choices to many lower-income residents who otherwise could not afford the tuition. “This gem is something we do not want to lose,” he said.
A few of the speakers Monday urged the board to adopt the rules as proposed, primarily to ensure the civil rights of special education students are protected. While Burr and Burton Academy and other local schools are exceptions, one proponent said, some private schools in the state refuse to accept some students while also accepting public tuition dollars for others. Private schools “should not be allowed to cherry pick students,” he said.
“This is a civil rights issue,” another speaker asserted. “Schools can’t publicly discriminate against people with disabilities.”
However, a man who has a child with special needs argued that “it is a disservice to her to say that Stratton Mountain School has to take her,” referring to the winter sports-oriented private school. “What are they going to do for her?”
With choice, he said, there were several other schools in the Northshire that were a good fit for his daughter.
Others argued that, for students with special needs, public schools often don’t provide a better alternative because services are required. In fact, they said, many parents are blocked or hindered in seeking what they see as the best educational programs for their children.
“It is a myth that public schools meet those needs in all cases,” a speaker said.
Long Trail School student Nava Crispe and other students argued against the idea that forcing private schools to adhere to additional regulation could somehow improve education. The result would be less individual creativity and “the opposite of equality,” she said.
Brennan Murphy, another Long Trail student, offered an explanation for why so many speakers made similar arguments. It is because the board hasn’t seemed to react to the continued strong opposition, he said. “We are effectively talking to a rock,” he said.
Long Trail School Headmaster Steven Dear said the “uniqueness of the different visions” of local private schools is a strength that should be protected. In contrast, he said, “public education regulation is stifling passion” among teachers in those schools.
She said the proposed rule changes would be harmful to independent schools and “should be set aside in their entirety,” in large part since what she termed sweeping changes were being put forth by a board that “was not duly elected.”
The towns that approve sending tuition money to private schools vote annually on those appropriations, she said, and therefore have a say in the process.
After the hearing, board member William Mathis said he doesn’t understand why most speakers are focusing on choice, since the board does not seek to restrict choice and doesn’t believe that would occur.
But Olsen, speaking prior to the meeting, said he believes there is no doubt the rules would hurt private schools. “The rules are not being misinterpreted,” he said. “They have been reviewed by multiple attorneys with Legislative Council, who have all concluded that the proposed rules are crystal clear.”
Morse, in a Nov. 29 letter, attempted to clarify the proposed changes, saying in part the rules “do not affect Vermont’s historical tuition system in any fashion. Under statute, school districts decide by a vote of the electorate whether to tuition or operate.”
Board Vice Chairwoman Sean-Marie Oller, of Bennington, when asked if the rules might be detrimental to private schools, said: “It would not be sensible to say there won’t be a negative impact on some school or other.”
But she added, “The State Board of Education’s responsibility is a statewide, all-student view. The SBE put the rule change forward looking through that lens. It’s from the perspective of fairness, equity and accountability. The independent schools are not the only stakeholders in this rule change. Ultimately, the citizens and the students of Vermont are the stakeholders.”
