Editor’s note: This commentary is by Peter Langella, of Moretown, a librarian at Champlain Valley Union High School, a member of the Harwood Unified Union School District Board, and a 2017 Rowland Fellow.
[G]ov. Scott may be skilled on the race track at Thunder Road but he is proving less adept behind the wheel of the state’s conversation on teacher contracts, health care and tax policy. As a librarian at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg and one of Moretown’s representatives on the Harwood Unified Union School District Board, I have a unique lens through which to view these issues.
As an educator, it’s disheartening to hear Gov. Scott lobby for changes to collective bargaining. It is our right to negotiate our benefits, and the Legislature should not take action that would scale back those rights, within the education profession or otherwise. And while the governor’s proposal would still allow teachers to bargain with the state, his rhetoric on the topic proves that he doesn’t value the practice. Even if he could convince legislators to move bargaining for health care to the state level, his claims of $26 million in savings would only be realized if he imposed terms and the math worked out. Let me repeat that. His math would have to be perfect, and he would have to win the negotiation without any movement. That’s not bargaining; that’s mandating that all teachers pay 20 percent of their health insurance in the governor’s choice of one of four VEHI plans. The one with the highest deductible. Again, that’s not bargaining, no matter how you feel about the relevant terms and numbers.
Twenty-six million dollars is a unicorn. It doesn’t exist.
Why are we even having this conversation about teacher health care anyway? The path toward a more prosperous Vermont that Gov. Scott so desires will not be reached by making the good jobs we have less attractive. Let’s renew the conversation about health care for all through a unified, single-payer system. Let’s raise the statewide minimum wage to $15/hour. Let’s take up alternate plans for education taxes like the hybrid income tax proposal Sens. Anthony Pollina and Chris Pearson have circulated the past couple of sessions.
Mandates are not leadership. They weren’t in February when it came to budgets, and they certainly aren’t now when it comes to collective bargaining.
Gov. Scott is driving the wrong conversation in Montpelier, and it’s distracting us from realizing true transformation.
Which brings me to my role within the HUUSD. We began our work in August, debating and compromising bi-weekly, until we reached a decision on a budget number to bring to our taxpayers. Gov. Scott then stepped in with an unrealistic and disrespectful level-funding mandate and timeline change proposal. The other board members and I volunteered dozens of hours to merge seven schools, six towns and five school districts into one cohesive unit. The tax incentives from Act 46 allowed us to add frugally, save taxpayers from five of the six towns money, and set the stage for a preK-12 visioning process that will enrich schools and save more money in the future. He wasn’t willing to give us the benefit of time to make sure this larger district will work.
Mandates are not leadership. They weren’t in February when it came to budgets, and they certainly aren’t now when it comes to collective bargaining.
And, it erodes public trust in our education system and our teachers.
Gov. Scott began this rhetoric is his inaugural address: “I’m challenging our teachers to think of a world where you are free to teach to the child, not the test; you are promoted on merit instead of seniority; and there is never a cap on what you can earn.”
Never a cap? I thought he wanted to lower costs. Teach to the test? That’s a myth about bad teaching, and it’s just not a reality in Vermont schools. Merit? Does that mean he thinks most teachers don’t deserve raises? It’s very confusing to me because the educators I work with at CVU, the educators whose work I govern in the Harwood district, and the educators I collaborate with all over state are some of the most capable people I have ever met. They all deserve raises. They all enhance the lives of Vermont’s students every single day.
The narrative of the bad teacher is just like Gov. Scott’s $26 million: It’s fake.
I urge the governor, the Vermont School Boards Association, the Vermont Superintendents Association and all of the lawmakers who voted for this plan last week to reject soundbites and mandates, and to join me in support of worker’s rights and true transformation.
