[V]ermont’s leading teachers’ group says Gov. Phil Scott’s plan to raise the state’s student-to-staff ratio through retirements amounts to a hiring freeze that will cost the state more than 4,000 jobs, based on a report from its national affiliate.
The four-page report by the National Education Association, released Tuesday by Vermont-NEA, argues the governor’s plan amounts to a hiring freeze that would also save $250 million a year — far more than Scott’s estimate of $100 million annually.
The report says an annual attrition rate of 6.3 percent for teachers and school staff would bring the student-to-staff ratio to 5-1 within four years, resulting in the elimination of 4,151 positions. In a prepared statement, the state union argued the “freeze” would cut vital resources to schools while boosting class size.
Martha Allen, president of Vermont-NEA, defended the use of the term freeze because when a teacher or school employee retires, the district does not hire a replacement. “That is a job that is not there for a middle class professional,” she said.
Scott’s proposal to eliminate school jobs as people retire over the next five years is one of a number of ideas he has presented to lawmakers for cutting education costs.
With its current ratio of four students to every staff member, Vermont has the lowest rate in the nation. Statewide enrollment has decreased by 27,000 students over the last 20 years. The number stood at 76,355 in 2017, down from 77,182 the previous year. In that year, the number of teachers and staff fell by 394.
Allen said the study underlines the fact that the positions that would be going away over four years are middle- and low-income jobs. “Students would be losing the resources they need to succeed in school,” she said. “The challenges our students face now are far more than in past years due to the opioid crisis and poverty.”
The impact on school jobs would result in the loss of 1,710 teaching positions and 2,442 support staff, such as paraprofessionals, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and other school personnel, according to the report. The national group used data from Vermont’s Agency of Education for its calculations.
“What it boils down to is closing schools,” the Vermont-NEA president said, which also means towns will lose their community centers. “If you want to encourage young families to move to all corners of Vermont — as the governor said today — you need to have a great school.
“Right now, we do have great schools,” Allen said, “but what (Scott) is aiming to do with cutting 4,100 jobs will make our schools less able to respond to the needs of our school population.”
The governor’s spokeswoman, Rebecca Kelley, said Scott’s proposal will take take place over five years, not four as the study indicates.
“This report affirms the alarming decline of the student population,” Kelley said, “but criticizes ideas on how to get more value out of the $1.6 billion we’re currently spending to educate 76,000 children, and it doesn’t offer any alternatives.”
“The governor hopes the union will bring the same civil and constructive approach to the dialogue that Vermont’s teachers encourage in our classrooms,” Kelley said.
