Editor’s note: This commentary is by David Schoales, who is a member of the Brattleboro Town School Board and the Brattleboro Selectboard. The views here are his own.
Open letter to Vermont educators,
[I] hope you are all aware of the efforts teachers around the country and especially in North Carolina are making to improve their schools. Rather than focus only on salaries, they are pushing for new floor tiles and text books that were printed in the current century and windows that open and close and roofs that don’t leak.
Vermont educators don’t have to march on the capitol for these things. Our communities continually vote to provide them for our children. They are costly, so we have high per-pupil costs. We invest in our schools, and in return Vermont has one of the best school systems in the nation. We see our schools as assets, not liabilities, and we want the best we can afford for our children.
Teachers are fairly compensated and our schools are well maintained. Most of our students have up-to-date curriculum materials, especially in math and literacy. Our bands have decent musical instruments. Our basketballs hold air. We have counselors, school nurses, art teachers, and social workers. Smart boards are found in many classrooms and our libraries have good internet connections. Floors are mostly in good shape (parking lots maybe not so much) and the walls are painted. We have good lighting and are continually improving energy efficiency. We recycle and compost.
If Gov. Phil Scott has his way, all this will change. These are the things that will start to disappear and Vermont will replace North Carolina at 39th in the nation in per-pupil costs.
Unless you want to be marching in front of the Statehouse in a few years, you had better get off your butts and contact your union leadership and your legislators and make sure they know you will not support them if they let Gov. Scott reward his contributors by beating down our public school system.
Legislators want to solve problems. They want to make everyone happy and make Vermont a better place to live and raise families. They are facing a well-financed and nationally focused effort to blame public schools for all our taxing problems. This time they have to say “no.” Tell them now where you stand, or get ready to picket the Statehouse for school supplies in the near future.
