[I]n a concession to Gov. Phil Scott, who vetoed three state budgets in showdowns over education spending, lawmakers last year ordered a task force to study student-to-staff ratios in Vermont’s schools.
The group’s report is now out. But if the governor was hoping to resuscitate last year’s proposal to save money by imposing higher staff-to-student ratios in the state’s schools, he will find little in the task force’s recommendations to advance his agenda.
The 29-page document outlines staffing patterns across Vermont’s public preK-12 schools, and finds big variations based on poverty levels, total enrollment and the number of students with special education plans. And, in large part because of that variability, it declines to recommend any particular ratio be used by lawmakers to set benchmarks in budgeting.
“The task force recognized that this conversation about staffing ratios is far more nuanced and contextual than, I think, past conversations have recognized,” said task force chair Tammy Kolbe, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Vermont.
The report does include top-line, statewide numbers. It found, for example, that there were, on average:
• 13.8 students per general education teacher,
• 61 students per special education teacher,
• 46.8 students per support staff, and
• 182.5 students per principal.
But those averages obscure a big range across districts. The highest student-to-special education teacher ratio was 224.6 to 1 – the lowest was 29.4 to 1. The highest general education teacher-to-student ratio was 1 to 20.3 – the lowest was 9.3.
The task force also found notable patterns in that variability. It found that smaller general education and administrative staff ratios were found in districts with lower enrollments, and that districts with high levels of poverty and more students on special education plans had fewer general education, special education and support staff per student.
Given variability based on poverty, population density and enrollment “there just was no evidence out there to recommend one single ratio and to have that ratio put into statute,” Kolbe said.
The task force did recommend the Legislature require the Vermont Agency of Education keep collecting and reporting such data on an annual basis. It also recommended further study on the impact of school choice on staffing patterns in districts with nearby private schools. The task force was originally charged with providing this analysis, but the group reported it had inadequate data at the time to do so.
