[S]tate military spending would jump a proposed 25 percent largely because of a tuition assistance program that Vermont National Guard leaders said Tuesday had significantly helped with recruitment.
Outgoing Adjutant General Steven Cray also updated lawmakers on the timing of controversial new fighter jets arriving in Vermont.
Federal and state allocations combined account for the $26.8 million spent annually on the Vermont National Guard as well as some maintenance and veterans program, according to budget figures.
State spending was about $4.3 million last year; Gov. Phil Scott’s proposed budget for next year requests $5.4 million, largely due to a boost in the state appropriation for an education tuition assistance program to encourage Vermont high school students to sign up for the Guard.
Last year, lawmakers allocated about $340,000 for the tuition program. This year’s request is for more than $952,000.
Cray, who is leaving his post on Thursday, said the tuition program had helped put a dent in ongoing recruitment challenges and has “been good for Vermont and good for your Vermont National Guard.”
In the past, Cray said fewer than 25 of the more than 6,000 graduating Vermont high school students a year would sign up for the Guard, but with the assistance program, already 33 students have signed up this year, only several months in. Officials hope more than 75 students a year will participate.
Under the program, students can go to Vermont colleges and universities, including the University of Vermont, tuition-free — one year in return for each two years of service in the Vermont National Guard. In addition to state schools, the money can also be used toward tuition at a private Vermont school with the amount capped at what a state university would cost.
The Vermont program has made the state more competitive with its neighbors and stopped Vermonters from signing up for the National Guard in other states to gain education benefits. Now, Cray said, the reverse is happening with three Massachusetts residents recently taking advantage of the Vermont program.
The program, Cray told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is “doing exactly what you envisioned it would do.” The Guard, he said, has also had a stronger presence at college and career fairs at local high schools.
Cray told committee members the transition from the current fighter jet system to the arrival of the new system, the controversial F-35, was on schedule.
The last F-16 fighter jet will depart the first weekend in April; the first F-35 fighter jet will arrive in September, with the full squadron of 18 jets arriving by the spring of 2020. Training for the new jets will happen over the summer in Vermont, Arizona and Florida.
Cray said expansion construction at the VTANG site at the Burlington airport has been underway for two years and is on schedule. Unit strengths, he said, would stay about the same after the arrival of the F-35’s with local employment boosted by an increase of contractors from manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
Lawmakers will choose a new adjutant general on Thursday from four candidates. Cray announced that he decided last year not to seek another term. He told lawmakers Tuesday he would be returning to his job as a pilot for American Airlines after he steps down.
