Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman criticized Gov. Phil Scott on Tuesday for failing to give Vermont schools enough guidance or funding as they reopen during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Opening day is Sept. 8.
Zuckerman, a Progressive who’s the Democratic nominee for governor, said schools needed better health guidelines and more money to reopen safely, and the Republican governor gave them neither.
“Despite having indicated to the leadership of our schools that money would be made available to cover the additional expenditures needed to plan and open schools safely, in his most recent budget the governor chose not to use Covid relief funds to pay for expenses the schools took on,” Zuckerman said at a press conference. “This is unacceptable.”
The budget Scott proposed to lawmakers last month does not include money for expenses associated with reopening schools.
However, the governor has already approved legislation that directed $50 million of federal coronavirus relief money to help Vermont schools cover costs related to the pandemic. That includes $6.5 million for schools to upgrade air-handling systems and $12 million to help provide school meal programs over the summer.
But Vermont has only about $200 million left in federal coronavirus aid, and Democratic leaders in the Legislature wanted to set aside up to $100 million — half of what’s left — to help schools reopen this fall.
Scott’s budget proposal didn’t do that.
At his own press conference on Tuesday, Scott said he wasn’t aware the Legislature wanted to provide an additional $100 million for school reopenings, but said the state government has already spent a “tremendous amount of money for reopening.” In addition to the $50 million Scott directed this year, the federal government sent Vermont schools $30 million to cope with the crisis after President Trump signed the CARES Act in March.
So far, school districts are “managing cash flow pretty well,” said Dan French, Vermont’s education secretary.
Zuckerman said that, as governor, he would have led a statewide effort to buy hand sanitizer, thermometers and other Covid-19 supplies for schools, and would have used federal money to buy touchless doors, sinks and toilets for school buildings.
Vermont should have issued statewide guidelines, dictating how schools handle Covid-19 cases, and staff and students who are symptomatic, “to ensure they’re consistent district to district,” Zuckerman said.
Two Vermont teachers who spoke at Zuckerman’s news conference criticized Scott for not taking a “coordinated statewide approach” to school reopenings. While the state has issued statewide health and safety guidance on reopenings, it left much of the reopening strategy to local school districts.
Each school district has had to make the call about whether — and to what extent — it will offer in-person instruction.
The teachers supporting Zuckerman said schools are using schedules that will put a strain on working parents.
Kate McCann, a teacher at the U-32 Middle and High School in East Montpelier, said her daughter goes to Montpelier High School, where in-person learning is offered only two and a half hours per day, four days per week.
“How can I possibly work full time at U-32 and transport my daughter to and from school for a two and a half hour school day?” McCann asked.
Nor are schools setting uniform standards for personal protective equipment, McCann said. Some schools are providing goggles and/or K-N95 masks for staff members, she said, while others aren’t.
Mark Brown, an English teacher at U-32, said school schedules vary dramatically across the state. At some, dismissal is much earlier than usual. Some will offer in-person learning a few days a week, others every other week.
“I have no idea how parents are supposed to keep working and find extra child care and pay for that child care, because there’s no plan,” Brown said. “Gov. Scott failed to create a coordinated statewide plan for returning to school. Instead, we’re all piecing it together the best we can.”
Last month, the governor announced a $12 million program to stabilize the child care relief industry as schools reopen.
Jason Maulucci, Scott’s campaign manager, said that in June the governor issued “comprehensive health and safety guidance for a safe restart of K-12 schools.”
“Since then, the Agency of Education has worked tirelessly with school administrators, teachers, parents and staff to make next week’s reopening as safe as possible — including a statewide effort to provide personal protective equipment and other resources to help Vermont schools,” Maulucci said in an email.
“As Gov. Scott has said, we owe it to Vermont’s kids and their parents to provide them with the best possible education,” Maulucci said. “Gov. Scott will continue to lead Vermont through this once-in-a-century crisis, regardless of the typical political attacks by candidates for statewide office.”
