Vermont educators urged lawmakers Wednesday to avoid new education reforms in the upcoming year, saying it would further burden schools that are already “in survival mode.”
In testimony before the Vermont House Committee on Education on Wednesday, school officials described schools struggling in the first two months of the fall 2021 semester and asked legislators not to pass new laws that would add to their workload.
“Try as best you can this year to be the ‘do-nothing Congress,’” Vermont Principals’ Association Jay Nichols told the committee. “And if you’re going to add anything, please take things off their plate at the same time.”
Prior to the meeting, Rep. Kate Webb, D-Shelburne, the chair of the House education committee, asked school officials to outline what they wanted from the legislature in its upcoming January session.
The response was almost unanimous: as little as possible.
“When you return in January, less is more,” Jeff Fannon, the executive director of the Vermont branch of the National Education Association, told lawmakers. “Schools are stretched thin and need to have some things removed from their plate.”
The beginning of the fall 2021 semester has been marked by unprecedented challenges in Vermont’s schools, officials said.
Schools have been saddled with new tasks related to Covid-19, including testing and contact tracing, all while struggling with a wave of behavioral challenges.
On top of that, staffing shortages have hamstrung school workforces, even as they struggle with new responsibilities. Principals have been forced to take over custodial tasks like mowing lawns, while custodians elsewhere have taught classes, officials said.
Sue Ceglowski, the executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association, said in her testimony that school board members also are “navigating controversies around masking, critical race theory and other issues that are dividing communities.”
Schools and school boards are already implementing or preparing for “significant” laws passed in the last legislative session, Ceglowski said. She cited a list of recent topics of legislation, including “pupil weighting, pensions, equitable and inclusive school environments, literacy, wellness and comprehensive health, school facilities, PCB testing in schools.”
Two pieces of recent legislation — Act 173 and the creation of the pupil weighting task force — also stand to dramatically change how Vermont schools are funded, potentially forcing schools to reconfigure their budgets to adapt.
Jeff Francis, the executive director of the Vermont Superintendents Association, read a series of comments from superintendents across the state.
“This is not sustainable,” one superintendent said. “The best thing the legislature can do is keep any new educational initiatives off the table.”
“This is the most difficult period in public education in my 23 years,” another said.
In an interview after the meeting, Webb said that lawmakers heard “loud and clear that the school districts are stressed” and “do not need a number of new initiatives, regardless of how well-intentioned.”
Webb said she would work with school officials “to honor that request,” but declined to commit to avoiding any new legislation.
The committee has “plenty of work before us to deal with the initiatives that we already have put in place,” she said. “That said, that does not mean that we won’t get bills asking for a variety of things.”
