This commentary is by Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver, of Moretown. She is an English and history teacher at Winooski High School, and 2025 Vermont state teacher of the year.
In my classroom, we do a lot of challenging learning. When given a hard task, we spend time reading multiple sources, asking questions, interviewing stakeholders, listening to diverse perspectives and synthesizing multiple perspectives.
A good learner revises their thinking when given new information; we will often use sentence frames such as “I used to think… then I learned… now I think” to track our learning.
Recognizing the nuances of an issue is not a failure; it’s a success. When my students recognize complexities of an issue, it’s a win not a failure.
Our members of the redistricting task force did just this: they listened to community input, reckoned with the complexities of the task, and rather than pushing through with the “assignment,” they bravely proposed an alternative solution.
And yet, Gov. Phil Scott and his team deemed this a failure, claiming that the task force had given up and failed. Nothing could be further from the truth: when my students understand the complexities of an issue and propose nuanced solutions to difficult problems, that is a win. Why would it not be the same for our state’s leaders?
If the governor is so annoyed about the direction of the task force, I wonder why his team has not produced any numbers that reflect actual cost savings of consolidation. It became abundantly clear to the task force that a plan to consolidate districts lacks clear financial savings. If the administration disagrees, where are these numbers?
The courage from the task force members allows us to refocus this upcoming legislative season on the real needs in front of Vermonters and our schools. Rather than debate consolidation maps that do not prove to save money, our legislators can focus the conversation on what our students and schools need. And there are indeed a lot of needs.
We could use our legislative session to focus on the rising health care costs that strain school budgets. We could address the unsustainable rise in property taxes that are hurting Vermonters statewide. Or, we could discuss how to actually fund the school construction aid that was established in Act 73.
We could use this new session to focus on putting nurses back in every school building, every day, or art and music teachers in all of our schools daily, or on hiring more social workers and therapists to respond to the ever growing mental health needs of our students. Many school districts passed budgets in 2024 and 2025 that cut many staff positions and are likely preparing for another round of barebones budgets.
We could use our upcoming session to address our statewide teacher shortage and invest time and money in expanding our grow-your-own initiatives and our support for new teachers.
Or, we could focus our attention back on ensuring that public funds go to public schools that serve all students and follow state guidelines. Rather than provide vouchers for some, we could strengthen our public schools for all.
There’s a lot of work to be done in our state. Hopefully, the stance of the task force will give other legislators in Montpelier courage to do right for public schools: to listen to teachers, to listen to students and to listen to community members who demand strong public schools.
Our public schools are our bedrock to our democracy; let’s focus on building them up, not tearing them down, this new legislative season.
