Jeb Spaulding will leave his post as Secretary of Administration to take over as Chancellor of the Vermont State College system. Current Chancellor Tim Donovan announced his retirement in May.
The former state treasurer has led Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration since 2011. In an interview Wednesday, he said he’ll stay on board until January to complete the executive branch’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2016.
After getting through the budget, Spaulding’s replacement will have to tackle financing for Shumlin’s promised single-payer health care plan and ongoing demands for property tax reform.
“I kind of wish the timing could be different,” Spaulding said. “But it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity that came right now.”
He said he looks forward to helping Vermont’s individual state colleges and they system as a whole meet its financial and demographic challenges — namely declining enrollment and underfunding from the state.
Spaulding said he’s sure that Shumlin’s next pick to lead his administration will ably carry out the governor’s desires.
“I don’t think that any one person makes or breaks an administration,” he said.
In his four-year tenure, Spaulding has faced down perennial budget gaps between $50 million and $70 million, much of which has been offset by one-time funds. In August, the state’s Emergency Board negotiated with the administration over $31.3 million in budget rescissions for the current fiscal year — a result of state economists downgrading Vermont’s revenue forecast with their biennial update in July.
Budget-watchers fear another lowering of expectations when the economists and Emergency Board meet again in January. In Spaulding’s monthly revenue report for August, he cited concern over continued lagging performance in personal income tax withholdings.
Department of Finance and Management Commissioner Jim Reardon has cautioned that one-time sources are drying up, but spending increases continue.
Spaulding will face budget challenges with VSC, as well. The board said in May the system is expecting flat enrollment at best next year.
He said several VSC leaders — from administrative and board members to college presidents — began recruiting him for the job in midsummer.
“I wasn’t looking for this opportunity,” Spaulding said. “I love the job I have. I continue to be honored to have the job I have, and I have lots of energy left.”
He said Shumlin was understanding when Spaulding delivered the news of his departure. In a written statement, Shumlin said Spaulding was the “ideal person” to take the helm at VSC.
“(A)s Administration Secretary, Jeb fully understands the fiscal pressures facing the system and will bring his sound fiscal management to the challenges of operating our entire State College system,” Shumlin said.
“Jeb recognizes that the Community College of Vermont, Vermont Technical College and the other state colleges strengthen our state’s economic future through their focus on providing high quality education and jobs skills,” Shumlin said.
VSC Board Chair Martha O’Connor said Spaulding’s appointment “will provide the leadership continuity that our college presidents have asked for.”
The union representing VSC faculty was less enthusiastic, though more critical of the VSC board’s selection process than of Spaulding.
“Faculty and staff were promised they could play a role in this process,” VSC Faculty Federation (AFT Vermont) president Linda Olson said in a written statement. “I am more than disappointed that the board has chosen not to honor that promise and that a permanent Chancellor was selected with absolutely no faculty or staff input.”
She said process aside, the union looks forward to working with Spaulding. The group hopes his appointment will lead to “a more robust state investment in higher education in Vermont.”
In addition to Spaulding’s two terms as Shumlin’s secretary of administration, he was elected five times as state treasurer. He previously served as a state senator from Washington County from 1985-2001, during which time he chaired the Appropriations, Education, Joint Fiscal, and Joint Administrative Rules committees. In private business, Spaulding founded WNCS-FM (The Point) radio in 1976.
Spaulding holds a master’s degree in education administration and planning from the University of Vermont. His educational work includes time on the New England Board of Higher Education, plus positions as director of career and workforce development at the Vermont Department of Education, director of the Vermont Academy of Science and Technology at Vermont Technical College and adjunct instructor at Norwich University.
He said dual enrollment and “blended learning” opportunities through in-person and online classes offer promise for the state colleges to achieve their mission while keeping costs down.
Spaulding praised the state college system for offering Vermont students the lowest cost option for higher education in the state, but acknowledged it’s still not as affordable as other options outside Vermont.
“Obviously, the state can’t turn around overnight and all of a sudden put a tremendous amount of new money into the higher education community,” Spaulding said. “But I would like to think that over time we can reverse the trend that’s taken place in recent decades.”
Vermont’s state colleges are Castleton State College, Community College of Vermont, Johnson State College, Lyndon State College and Vermont Technical College. The Office of the Chancellor is in Montpelier.
Spaulding is the second cabinet member to leave the administration this year. Doug Racine, secretary of the Agency of Human Services, was fired by the governor in August. Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development Lawrence Miller was relocated as Chief of Health Care Reform, and Patricia Moulton replaced Miller at ACCD.
“I have to say, I’m going to miss serving as part of the Shumlin administration,” Spaulding said. “We have accomplished a lot and are going to accomplish a lot more.”
This article was updated at 4:48 p.m.
