Editor’s note: This commentary is by David F. Kelley, who is an attorney and a co-founder of Project Harmony (now PH International) and a former member of the Hazen Union School Board.
[F]or well over 100 years 91 towns in Vermont have allowed their students to tuition to the school of their choice. And there is a very curious fact about these tuitioning towns — none of them want to give it up. For students in tiny Stannard it means they could choose between Craftsbury Academy, Stowe, Hazen or St. Johnsbury Academy. In fact it meant they could do more. They could use their tuition to participate in an international exchange program and study in London or Paris — something I dreamed of but my family, in Pittsford, Vermont, could never afford.
When I was a kid I remember going to see Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio,” and I remember Jiminy Cricket singing, “If you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, your dreams come true.” I believed it then. I know better now. Wealthy kids have choices. Children from disadvantaged families often don’t. But in tuitioning towns they still have a chance.
I didn’t pay much attention to this issue until I started practicing law. Soon after I hung out my shingle, a young fellow came to my office and asked if I could help him. He wanted to take drafting. His local high school didn’t offer it. Another school did but the school board wanted to keep his tuition and they wouldn’t let him leave. He was chained to a local school — not because it was in his best interests but because the district wanted the money that was appropriated for his education. I failed him.
I remember another young girl who came to my office. Her father was black. Her mother was white. Kids at Harwood Union High School called her names like “oreo” and “zebra.” She wanted to transfer to Montpelier High School. Again the school board said “no.” Her tuition dollars meant more to them than her well being. Her parents had very little money, but they loved their daughter enough to dig deep into not very deep pockets and to pay tuition to Montpelier High — in addition to the taxes they were paying in Warren. You can read about the case here.
Vermont has come a long way since those days. Now we have tech centers where students who don’t fit into mainstream public schools can become career ready on a different track. We have public school choice now for families who can navigate the system. Best of all, we have Act 77 with dual enrollment and early college enrollment. We have moved in the right direction by giving our students more choices and more opportunities.
I lived in the former Soviet Union for a couple of years and I had a front row seat to one of the most essential lessons of the 20th century: that monopolies breed inefficiency and mediocrity. And public monopolies breed the worst. Choice and competition are essential precursors of quality and efficiency.
If public monopolies bred quality, Venezuela would be a modern miracle.
I believe in public schools and public education. I have been a school board chair. I have been a volunteer coach for 20 years. My wife teaches at a public school. I am proud of our schools. I am grateful for the steps we have taken to give more students more opportunities and more choices. And I am proud of our tuitioning tradition. But if public schools have to use government and legislatures to shackle students to their buildings to get their tuition dollars, then they are doing something wrong. Local school boards should have the imagination to help every student dream.
When I was working in the Soviet Union, the Russians often told a joke about our concepts of equality. There were three farmers who each had a cow. One was American. One was French. And one was Russian. Each farmer had a neighbor who was envious and wanted to be equal. In America the neighbor worked hard and eventually had enough money to buy a cow of his own. In France the neighbor petitioned and petitioned and eventually the farmer with the cow was taxed enough to help his neighbor buy a cow. But in Russia the neighbor without a cow had a simpler, easier idea. He persuaded the government to kill his more fortunate neighbor’s cow. In the end, they were all equal.
It saddens me when Vermont educators talk like the Russian farmer in that joke. If anything, we should be striving to give our most disadvantaged students as many choices and opportunities as possible and not denying choice or opportunity to any, rich or poor. We should be doing everything in our power to guarantee that students in every school district in Vermont have as many choices as those fortunate enough to live in a tuitioning town. We shouldn’t be killing our neighbor’s cows. We should be helping every student wish upon a star with a real chance of dreams coming true.
