Biography
Scott Beck was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Upon completion of a BA in Political Science at the University of Washington he entered the United States Navy and served until 1999 as a Naval Flight Officer. Scott made three extended deployments on USS Kitty Hawk and USS America, and earned two Air Medals for combat missions flown in Bosnia and Somalia. He was also the recipient of a Navy Commendation Medal, two Navy Achievement medals, and numerous campaign medals and ribbons. Scott has flown over 1100 hours in jet aircraft and has nearly 300 carrier arrested landings.
Upon completing M Ed. Degrees in Social Studies and Mathematics at The Citadel, Scott returned to St. Johnsbury with his family in 1999 and became an educator, dorm counselor, and coach at St. Johnsbury Academy; he continues to work at the Academy today and teaches American History, American Government, and economics.
In 2005, Scott and his wife, Joelle, opened the Boxcar & Caboose, an independent bookstore. He has been the chair of the Downtown Improvement Commission and Executive Director of the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce. During his time with the Chamber Scott developed the Discover St. Johnsbury and Shop Local campaign, assisted with the reconstruction of the fire damaged 1879 Building, and initiated the St. Johnsbury LVRT promotional film series.
Scott is very active in making this area a better place. He is the President of the Kiwanis Club that makes swimming and swimming lessons free to area youth, families, and seniors. Scott is a RINK director and was instrumental in getting Fenton Chester Ice Arena reopened in 2021. Scott is the founder of the Kingdom Maple Festival. Starting in July of 2020, Scott has organized a series of used book sales that have raised nearly $10,000 for area charities. Scott is also the leader of Three Rivers Ice & Recreation, a group committed to bring a privately owned regional ice and recreation center to this area.
Candidate occupation
Educator, Bookstore Owner, Legislator
Why are you running for office?
I continue to remain engaged in public service for one primary reason – Vermont needs to be a state that works for everyone and is affordable. Too many Vermonters are falling behind as Vermont gets older each year; we need to pursue win-win public policies that improve our age demographics and affordability, and resist the urge to adopt feel-good policies which don’t help all Vermonters.
Issues in brief
Do you believe Vermonters are better off now than they were 10 years ago?
No
Do you believe Vermont needs a new education funding formula?
Yes
Do you support imposing new taxes on the wealthiest Vermonters?
No
Do you support the establishment of overdose prevention centers?
No
Do you support a ban on flavored tobacco products?
No
Do you support increasing penalties for property crimes such as shoplifting?
Yes
Do you believe Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election?
Yes
Issues in depth
What would you do to help grow Vermont’s economy?
Vermont needs to abandon increasing taxes, energy costs, and regulation as an economic growth strategy, and instead encourage innovation, entrepreneurship, and expansion of the Vermont brand.
What changes, if any, would you make to the way Vermont funds its schools?
Vermont needs to redefine ‘Education Spending’ as what homestead taxpayers pay. This would reconnect districts to local tax rates and prevent the Legislature from pushing categorial aid and non-property tax decisions onto local school districts. Everything else will fall into place organically and logically. The recent change to CLA that I discovered and advanced in 2024 will increase transparency and lead to spending restraint.
Is Vermont doing enough, too much or not enough to address climate change? Please explain.
Vermont is moving faster than Vermont family and business budgets, and available affordable technology allows. The carbon economy was created over 150 years ago, we’ll be lucky if we can shift to non-carbon in 50 years. The available ‘non-carbon’ transportation and heating technology and affordability does not work for the vast majority of Vermonters. We need to seek efficiencies, conserve, and shift as quickly as we can, but whatever we do will have no impact on climate change unless the rest of the world moves with us. With another couple leaps in battery and energy technology Vermont can do this, and so will the rest of the world.
Is Vermont doing enough, too much or not enough to regulate gun ownership? Please explain.
I think Vermont is doing enough, but I continue to support public policies that prevent dangerous people from owning dangerous weapons.
What would you do to help ease Vermont’s housing crisis?
Ease regulation, encourage density, and increase competition. Any infusion of government dollars into the market just makes the cost of construction more expensive for everyone. This is a $10B problem, Vermont has no capacity to fix this with public spending, the private sector does.
How would you address rising homelessness in Vermont?
Open shelters designed to take in homeless Vermonters, stabilize them, and get them to permanent housing.
What would you do to increase access to health care services for Vermonters?
Vermont is not seen as an attractive location by health care workers for many reasons, including housing and taxation. These workers need to have places to live and keep enough of their paycheck to make working in Vermont worth it.
Financial disclosure
Candidates for state and legislative offices are required to submit a financial disclosure when filing to run. These disclosures include each source, but not the amount, of personal income of each candidate, and of their spouse or domestic partner, that singly or jointly totals more than $5,000 for the previous 12 months. The information provided is an opportunity for voters to learn about candidates’ potential conflicts of interest.
Financial disclosure not available for this candidate.
Disclaimer
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