Dear Legislators,
It is a gargantuan task to build long-term solutions to systems-level crises. Vermont’s intersectional educational funding crisis has been brewing for years without meaningful action towards solutions. The governor’s short-sighted, reactive plan would dismantle public education through poor policy scare tactics. We understand the urgency and pressure this places on elected officials.
Yet at the same time, we, the school leaders and staff at the ground level, have been the ones feeling the pain of this crisis. In the past two years, due to factors entirely outside our control, the EWSD, the second largest in the state, has lost over $10 million of funding, causing the loss of incredible teachers, programs, and the consolidation of a school. Strong, life-changing teachers, who are also community members and taxpayers, are leaving our state permanently.
Looking ahead, due to the delays in the reassessment process, our District may be faced to cutting $10 million or more again which would lead to school closures and devastation to our District, one of the largest in our state; that we would not be able to recover regardless of how things are amended in future years. Our large population of families from marginalized communities, including students with special needs, rural learners, and English language learners, will be deeply harmed, alongside all of the families and students in this District who would be pushed into unfairly large class sizes and under-resourced programs both in schools and CTE. In addition, consolidation results in spaces that will not be big enough for our students. Ultimately, it will necessitate construction costs.
While we recognize and are grateful for the intensive efforts made by House members in crafting this bill, it has been subject to reactive, last-minute amendments in the Senate, as a result of poor Senate leadership, that are not in the interests of students or taxpayers. Yet relief for districts like EWSD, who have been repeatedly hammered by this crisis, without relief, due to the CLA/reassessment timeline, has not been considered. We have repeatedly begged for measures to provide one-time relief for districts with egregiously skewed CLA that is creating devastating harm. Our districts have been hardest hit to crisis levels, now going on three years in a row. We need relief and breathing room now, not in future years, to allow you to continue the ongoing, long-term work of sound policy. Without that relief, our District will be too decimated for that work to matter.
Reactive action motivated by political popularity does not lead to social good. We’ve seen this for the last three years. The hundreds of Vermonters in education who have lost their positions, the families harmed by the loss of programs and supports, have all seen this. We teach our students to take their time, check their work, show their work, and that it is worth doing right. H.454 does not honor or model those principles.
We strongly call on you to vote NO on the rushed vote on H.454. Vote NO until the projected modeling allows confidence in the outlook for all districts and students across Vermont, including EWSD. Vote NO until you can show your work and share the budget modeling publicly. Vote NO until there is relief for the districts that have been most harmed year after year. EWSD cannot survive for the next two years in this transition.
No district, supervisory union, public school, taxpayer, or student should be acceptable collateral damage when faced with the likelihood of devastating, irrevocable consequences. There is much good work that has been done by the house, don’t leave the rest on the table alongside the certainty of further harm to Vermont students. Hold Senate leadership accountable to support public education. Vote NO and return to the table to finish the work well. Take a moment to call your school district that you represent and be informed on how to best support ALL Vermont students.
We urge you to continue building on this work, for every student whose future will be determined by it.
With respect,
Robert Carpenter, Chair, Essex Westford School District
Marlon Verasamy, Vice Chair, Essex Westford School District
Jemima Talbot, Clerk, Essex Westford School District
Beth Cobb, Superintendent, Essex Westford School District