Just a reminder here that former National Federation of Teachers President Albert Shanker once admitted, “When schoolchildren start paying dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of schoolchildren.” True that! And watching the debate in the legislature over how to reign in public education costs and improve student outcomes, I think that sentiment resides with way too many of our lawmakers. “We’ll start representing the interests of school children (and taxpayers) when they, like the VTNEA, start donating to our campaigns.”
It was clear that the interests of kids and families were going to take a back seat in this exercise when in 2024 the then still Democrat supermajority created the farcical Vermont Commission on the Future of Public Education, stacked with educrat special interests, to spearhead the effort. They were never going to put forward a plan to cut costs and restructure education in the state to be more efficient with less bureaucracy. And they didn’t!
What they did do, in the spirit of never letting a crisis go to waste, is shift the focus away from the need to provide immediate tax relief and a long-term plan for higher quality education for kids, and twist the process to their own all-consuming self-interests. The Blob (the special interest version of Cerberus that is the teachers’ union, Superintendents’ Association, and Principals’ Association) has reframed the debate into one about tapping new and larger revenue streams for themselves, and scapegoating with an eye toward wiping out their competition from independent schools and Vermont’s 150-year-old system of tuitioning students.
Rather than looking inward to evaluate why their schools are failing more and more Vermont children every year despite massive increases in spending to serve fewer students, they are blaming the tuitioning system which allows children in non-operating districts (those that don’t operate a public school) to choose any public or approved independent school they desire with the money following the child. A little over half of the families in this situation (less than 3000 students out of 80,000 total pre-k-12 statewide) choose an independent school. It’s not a big number. But the system works great. Families love it. The kids perform better. And the set tuition amount the taxpayers finance is significantly less than what we spend per pupil the average public school. Everybody wins. Except to a small extent The Blob. And they do not like it.
The argument seems to be that if we just force these kids who are getting a good education back into government run schools that may or may not meet their needs, everything will be rosy. Sorry, but this is not the problem — indeed it’s not even a problem — that needs to be solved.
Enter this attack a new non-profit organization styling itself Friends of Vermont Public Education. Their mission? Not improving the quality of public schools. No, not that. Rather, they whine, “We are sending millions in taxpayer dollars [about 4 percent of the total Education budget] to private schools that do not have to meet the same rules or standards as public schools…. Any school receiving taxpayer funds should be held to the same standards and serve the public good.” And, in a recent op-ed they summed up their argument, “It’s not a level playing field. It isn’t fair.” Or, as my kids used to say when they were toddlers, Wahhhhh!
But let’s take their position seriously, because we have to. The majority in the legislature is listening to these folks and shaping future education policy based on what they’re saying. And it’s all bunk.
Friends of Vermont Public Schools say, “there is no public accountability for how they [independent schools] spend taxpayer money.” Waaaay false. First of all, independent schools don’t get public money unless they are accredited. That accreditation process involves a two-year audit that scours the schools finances, curriculum, culture, and quality. And this takes place every five years. If the school fails the audit, the tax money goes away. Public schools don’t have to do this. Shall we “even the playing field” by requiring them to do so too and levy equal consequences? Sounds like a good idea to me!
And, of course, there is the ultimate accountability: if an independent school fails to serve a student, that student can leave and take their tuition money with them. Do you want to even the playing field by putting the public schools under the same level of parental accountability? That would be fair. Let’s do it!
The Friends say public schools “are held to rigorous academic standards.” No, they are not. Vermont’s public schools have been experiencing declining test scores for over a decade and a half. Who has been held accountable for this failure? Nobody.
The Friends point out that public schools are “required to employ licensed teachers” and independent schools are not. True, but consider that may be a problem with public schools as independents are allowed to hire, for example, trained scientists to teach science, actual artists to teach art, etc. Maybe the best policy moving forward would be to even the playing field by removing the requirement of public schools to hire licensed teachers and allow them to focus on hiring people with expertise in the fields in which they teach.
The Friends argue that public schools “are accountable to taxpayers and the state.” No they are not in any meaningful way. Our convoluted financing system sees to that. Their lack of accountability is why we have a property tax crisis (and why they have been allowed, Blob like, to subsume all of our sales tax revenue, large chunks of the rooms and meals and sales and use taxes, the newly created “cloud tax”, short term rental surcharge, the lottery money, some Medicaid funds, and now they’re eyeing an income tax, all while producing declining test scores. Accountable? Not.
The Friends insist “Public schools are transparent about … how they educate students and how they support families.” Yeah, sure. Until you ask to see your child’s lesson plan, inquire about DEI being taught, ask why your special needs child isn’t receiving the support they’re legally entitled to, or expect the school to inform you if your child is exploring transgenerism.
The Friends complain, public schools “don’t get to pick and choose. They take all comers and make it work,” and independent schools don’t. Untrue. First, public schools don’t have to take all comers. If they can’t meet a child’s needs, they can send them off, usually to an independent school that specializes in whatever needs that child has. Independent schools that take taxpayer dollars are subject to the exact same anti-discrimination laws as public schools. And, In fact, according to the Agency of Education, the percentage of students with IEPs in the public schools was 16.3 percent, 10 percent lower than the independents. The whole “cherry picking” myth is just a myth.
As for “making it work” for everybody, the public schools don’t make it work. The achievement gap between mainstream students and low-income, minority, and special needs students has been large, glaring and persistent as far back as records go. For these kids the public schools decidedly do not work. So, when the Friends say, “those with the fewest options, rural families, students with disabilities, children in poverty, are the ones who lose,” with school choice they are stating exactly the opposite of what the data shows to be true.
The latest gold standard Stanford CREDO study of charter schools (2023), shows “the typical charter school student in our national sample had reading and math gains that outpaced their peers in the traditional public schools (TPS) they otherwise would have attended…. The students who benefited most from access to choice were Black and Hispanic students, those with low income, and English language learners.” With friends like Friends, these kids don’t need enemies.
So, when the Friends say, “If a school receives public money, it should meet the same expectations as public schools,” I say, good God we should demand a hell of a lot better than that! Why should the independent schools that perform better for less money be held to the lower standards of the public schools? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
