Issue Position: Education

I have served in various capacities on school boards since 1994 and I have seen many changes to our education system, some good and some less so. I have witnessed firsthand the growing challenges our students and their families are facing. I have watched as our enrollments have significantly declined while our expenses have continued to rise. My concern for our students' well-being has increased as the number of students living in poverty grows, along with the achievement gap for those students. I have observed the benefits of well-intentioned legislation that supports educational improvements, but I also feel a deep sense of frustration around the lack of funding for much of that legislation.

The voice of Vermonters has been strong around preserving our small, local schools and our state government has rightfully been cautious about mandating top-down changes. Yet at the same time, it is often those same voices who are demanding change as data shows our expenses are some of the highest in the country. We must come up with answers to these concerns. While our outcomes are better than many others, it is also clear we still need to improve both opportunities and outcomes for our students. As I have traveled the state in my school board capacity, I have heard about loss of educational opportunities in many schools at a time when our students' needs are greater than ever. It is a dichotomy that simply cannot be ignored.

Yet, despite these challenges, I feel a sense of anticipation and even cautious encouragement. We are at a crossroads; it is clear we can no longer sustain our education system in its current form. We must rethink how we operate in order to best serve our students -- and our communities. We need to review our education funding system to look for ways to increase efficiencies and relieve the burden of property taxes, while still ensuring equity of educational opportunity for our students. We must look critically at what we are doing, decide what we value most about our education system and then make thoughtful decisions with our students - not ourselves - as our first priority. I will continue to work toward these goals and even though the decisions will likely be hard, I look forward to building consensus around improvements to our education system.

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