From The Mountain Times:
Questions to the Ledge
Dear Editor,
I truly enjoy reading Anne Gallivan's "News from the Ledge" each
week. It is informative and makes me, as a reader and community
member, feel connected to my representative at the
statehouse.
I was hoping, to go a bit deeper with this engagement and pose a
question each week that perhaps, you Anne, could help me to answer.
Since The Mountain Times is a weekly paper, this should provide
ample time for response. I know many folks asking similar
questions, so I think it will be efficient to print the responses
for all to better understand the issues.
Here is my first question:
With regards to publicly funding education, why is it that the
approx. 2,500 vouchers at $14,000 given to students in school
choice districts are allowed to be used at private schools (as long
as they are not religiously affiliated) and at out-of-state
institutions (public or private)? How much of that approximately
$35 million in taxpayer money is being diverted in these ways, I
wonder? According to a legislative document from 2012, over $11
million annually is diverted to out-of-state schools for 793
students (about 1/3 of the total vouchers given), leaving approx.
$24 million in-state. How much of that going to private schools?
How much is Vermont receiving in tuition from other states?"
Given that we have a shrinking school population and a growing
cost to educate our students, it would seem to make sense to keep
public education money in-state and directed at public schools,
instead of funding private enterprises or other states' education
systems with our tax dollars. At least it's worth examining.
Thanks for your help,
Jim Haff, Killington
Response to constituents question from the Ledge
Dear Jim and other interested Vermont tax
payers,
I read your letter in last week's paper with great interest,
as you have brought up a timely question. As the state works to
find ways to reduce education spending, relieve property tax
pressures, and provide more equitable student opportunities across
diverse districts, it is appropriate to look into any policy that
may be diverting funds from our financially challenged public
school system.
Your question arises just as we are in the most pressured
end-of-session marathon, so it is unlikely that I can thoroughly
research this in the upcoming week. I will, however, weigh in
briefly with initial comments.
I do not know if districts with no designated high school
have always allowed the opportunity for students to attend private
schools (with no religious affiliation) with the payment by the
town of the state average tuition for a public school year. I
do know that this has been the policy at the Barstow Memorial
School since we moved to Chittenden 40 years ago. There has been a
steady flow of takers that I am guessing results in an average of
one student each year. Out-of-state boarding schools are often the
destination, while some local schools such as Mount Saint Joseph
Academy do not qualify due to their funding by the Catholic
Diocese.
The 2012 report of $11 million leaving the state for such
tuitions, while approximately $22 million stays in state, is enough
to raise the question of the wisdom of our policy.
I know that the debate over school choice is alive and well,
with passionate voices on both sides of the issue. Choice
supporters believe that the interest of meeting students' unique
needs is paramount, while opponents believe that public education
should be fully and solely supported by our tax dollars because it
is part and parcel of a democratic society.
The current proposal for consolidated education governance
districts promises to maintain school choice where it has existed,
but I do not know if this would be true just for the six years of
transition, or beyond. Local control would be diluted, so the
future would seem uncertain. House bill 883 was passed over to the
Senate last week, but may emerge as a totally different
animal.
Because you have raised an important question here, I would
like to look more deeply into the history of the policy, and the
potential for change after the education governance bill is either
passed by the Senate, turned into a study, or left to die until
another session. I look forward to a deeper discussion of this
topic.
Rep. Anne Gallivan, State Representative, Rutland-Windsor
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