Are you a candidate running for office? As you connect with voters in your community this campaign season, Campaign for Vermont Prosperity (CFV) wants to be a resource you can rely on.
Over the past few years, we’ve produced polling, policy research, and plain-language bill analyses on the issues you’re hearing about most when talking with voters-education costs, housing, demographics, public safety, and taxes. We are sharing a quick guide to what’s available, with links so you can dig into the full material wherever it’s useful.
CFV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to data-driven discourse, government transparency, and a more prosperity for Vermonters in every corner of our state.
1. Polling and Public Opinion
Chittenden County Public Safety Poll (June 2026)
Our newest release is a survey of 512 likely Chittenden County voters showing a county that feels markedly less safe and is demanding stronger accountability from its leaders. We encourage every candidate to engage substantively with the findings.
Top Issues Vermonters Care About (December 2023)
Our sweeping poll leading into the 2024 legislative session identified that cost of living and housing are top of mind for Vermonters and revealed how voters prefer the state make investments in climate resilience versus carbon reduction.
2. Education Spending & Governance Reform
What’s Really Going on With Education
Ben Kinsley's data-driven response to the VT-NEA statements on why Vermont spends near the top of the nation yet sees declining outcomes, and why the funding system's opacity undermines accountability.
Education Spending & Outcomes 2024
Our analysis found that spending has climbed while outcomes declined, and that Vermont's smallest-in-the-nation class sizes are the single largest cost driver—with outcomes actually improving as class sizes grow, especially in higher grades. A decade after Act 46, the data suggests consolidation alone was not the answer.
A Pathway to Viable Education Transformation
Our counterproposal for 2025 education reform, grounded in the lessons of Act 46 and Vermonters' preference for local control. It argues the real opportunity is consolidating supervisory unions—not eliminating local school boards.
What We Can Learn from an Independent Analysis of Act 46
A summary of a Yale thesis evaluating Vermont's 2010–2020 district mergers—finding modest fiscal reallocation but little net savings. We analyze what that means for the Act 73 rollout.
Finding Savings Through Shared Services in Vermont Schools
A follow-up plan showing how regional shared-service models (like BOCES in New York and Intermediate Units in Pennsylvania) can cut costs while expanding student services—our estimate identifies roughly $300 million in potential savings at a moderate scale of 15 statewide regional service providers replacing the existing SU structure.
Why Your Property Taxes Are Going Up 12% Next Year
A clear, chart-driven explanation of the roughly $205 million property tax increase in FY2027. We demonstrate how one-time buydowns and school spending both drove this increase, and why a foundation formula is the durable fix.
3. Our Reviews of Education and Property Tax Bills
2026 Property Tax Bill (Act 24) (2025)
Our overview and analysis of the FY2026 yield bill, how it held average property tax bills to a 1.1% increase despite 5.5% spending growth, and why relying on $118M in one-time monies risks a much larger spike the following year.
FY2027 Property Tax 'Yield' Bill (H.949) (2026)
Our overview and analysis of the FY2027 yield bill, the renter credit changes, excess-spending threshold adjustments, and the trade-offs between one-time relief and long-term structural reform.
The Legislature's Education Transformation Plan (Act 73) (2025)
A plain-language breakdown of the Legislature's landmark education funding and governance overhaul—what it changes, the new task force, and what it means for transparency and taxpayers.
CESA's and 'Voluntary' Consolidation (H.955) (2026)
Our overview and of the follow up bill to Act 73 that creates regional cooperative educational service areas (CESAs), mandating district merger studies, and delays the foundation formula to 2030.
4. Education Quality
Vermont’s School Quality: The Invisible Elephant in the Room
Economist Art Woolf looks past the funding debate to the question lawmakers skipped—school quality—showing that, even after adjusting for demographics, Vermont ranks near the bottom on graduation rates and NAEP scores.
Mississippi Students Now Outperform Vermont Students
Mill Moore examines the NAEP data showing Vermont 4th-grade reading and math scores falling below the national average while Mississippi climbs into the top tier—and what proven instructional reforms could mean for Vermont.
5. Housing Policies
Act 250, The First 50 Years, and Beyond
Retired professional engineer Blair Enman draws on 50+ years of Act 250 experience to argue the permitting process has stifled rural housing and economic growth and warns that Act 181's tiers risk entrenching a divide between urban and rural Vermont.
Delaying Parts of Act 181's Rural Land Use Provisions (S.325) (2026)
Our overview and analysis of the bill recalibrating Act 181 implementation—repealing road-jurisdiction and Tier 3 provisions, extending housing exemptions through 2028.
Ben Kinsley applies Ezra Klein's "abundance" framework to Vermont's housing crisis, making the case for a YIMBY approach that grows the housing supply rather than rationing scarcity.
The Senate's 2025 Housing Bill (Act 69) (2025)
Our overview and analysis of the bill that created the Community Housing and Infrastructure Program (CHIP) as well as a number of other housing investment programs.
By-Right Housing and Other Policies (S.328) (2026)
Our review of the 2026 bill that would create housing-first policies in downtown areas and end exclusionary practices that prevent smaller housing units from being built in village centers.
6. Taxes & Fiscal Policy — Legislative Updates (2026)
Legislative Update: Who Pays, and How Much?
Our ongoing legislative updates track the debate over restructuring income tax brackets, a proposed investment income surtax, property tax yields, and Act 181, asking the fiscal questions of "who pays, and how much."
7. Demographics & Workforce
Vermont Population Growth: Why it Matters
Economist Art Woolf explains why Vermont's stagnant population—deaths outnumbering births and minimal net in-migration—threatens the workforce, the tax base, and long-term prosperity.
Our report using Census and IRS data on who moves in and out of Vermont, the income they bring, and why housing availability—not new tax surcharges on high earners—is the smarter lever for changing our demographic trajectory.
February Newsletter: Vermont's Demographic Crisis Accelerates
In our February 2026 newsletter we break down the mechanics of Vermont’s demographic crisis and why we should all be concerned about Vermont experiencing the sharpest population decline out of any state.
Stay Current
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We share this work in the spirit of better-informed campaigns and more accountable government, not to advance any political ideology, party, or agenda. We do not endorse candidates, but we do encourage them to review the information we provide and will respond to thoughtful questions. If we can help finding data or providing information on an issue you're discussing with voters, please reach out at [email protected].