Sue Ceglowski, Executive Director of the Vermont School Boards Association (VSBA), welcomed the Senate Education Committee back to Montpelier on Thursday and shared her organization’s priorities for 2024. She started by focusing on Act 29, the School Safety law, which required school districts to adopt policies on access control and visitor management by August 1st, 2023. However, the Agency of Education (AOE) its guidance in September, and the VSBA worked with the AOE to align their model policy with the revised guidance.

The Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) presented the Education Fund Outlook based on the December 1^st letter from the Tax Department to the House Ways & Means Committee on Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, the Senate Education Committee reviewed their 2023 bills with Legislative Counsel. Bills that were passed but not signed into law were looked at as possible priorities. These included S.133 (miscellaneous) and S.134 (school construction).

Senator Lyons, Chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee discussed some of the primary issues they would be addressing during the 2024 session. Her overall emphasis was on Health Care access. Act 81 would address health care related to housing and homelessness.

The House Government Operations Committee heard from the chair of the Public Safety Task Force (Commissioner Morrison, Department of Public Safety) on Tuesday. The Task Force was established under Act 78 to create a statewide communication system for first responders and law enforcement. She introduced her co-chair Barbara Neal, the Executive Director of the enhanced e911 board. Neal talked about the members of the task force and the work accomplished to date. They have held 30 meetings since the task force’s inception, but the Commissioner noted that there are some who think they have nothing to show for it. 

The challenges heading into the 2024 legislative session have never been greater and the division in our state leadership has never been more pronounced. Regular Vermonters are exasperated with their Government's increasing polarization and we are here to give them voice.

Here are our legislative priorities for 2024:

With the 2024 legislative session just weeks away Campaign for Vermont commissioned a statewide public opinion poll looking at a number of contested policy differences between the Legislature and the Governor to see what Vermonters actually think. The results surprised us.

The final batch of poll results released by CFV show rising concerns about Vermonter's safety and the new payroll tax. Results also showed that the legislature's effort to increase their pay and benefits did not sit well with voters and a surprising level of support was found for a hypothetical Taxpayer Bill of Rights policy that mirrors Colorado.

In the third batch of poll results released by CFV (see below), we discover Vermonters thoughts and feelings around climate change and the efforts of the state to address our obligations to the environment. While two-thirds of Vermonters support the goals of the Paris Climate Accord and carbon-neutrality, most are not willing to shoulder any additional financial burden to meet those goals. Further, specific policies the Legislature is advancing do not hold up well to public opinion.