You suggest “Vermont’s rural schools could easily be met with the rapidly growing demand for access to American educational systems around the globe” and cite the success of private schools attracting Asian students.

Having spent considerable time in China over a decade, and leading presentations on American higher education in various Chinese cities, there’s a significant hole in your assumptions.

Asian families are very brand conscious. While several Vermont private schools have established themselves as a brand in China, this took years to accomplish. It’s far from an automatic that Vermont public schools would have success in accomplishing this. In addition, “ranking” of schools and colleges is of upmost importance to many Asian families.

Prestigious private schools in Massachusetts (where I now reside) and elsewhere have successfully developed a reputation in China but only after significant time and effort.

There’s also the question of geography. I helped introduce a Chinese delegation to two investment projects in the State and they were surprised by the sparse population and resources. They did not bite on either opportunity.

Finally, in managing a summer bridge program at UVM exclusively for Asian students we were challenged to coordinate assimilation with other students. Language was a significant barrier and students found a strong preference to stay within their own group. This reality was the subject of many discussions at international education conferences.

This would be extremely difficult to manage without a critical population of students and even getting to this point highly unlikely. The first question parents would ask is: “How many students from China are in your school?”

Hopefully your analysis of the challenges to education funding reform and pragmatic solutions takes on a more serious tone.