The Senate is getting ready to vote on a historic education reform package (H.454) as soon as tomorrow. The bill includes major reforms to the financing of education in the state that are similar to the proposal we released in March. This overhaul will correct the tragedy of the commons situation that Act 60 has created (which significantly accelerated the growth of education spending in the state). The legislation also tees up major changes to the governance structure of education and creates a working group to come up with a plan for doing so.
The Senate version of the plan is better than the House version for three key reasons:
✅Moves the implementation timeline up from 2029 to 2027.
✅The working group is primarily made up of legislators instead of special interest groups responsible for our current system.
✅Strikes a better balance between local control and economies of scale.
You can find our full analysis of the bill here.
Join us in encouraging legislators to support the work of the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Finance Committee and vote YES on the Senate version of H.454.
The time is now... Join me in writing to legislators!
Tell them act quickly and decisively to reform Vermont's education governance system.
You can also write to legislators individually by looking them up.
On behalf of Vermonters,
Pat McDonald
President, Campaign for Vermont
Pat McDonald’s distinguished career includes 20 years in a wide range of leadership positions throughout state and local government. She served as Commissioner of Labor, Commissioner of Employment and Training, Secretary of Transportation, Deputy Commissioner of Education, Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, and Commissioner of Human Resources (twice) under the Republican and Democratic Administrations of Governors Snelling, Dean and Douglas.