Dear Chairman Marcotte and Members of the House Commerce Committee,
On behalf of Campaign for Vermont, I am writing regarding draft 26-0768, which would create a statewide Career and Technical Education Educational Service Agency (CTE ESA). We appreciate the Committee’s focus on strengthening CTE and agree that Vermont must modernize its education delivery systems to better support workforce development, improve efficiency, and expand opportunity for students.
However, we are concerned that creating a standalone statewide CTE ESA moves Vermont in the wrong structural direction. The central issue is not whether CTE deserves stronger support, it does. The issue is whether CTE governance should be further separated from the broader K–12 system at the very moment Vermont is debating larger education transformation.
CFV’s proposal that we released last March takes a different approach. Rather than isolating CTE into its own statewide entity, we recommend organizing education governance around Vermont’s existing CTE regions by consolidating supervisory unions around them into new regional ESA structures. This creates vertical alignment between local schools, regional administration, and career and technical education. In other words, CTE becomes the organizing backbone of a more coherent K–12 system rather than a parallel structure operating beside it.
A statewide CTE ESA may improve central coordination and funding, but it also risks creating a governance model in which CTE is even further disconnected from the day-to-day realities of local schools, student scheduling, transportation, staffing, and academic planning. Students should not experience CTE and K–12 education as separate systems. Their success depends on those systems working together. If Vermont moves toward broader K–12 reform while placing CTE into a separate statewide authority, we risk creating exactly the kind of fragmentation reform should solve.
By contrast, the CFV proposal recognizes that CTE should sit at the center of a better-aligned education structure. Our proposal to consolidate supervisory unions around the State’s CTE centers would reduce administrative overhead while better integrating career pathways, middle and high school exposure, workforce preparation, and local governance. It also addresses a long-standing challenge: CTE is too often disadvantaged in funding and decision-making because it is not structurally integrated into the systems that shape educational priorities.
This vertical alignment is especially important for workforce development. If Vermont wants stronger career pathways, better student transitions, and more responsive programming, CTE must be embedded in the larger educational framework—not separated from it. Alignment across grades, schools, and regions is what will make CTE more effective, not simply centralizing authority at the State level.
For that reason, we urge the Committee to reconsider whether draft 26-0768 should create a fully statewide CTE ESA, or whether it should instead move toward a model that aligns CTE governance with broader K–12 restructuring. At minimum, any reform should ensure that CTE governance, funding, transportation, and program planning are fully integrated with the rest of Vermont’s education delivery system.
Thank you for your consideration and for your work on this important issue. We would be glad to discuss CFV’s proposal in greater detail with the committee and offer additional recommendations as the Committee continues its review.
Best regards,
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Ben Kinsley Executive Director |
CFV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization comprised of over 20,000 Vermonters and dedicated to the vision of a more prosperous Vermont and growing middle class. We seek to accomplish these goals by reconnecting Vermonters to their government and advocating for more transparent and accountable policymaking.