What really needs transformation to improve public education in Vermont
The old system is not only failing our teachers, it’s failing our kids. Just this past fall, the Boston Globe reported that over the last decade “no state fell as far in early reading as Vermont.” Ten years ago, we were top five in the nation in 4th grade reading. In 2024, we ranked 37, and the same pattern repeats across grade and subject.
–Governor Scott’s State of the State Address, Jan. 2026
Although his intent was undoubtedly a call to action to push forward with Act 73, Governor Scott made a compelling case in his state of the state address that our public schools have suffered on his watch. The governor has been in office for almost a decade. However, our state is in worse shape than ever as we contend with the highest health care costs in the country, one of the worst housing shortages in the country, a stagnant economy, declining population and an intrepid public education system that persists in the absence of adequate leadership and support from the administration. We hear repeated rhetoric by the Secretary of Education and Governor about “equity, “opportunity,” and “high-quality education,” with no meaningful initiatives or investments to support the field. It is time that we look at what they do, not just listen to what they say.
Today’s report illustrates why education transformation is not optional, it’s essential. Vermonters know property taxes and education costs continue to grow at unsustainable rates and are making Vermont even more unaffordable. But this report reaffirms why transformation is about more than bending the cost curve, it’s about closing the opportunity gap and delivering a more equitable education for our kids and ensuring every student has access to a high-quality education regardless of their zip code.
–Governor Scott’s response to the Vt Education Snapshot and Annual Report, Feb. 2026
Now, despite the latest data debacle with the rollout of the Snapshot, the Governor looks to score political points to advance a power grab of our public education system while once again illustrating his administration’s failure in overseeing our public schools. To make the inference that a change of governance is the path to improved learning outcomes is irresponsible, presents a binary choice that fails to express the complexity related to changing governance systems, and is an attempt to distract from the failure of the administration to deliver on providing the public education our children deserve. The administration has failed on public education and has offered a plan that only increases disruption, destabilization and loss of community decision making with no ensured cost savings, nor improved learning opportunities and outcomes. It is incumbent upon the administration to bring forward policy solutions that are sound financially and educationally, not simply political posturing in an election year. Vermont deserves better.
Unfortunately, thanks to the unrealistic political proposal put forward by the administration last year, we ended up with Act 73. Law makers didn’t like it but were forced to go along in fear of giving the governor the simple talking point of, “they did nothing.” It has become increasingly evident to lawmakers that massive state directed governance consolidation will not save money while the implementation will cost millions of dollars and there are numerous behind the scenes problems to make it work. Meanwhile, the administration ridiculed the recommendations of the Redistricting Task Force to slow down and not proceed with forced mergers despite they were based on what they had learned from the research, what they came to understand based on the data, and what they heard from actual Vermonters directly.
The Governor perpetuates a false message that the blame for our affordability challenges is public education, with the primary blame for our high spending and declining outcomes placed on our small, rural schools. It is disingenuous to dismiss the rural nature of our state, yet the governor repeatedly does. We have the highest percentage of rural schools of any state. He disregards the value of our community schools as hubs of our communities and promotes school closure as a means to improve opportunity while dismissing the negative impact.
The administration has dropped the ball on numerous initiatives. Here are a few examples:
–The administration’s own report of the status of special education suggests that the Agency of Education never carried out the work needed to support successful implementation of the instructional shifts and improvement of teaching required by Act 173, the reform of special education funding and practice passed in 2018. –The Community Schools initiative has demonstrated promising results through the school communities, yet the administration has not put forward a modest budget request to support an approach that is research based and proven to improve student attendance, increase learning opportunities, expand student supports and ultimately enhance student outcomes. So much for being data driven when the data does not support a political agenda.
–Despite the Department of Labor and McClure Most Promising Job's Report for 2025-26 states K-12 teachers as the highest need over the next 10 years–7460, Vermont has made very limited one-time investments to address the teacher workforce needs and those initiatives were not proposed by the administration. The following statement rings hollow:
“Because we all know, and the data proves, the most important thing we can do for our kid’s education is to expose them to high quality, well-resourced teachers who have the tools to grow professionally.”
–Governor Scott’s State of the State Address
–Given that one of the stated opportunities in Act 168 of 2024, was “providing high-quality, evidence- and science-based professional development in a coherent and consistent way,” it is ironic that the administration did not support implementation, but is now claiming it cares about quality learning. Meanwhile, the administration has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in hiring out of state consultants, but not adding capacity to support the field.
We know the Secretary is new to Vermont, and public education, but the administration has done little to address the most pressing needs facing schools previously and shows limited interest in addressing them now. Performative Listen and Learn tours, non-existent policy sprint teams, continued turnover in the Agency, repeated issues with not providing reliable data demonstrate an ineffective Agency that has in turn resulted in a lack of confidence and trust of the field. Yet the Governor doubles down on a dubious governance proposal that will miraculously transform education.
“In the new system, every child will have access to the same high-quality education. …We’ll have strong early literacy, a full curriculum with arts, sciences, foreign languages, and career pathways. …For teachers, it means equitable pay, professional development, and more time to teach. …For communities, it means schools that attract families, support employers and add to the economy. And for Vermont, it means a system that’s financially sustainable, so education costs no longer crowd out all the other important needs.”
– Gov.Scott’s State of the State Address
The Governor is pitching for more control of public education and public education funding. Why should we believe the Governor has the right solution for high taxes and improved outcomes now after almost 10 years of inattention on public education. Vermont’s outcomes were better before consolidation under Act 46. Vermont’s outcomes were better before going to a Secretary of Education appointed by the Governor vs a Commissioner of Education appointed by the State Board. Vermont’s outcomes were better before the Agency shrunk its capacity and began to rely on outsourcing to out of state consultants. Simply, Vermont’s education system was better off before Phil Scott became Governor. Time to stop the mythical map quest to solve our problems. Make strategic investments in supporting our public schools and fix the property tax.
John A. Castle, VREC Executive Director
This commentary is the view of the author and not a formal statement issued by VREC.
