Monthly Archives: May 2025

PUBLIC ED: H454 – An Open Letter to the Committee | May 29, 2025

Public Education - OPEN LETTER

to the H454 Conference Committee

OPEN LETTER

May 29, 2025

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

This letter is addressed individually and collectively to the members of the H454 conference committee.

Seth Bongartz, Democrat, Bennington, Sbongartz@leg.state.vt.us
Emilie Kornheiser, Democrat, Windham-7, EKornheiser@leg.state.vt.us
Peter Conlon, Democrat, Addison-2, PConlon@leg.state.vt.us
Curt Taylor, Democrat, Chittenden-20, Ctaylor@leg.state.vt.us
Scott Beck, Republican, Caledonia-Essex, SBeck@leg.state.vt.us
Ann Cummings, Democrat, Washington, acummings@leg.state.vt.us

We’ve been watching you and your compatriots and education matters for some years.

You and others have created a bill (H454) that effectively is a state power grab. The taking of education control from all the communities around the state. All of those communities are full of Vermonters.

That term, “power grab”. It’s so 1960’s. Let’s just say you’re seizing control from the public. That’s the same public – the citizens of Vermont - who have done a tremendous job at education cost control over the decades. The data shows that. It’s quite clear. [1]

If it matters to you, your reputation could well be in tatters. Vermonters – all of them, will know what you’ve done – for good or bad. It’s hard to hide closed schools.

And the little “make believe” stories you tell the public. Like the one saying, “you’ll save money”. The research doesn’t agree. [2] [3]

If anything, it’ll cost more. We ALL know that.

And the people who really know. Who know all the details. Groups like the Rural School Community Alliance, Public Assets Institute, and others.

Talk to them. That is, if you really want the truth instead of “spin” from the numerous vested interest groups.

Listen, you have an opportunity here. Dump the bill. Cite irreconcilable differences or some such thing. Then come back next year with something better. And for you, personally... You’ll look stronger in the process. You’re choice.

Now, there is one other point of view. You could try to fix this bad bill. There are some important suggestions about that below. And by now, you have received quite a few emails with similar recommendations.

Here’s an interesting note...

The state is trying to encourage people to move to Vermont. And at the same time, it’s trying to crush the school system that many of those possible new residents care about.

A special note, to the political contingent from Chittenden county. You may not realize this; a great proportion of those thinking about coming to Vermont come here for the rural countryside and the small schools. And you want to crush all that? That makes no sense. Unless of course, you’re trying to raid the newcomers from the rural areas and drive them into Burlington. But that would mean doing that on the backs (and wallets) of the Vermonters in the rural areas. You’re not trying to do that. Right?

Whatever a person does to earn their way through life will always be done better with a better education. Trades people, healthcare workers, foresters and loggers, engineers, restaurant owners, even politicians. WE are all better with better education.

Now, back to the idea of new people moving into Vermont. I have 1st hand evidence of people who are doing the opposite. They are moving out of Vermont due in large part to your actions in education over the past several years.

These are smart people, experienced, high income earners, and business owners. They have friends. The friends come to visit. This sounds like a positive thing. These outcomes and actions are the same thing the state says it’s trying to do. Do you really want to push them out?

Let’s think. Who would want to do that? Some sadistic person(s) trying to make a society of “compliant dumbed-down people”? Would you hope for a future of Vermont citizens who willingly accept whatever is told to them without critical thinking? You’re not trying to do that. Right?

I only ask the question because the plans in various versions of the H454 bill discussed over the past couple of weeks could well lead to exactly that sort of outcome.

The aforementioned is for your consideration. Be sure to give it a good think. We will stay focused.


Bill H454 is a bad bill and Vermonters are much better-off if it’s dead. 

If that’s not feasible; then at least improve it by making the following 7 adjustments.

  1. The Education bill MUST provide that A VOTE OF THE TOWN MUST BE HELD PRIOR TO THE CLOSURE OF ANY SCHOOL.
  2. The Education Bill MUST NOT include any requirements for MINIMUM number of students in a class.
  3. The Education Bill MUST maintain SUPERVISORY UNIONS (which share administrative services and costs among districts),
  4. The Education Bill MUST include a LEGISLATIVE BOUNDARY TASK FORCE that is
    a. REGIONALLY REPRESENTATIVE OF THE STATE
    b. ACCOUNTABLE TO THE ELECTORATE
    c. TAKES INPUT FROM STAKEHOLDERS in developing 3 educational district maps to present to the legislature for approval.
    d. The Task Force will consult with educational experts and leadership in drafting its district maps.
  5. Should the proposed district maps be found unacceptable to the legislature, the Education Bill MUST
    a. provide for an alternative process that requires the formation of Boards of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) and incentivizes voluntary mergers.
    b. BOCES allow multiple school districts to join together to provide educational services that individual districts might not be able to afford individually.
  6. The Education Bill MUST provide communities with a statement of the TAX IMPACT before committing to using a foundation funding formula for education.
  7. The Education Bill MUST PROVIDE TAX RELIEF, by fixing tax cliffs at certain income levels and by providing FAIRNESS IN THE TAX SYSTEM

Bill H454 is a bad bill and Vermonters are much better-off if it’s dead. 


W. R. Vaughn

Author Info

long-time Barnard resident | 30 year business owner | entrepreneur | international technology consultant | supporter of small farms & big dreams



Are you NEW to this important Public Education matter - Get Caught Up

Your Turn: The Time to Act is NOW...
Your Politicians Need to Hear From You TODAY!

If you have a point of view on this matter or an opinion; this is the time to get your local politicians attention. If you're in Windsor county, here are the email addresses for your Senators.

  • Senator Alison Clarkson, AClarkson@leg.state.vt.us 
  • Senator Joe Major, jmajor@leg.state.vt.us 
  • Senator Becca White, rwhite@leg.state.vt.us

You can easily find the address for your representative below.

If you're in other parts of Vermont, you can easily get the email addresses for the your state senators and representatives below.

Keep this in mind. Particularly for rural schools, towns, and villages (that's most of Vermont) -- where go the schools, so go the towns. In other words; If the schools close, the towns are going to struggle for their existence. Think about it. What conclusion do you come to?

If you're looking for a deeper understanding of all this...
And if you're good at "reading between the lines"

The whole movement to take education control away from local towns and put it in the hands of the governor is usually credited to Governor Phil Scott and his newly appointed and controversial Secretary of Education, Zoie Saunders (formerly of Florida). So you may want to look in that direction. 

You can look here (and other sources)  for more on Saunders.


WATCH: Your Politicians in Action, TODAY

Here is a link to the live stream of the Vermont Senate today. Click on the "Live" tab to get to the live stream. 


Don't Sit in Silence
Contact Info Below

You can find the email addresses for your state senators and representatives by going to this link and searching by your town name.  https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/search/2026



Related Posts


Insert Content Template or Symbol

PUBLIC ED: ACTION ALERT – Asking for Your Help | May 23, 2025

TODAY: Public Education - ACTION ALERT

Asking for Your Help; details below...

May 23, 2025

Today, Friday May 23rd. It’s been several weeks since the last update. Since then much has happened about the future of Vermont’s public education system that you, your family, and neighbors have depended on for generations.

You may have seen articles in other media or notifications from your local school administrators. Let’s just say this....

The action in the political “sausage factory” that we know as Montpelier has been nothing short of a "leaf in a windstorm".

  • At the end of this update, you will be asked to take action.
  • At the end of this update, you will understand why.
  • At the end of this update, you will… (only you can fill in this blank).

If you’re new to this issue and you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s is a link to a previous article(s) that will quickly get you up to speed. Yep, it’s important. You’ll see why.


If you'd like a little motivational music video while you're reading, click on the video.  


To quickly get you caught up with the last few weeks. I’ll hit the highlights in the “cards” below. Each one has a short description and you can dive into the topic if it captures your attention or just go on to the next card.

It Took Generations to get the Vermont Education System Right -- Weeks for Politicians to Destroy It! click for more...

It’s true that it took generations to get the Vermont Public School system to the high level of achievement that the data and test scores demonstrate. And starting around 2016 or so, the state started their sneaky little project to start tearing down the school system. It was called Act 46. There was a lot of resistance from people who were paying attention and understood what was about to happen.

Unfortunately, not enough people realized in time what was happening. And so, some schools were merged into bigger schools. Some schools closed. Of course, lots of promises were made that were really a lot of hot air.

And numerous reports that were supposed to be conducted to show how “good for the state” Act46 was NEVER HAPPENED. Are you surprised?

Yes, there was Covid 19 that came along and interrupted things. But that was several years ago. Still no reports.

So this action to take your power of local school control away from you and put it in the hands of the state. That’s really just the sequel to Act46.

But now, it’s Bigger & Badder. Time to smell what’s in the air. And that’s not from cows...

Don’t let the good work that previous generations created for us go down the tubes.




 

Big City School System in Vermont? – NO THANKS
click for more...

Think about your local school system, your supervisory union right now. How many students in the system? Perhaps hundreds of kid?

Have you or a neighbor asked for something from the school system. You wanted to talk with someone in-charge? You needed something or your child needed something from the school system.

Okay, how easy or difficult was that? You remembering now?

Well how difficult do you think it would be if the school system had over 4000 students (yes, that’s FOUR THOUSAND STUDENTS) to deal with.

Do you expect they’ll pay much attention to you? Uh-huh, that’s right.

And where are those schools going to be? And that’s how far from where you live?
Your local school is close, right? After they finish shutting down the schools it’ll probably be a lot further away.

So  then, what happens to the little kids, the elementary students? Bouncing around on a bus for a couple of hours each day? Some people might consider that a form of torture.

There are more effects of having a Big City school system in Vermont. Give it some thought, you’ll see the other “not so good” things that would happen.

Oh, and what about the money savings? Look at the next card...

 

Public says, “Taxes too high”.
Politicians say, “Don’t Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste”  click for more...

Taxes too high? Yep, but why? They say it’s education but when looking at the Big Picture that does not seem to make sense. Let’s look.

This information was compiled by researchers and came from multiple cross-checked sources and the education numbers were from the National Association of State Budget Officers. https://www.nasbo.org/mainsite/resources/proposed-enacted-budgets/vermont-budget

Let’s look back at the numbers for 1995 (30 years ago) and 2025.

The total 1995 Vermont budget was $2.1 billion.
This year in 2025 it’s $8.6 billion. A 310% increase.

What about your home value?
The average 1995 home value was $95,600.
This year in 2025 the average home value is $414,000. A 370% increase.

How about statewide healthcare costs?
The 1995 healthcare costs was $1.2 billion.
This year in 2025 the healthcare costs are $6.6 billion. A 450% increase

What about the education costs we hear so much about? What are the numbers?
The 1995 K-12 Education spending was $1.3 billion.
This year in 2025 the Education spending was $2.4 billion. A 90% increase.

That means while all those other things had 300% and 400% increases the education cost increase was LESS THAN 100%. Sounds like the schools have been running a pretty tight ship.

Maybe the witch-hunt needs to move elsewhere and let the teachers teach our kids.

Hey Politician, “HOPE” is NOT a plan.
click for more...

On May 10th at a community forum in Addison county a senior senator was heard saying, “…the need to consolidate and remove superintendencies which will "hopefully save money".  

To you, does that sound like significant savings are on the way?  Of course that statement is out of context. But to those who heard it. There was a real message of uncertainty.

And so this uncertainty of saving money would come at a price of what? Destroying Vermont’s education system that your families and friends and neighbors families depend on?
 
Another gem from this senior senator was, “(the new plan) is a lot like Act 46 but with more state involvement”.

That's good to know. The state created Act 46 and that was bad enough. It seems they’re saying; Look out Vermont, we’ll give you the heavy duty version now.  

This, is “Leadership”? Looks like a bunch of 16 year olds waited til the night before to do a term paper. EXCEPT...  click for more...

There’s a reason that lawmaking is referred to as a sausage factory. It’s a messy affair at the best of times. But it can be made worse.
 
The problem is that it comes at your expense. Deal making, favors owed, favors asked, the “back room”. You’ve heard it all before.

Those who are long time legislature watchers have remarked on the particular ugliness in dealing with this so called, education reform.

And maybe that’s all a good thing. The bill (H454) is not just sliding through at midnight.
But there are quite a few new faces in Montpelier. After the last election cycle, there were quite a few new lawmakers who are “new to scene” and may not have the background on the issues to make proper assessments of what’s going on.
 
They’ll learn. Hopefully sooner than later.

And maybe you can help them learn by voicing your opinion on this matter. Click to find the email address of your senator and representative.

 

Hey Politician, Gasoline and a Match is NOT a PLAN!
click for more...

Do politicians wonder how they get such a bad or distrustful reputation? Maybe it’s when they tear down a good thing while telling everyone it’s bad thing and it had to go.

You know what? The ever-trusting public buys into that a lot of the time. Isn’t it amazing that anything works?

But there are somethings that are just sooo bad. And this is one of them.

Your politicians are standing by, ready to hear from you.

 

“Readers are Leaders” & “Learners are Earners”. Read and Understand the unbiased research and come back next year with a real plan.  click for more...

Dear legislator. Take yourself to school. Get valid, unbiased information on this important matter from a source that does NOT have a dog in the fight. Not the superintendents organization or teachers groups, etc.

I think you’ll have good luck as some of your colleagues already have at the Rural Schools Community Alliance. The only dog they have are the citizens of Vermont. And we are NOT dogs!

 

Politician goes into a bar and says, “We came up with 2 options; BAD and WORSE. Which shall we pick?”
click for more...

Some jokes don’t even need a punchline. This says it all, doesn’t it?

Republican vs. Democrat? But wait! There’s more. How about, City (Burlington?) vs. Rural (that’s all the rest of us)? click for more...

We all know about the very common Democrat and Republican split. Although, in state politics there can be less of a split than national politics. But here’s something you don’t often see in Vermont.

Now there’s a city vs. rural split. The city in question usually means Burlington and the neighboring towns.

Here’s a way to look at a split or division between 2 or more groups. Don’t do it. Don’t fall for that old trick. It’s the favorite tactic of those who want to exploit the 2 groups. So don’t fall for it.
Instead, come up with solutions that satisfy both groups. Caution: it may require a little extra thinking.  

 

Your Turn: The Time to Act is NOW...
They Need to Hear From You BEFORE Today's Vote!

If you have a point of view on this matter or an opinion; this is the time to get your local politicians attention. If you're in Windsor county, here are the email addresses for your Senators.

  • Senator Alison Clarkson, AClarkson@leg.state.vt.us 
  • Senator Joe Major, jmajor@leg.state.vt.us 
  • Senator Becca White, rwhite@leg.state.vt.us

You can easily find the address for your representative below.

If you're in other parts of Vermont, you can easily get the email addresses for the your state senators and representatives below.

Keep this in mind. Particularly for rural schools, towns, and villages (that's most of Vermont) -- where go the schools, so go the towns. In other words; If the schools close, the towns are going to struggle for their existence. Think about it. What conclusion do you come to?

If you're looking for a deeper understanding of all this...
And if you're good at "reading between the lines"

The whole movement to take education control away from local towns and put it in the hands of the governor is usually credited to Governor Phil Scott and his newly appointed and controversial Secretary of Education, Zoie Saunders (formerly of Florida). So you may want to look in that direction. 

You can look here (and other sources)  for more on Saunders.


WATCH: Your Politicians in Action, TODAY

Here is a link to the live stream of the Vermont Senate today. Click on the "Live" tab to get to the live stream. 


Don't Sit in Silence
Contact Info Below

You can find the email addresses for your state senators and representatives by going to this link and searching by your town name.  https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/search/2026



Related Posts


Top
>
Password Reset
Please enter your e-mail address. You will receive a new password via e-mail.