By Jim Sabataso
RUTLAND HERALD
Lawmakers will tackle a wide range of education issues when they return to Montpelier next month.
In addition to the ongoing struggle of COVID-19, Vermont’s K-12 schools also face staffing shortages, students in need of social-emotional support and ongoing infrastructure needs.
Meanwhile, a pair of legislative reports dealing with education funding and teacher pensions could bring massive, long-term changes to Vermont’s education landscape.
Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, said the first thing he wants to do is get an assessment of what’s currently happening in schools in terms of the pandemic in order to see what kind of support the Legislature can provide.
Related to the pandemic, Campion said there is still work to be done to ensure children are recovering emotionally and academically.
“We made some big investments last year … in after-school programs and summer programs to help support this work. And it’s ongoing. So we want to continue,” he said.
Another priority will be teacher recruitment.
“What would it look like for Vermont to become the best place to teach?” Campion asked. “For us to spend some time on that, I think, is really important (to) start to put some things in place.”
For a potential short-term answer, Campion pointed to a House bill that would allow retired teachers to return to the workforce without negatively impacting their pensions.
“We’re looking at a quick fix to that, and I think that’ll be something that the House will pass over to us pretty quickly,” he said.
Speaking of pensions, Campion said he doesn’t expect lawmakers to back down from finding a solution that protects educators and state employee pensions.
“It’s a promise we made. We need to stick by it. We will stick by it,” he said.
Earlier this year, State Treasurer Beth Pearce sounded alarms over the state pension system, projecting almost $3 billion in unfunded liability. Pearce called for deep cuts in order to maintain long-term sustainability.
The plan drew sharp backlash from teachers and state employees, leading the Legislature to create a task force of legislators, representatives from labor organizations and other state officials to further study the problem and propose possible solutions.
The task force missed its deadline to deliver a final report earlier this month, however, Campion indicated that the group was close to releasing a plan.
“What I’m hoping is, everyone will come out on the same page. Otherwise, things will be at a standstill,” he said.
He added that having a reliable, attractive pension system is another essential teacher workforce recruitment tool.
Beyond pensions, he said more work needs to be done to improve teacher salaries, alleviate student loan debt and provide more support in schools so educators aren’t serving as lunch monitors and school psychologists in addition to teaching.
“We really are asking too much,” he said. “I think we have a ways to go before we can say that we’re doing well by them.”
School choice is another issue on Campion’s radar.
He noted that recent court decisions have begun to open the door for families to use public tuition money to send children to religiously affiliated independent schools.
“We need to put up guardrails — and we’re going to have to do it legislatively — to make sure that taxpayer dollars are not going to support religion,” he said. “If these dollars indeed are going to religious schools, how can we keep them focused and pointed toward academics and not any kind of promoting religion or supporting a particular religion?”
Education funding will be another focus.
Campion said the Education and Finance Committees will dig into the pupil weighting task force report.
Earlier this month a joint legislative task force released a draft report that outlined a number of recommendations and proposals that, if implemented, would result in a massive overhaul of the state education-funding system.
Campion said he was pleased with work the task force has done and stressed that the goal should be to make sure schools are getting the money they need to address student needs.
“I think they were tasked with a real massive effort, and I think they rose to the occasion, and I’m hoping that we’ll take some steps to address some of the things they recommend in the report,” he said.
Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, task force co-chair, said she is being realistic about the Legislature’s take on this session and doesn’t expect any sweeping changes, but expressed hope that some of the report’s smaller recommendations could be explored or even implemented.
One recommendation Hardy sees potential for action on is transitioning the measurement for students living in poverty from eligibility for the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) to a universal income declaration form.
Another could be creating an “Education Tax Advisory Committee” to oversee updates to the system.
“If we could create that this session, then that would create a body and a structure that would have oversight over school finance in a way that would be helpful,” she said.
Rep. Larry Cupoli, R-Rutland, vice chair of the House Education Committee, said his committee will have a lot on its plate this session.
School infrastructure will be one area of focus. He noted that an inventory report commissioned as part of the Act 72 school facilities bill was due sometime in mid-January.
Like Campion, Cupoli also expected school staffing to be a top issue for lawmakers.
“This COVID issue has just exacerbated the issues with our schools and school personnel all the way around,” he said. “We know we’re lacking bus drivers. We know we’re lacking all kinds of (supports) for our students.”
And while the pension issue won’t be something the Education Committee will be dealing with directly, it remains a major concern.
“We just can’t continue the way we are. I think everyone appreciates and knows that we just cannot continue the way we’re doing the pension funds they’re way out of control,” he said. “At the same time, we need to protect those people who we’ve contracted with over the years to make sure their pensions are safe.”
Cupoli said a common concern he has heard among his constituents is the cost of living and property taxes.
He said he hoped a $90 million surplus in the Education Fund would help alleviate some of those tax concerns.
Gov. Phil Scott recently proposed that the state apply half that amount to reduce taxes and invest the other half in enhancing workforce development programs, like career technical education centers.
Lawmakers will also get to weigh in on how they’d like to see the funds applied when they return this month.
Cupoli said he’s also mindful of CTE needs and will introduce a bill to increase access to technical schools around the state through virtual learning.
“That’s something I am going to work on pretty hard,” he said.
jim.sabataso @rutlandherald.com
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