1. Gubernatorial Debate on Education
2. VBE at the Fair
3. Editorial: Who’s Responsible for Education?
4. LEAF Sponsors Still Working
5. Booklet Available: How to Choose a School

VBE last reported in the Vermont Education Report that the candidates for the office of governor have little to say about K-12 education on their web sites. Since our last publication, we have learned that there will be an education debate between the major gubernatorial candidates, Gov. Jim Douglas (R), House Speaker Gaye Symington (D), and Anthony Pollina (P). This debate will be aired, live, September 10, 2008 on Vermont Public Television at 7:30 p.m. This debate is sponsored by the Vermont NEA with Sue Allen, editor of the Times Argus newspaper, as moderator. It will be held in the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph and tickets to watch the debate will be distributed equally among members and supporters of the three candidates. Click here to read the VT-NEA's press release (scroll down to middle of the page).

Fifty tickets to the debate are available to VBE. If you'd like one, please contact Retta Dunlap at vbe@comcast.net, specifying the number of tickets, by Friday of this week.

VBE was at the Addison County Fair & Field Days and the Orleans County Fair during the past month. We talked with more than 500 people and asked them what they thought about school choice. Our primary focus was to ask people who supported parental choice to sign our petition. Parents should be able to choose the schooling that best fits the educational needs of their children. The response was very supportive. VBE stressed that a quality education should be available to all children, not just those whose parents can afford to pay extra. The theme of the table was:

People opened up and told of their experiences with their own education and that of their children. The experiences ranged from harassment to a mismatch between teacher and student. Not only did parents stop by the table but also teenagers and people whose children were grown. People from all forms of educational settings stopped by and signed the petition--people who use and support private schools, public schools, homeschools, and religious schools. Our handouts explained the choices that Vermont currently has and described the current structure of education in Vermont. VBE also made available its latest publication, How to Choose a School in Vermont: A Parent's Guide. 

Ensuring that a child gets a good education is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. This responsibility implies that one is accountable for actions taken, that the education chosen is a good one. There are many ways this can be accomplished. Parents have taught their own children for centuries, and the United States, even before its inception as an independent republic, has had schools of one kind or another. There are many definitions of what constitutes a “good education” as well. This editorial will not cover those definitions but rather who is responsible for that education. Is there someone we can point to? Yes, there is. The responsibility to ensure delivery of a good education lies ultimately with the parents. 

Many parents accept that responsibility by homeschooling their children. Each year, more than 2,000 children are enrolled in homeschooling in Vermont and there are more than two million children in the nation who are being homeschooled. In many cases, the parents of these children are providing the education themselves with no outside help. They have truly taken on the direct responsibility for the education of their children. Other parents, however, choose public or private schools. When parents enroll their children in a school, the school will be acting  "en loco parentis" -- "in place of the parents." These parents have also fulfilled their responsibility for the education of their children by directing that education be delivered by someone else. This is no less a responsibility. 

The United States Supreme Court (USSC) has recognized parental responsibility in education through a court decision, Pierce v. Society (1925). This court case was brought to the USSC when the state of Oregon passed a law stating that the only place children could receive an education was at a public school. This meant that parents could no longer send their children to private schools without facing jail, fines or both. The court overruled Oregon's law, thus giving back to parents their right to decide where their children should go to school. Within the court's decision is this statement: "The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional responsibilities." The court further stated that parents or guardians have the liberty "to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control." The court was clear about who has the ultimate responsibility for the education of children. 

If indeed a child is not a mere creature of the state, and if indeed the parents have the right and a high duty to direct their children's education, then it must be said of all parents, wherever their children are educated. Even the Vermont Supreme Court, in Wood v Eddy (2003), has recognized that parents have a "fundamental liberty interest in the custody and management of their children." This fundamental liberty interest must be afforded to all parents and in the case of education it must be respected whether they have their children educated in a school or at home. 

Yes, others bear responsibility in education:  teachers, principals, and even the children. The state also has an interest in education. Society needs to have productive citizens who have received a good education. The USSC decision in Pierce acknowledged the fact that the state has the power to "reasonably regulate all schools." Thus, the stage is set for healthy tension between the actions of the state or school and parents who love their children and want them to be provided with a good education. 

Parents can and do provide a good education to their children without any state or school involvement whatsoever. But schools cannot successfully fulfill their responsibility to children without parental involvement. The ultimate responsibility to ensure that a good education is provided to children is the parents' whether they provide the education themselves or they enroll their children in a school. 

Once this reality is accepted, who can be against school choice?

Proponents of the Vermont Local Education Affordability Formula (LEAF) continue to talk throughout the state about their proposal, hoping to gain supporters and refinements to their plan as they go. LEAF seeks to address the issue of high property taxes and the “unintelligible formulae” of Act 60, the state’s education tax law passed in the wake of the 1997 Brigham decision mandating more equitable funding for the state’s schools. 

“We’ve really been listening to people,” says Rep. Pat McDonald (R, Berlin) of LEAF’s community presentations. “When we first put LEAF out there, we said it was a framework and needed discussion.”

One of the discussion points is what defines equity. The Vermont State Supreme Court ruled in the Brigham decision that the state needed to address education equity.  LEAF supporters believe that the Brigham decision is still open for analysis and discussion, particularly on the issue of “absolute” equity—whether it’s required and what exactly it is. 

LEAF sponsors’ goal is twofold: to support local education efforts with appropriate help from the state and to relieve local taxpayers of heavy education tax burdens. 

One of LEAF’s guiding principles is that what is controlled locally should be paid for locally. With this in mind, LEAF sponsors welcome discussions on how to pay for things like special education services, which come with various state and federal mandates. 

LEAF sponsors, Rep. Rick Hube (R, South Londonderry), Carolyn Branagan (R, Georgia) and Pat Mcdonald (R, Berlin) have set up a comprehensive web site (www.vermontleaf.com) that provides answers to frequently asked questions about the plan, as well as a way to look at what tax obligations would be under a LEAF plan. Pasted below is the explanation of LEAF from that web site:

How LEAF Works

In summary, each school district would receive a per-pupil grant equal to 85% of the average statewide per-pupil spending for the prior year (we have used a figure of $8,500 for discussion purposes, which would require an additional $158M in revenues). The grant will be funded through existing broad-base tax revenue sources, the existing non-residential education property tax structure, and cost savings accrued under this plan.

There would no longer be a statewide property tax on residential property, and the CLA for residential properties would be eliminated. However, any spending in excess of the grant would be paid for with a property tax raised on the local residential grand list. Towns that spend less than the grant would receive a credit for 20% of the per-pupil savings, as an incentive to hold spending increases below the grant amount. Non residential property would continue to be taxed under the existing structure.
The LEAF proposal would bring transparency and clarity to the local budgeting process - there would be a direct correlation between the decisions of voters and the impact on their tax bills.

Of course, it is difficult to evaluate any new funding proposal without understanding the impact on individual circumstances. For that reason, we have provided tools to help illustrate the impact of our proposal on individual property tax bills. Using the options in the left-hand column of this site, you can lookup your property and see what your education property tax bill might look like under our proposal. We hope that you find the information provided here to be helpful.

Highlights of the Plan: 

• Eliminates statewide property tax for residential properties 
• Eliminates Common Level of Appraisal (CLA) for homesteads 
• Restores local control of school funding 
• Eliminates excess spending penalties
• Eliminates the rural acreage penalty by eliminating the 2 acre limitation
• All special education to be paid from the state education fund 
• Reduces complexity of current education funding plan (Act 60/68) 
• Increases transparency of school funding mechanism 
• Directly ties local education spending decisions to local tax liability 

Parents of school-age children often wonder what to look for in a school, how to judge its quality and appropriateness for their children. Do test scores tell the whole story? Does a low teacher/student ratio translate into superior education? What questions should you ask when visiting schools? And what do you do when you encounter problems with your children’s school?

All these questions and more are answered in VBE’s new 27-page booklet, “How to Choose a School in Vermont: A Parent’s Guide.”  The booklet provides a broad overview of education issues and how they’re handled in Vermont – everything from teacher certification processes to the state’s “framework” for standards and curriculum. It also includes handy lists of web site addresses to get more information on public and private schools, tuition towns, homeschool notification requirements and much, much more. It’s a must-have item for new parents in the state and will be available for a limited time in a bound, printed booklet format.

If you’d like a copy, print out and send in this order form to: VBE, PO Box 255, Woodbury, VT 05681

Yes, I would like the booklet “How to Choose a School in Vermont.”   Send to me at:

Name: _________________________________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Number of copies: _______ @ $5.00 (includes postage) each = ____________ Total enclosed (checks should be made out to Vermonters for Better Education).
 

We do!  Please consider a gift to Vermonters for Better Education, the publisher of the weekly Vermont Education Report, Vermont's ONLY continual source of education news. Send donations to: VBE, PO Box 255, Woodbury, VT 05681. VBE is a nonprofit organization and contributions are tax-deductible.

The VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT is published by Vermonters for Better Education PO Box 255, Woodbury, VT 05681 - 802-472-5491. The Vermont Education Report may be reprinted with the editor's permission. For more information contact: VBE@comcast.net or visit us on the web: http://www.schoolreport.com

VERMONTERS FOR BETTER EDUCATION is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to enlist parents and the public at large in achieving quality educational opportunities for all the children of Vermont by monitoring the state of education in Vermont; promoting the value of educational freedoms for all parents; and giving parents the evaluative tools with which to identify excellence.

Retta Dunlap, executive director
VBE@comcast.net