Don’t Read the Addison Independent?
In case you’re not a regular reader of the Addison Independent newspaper, I am providing for you here my responses to their candidate survey questions. I believe these are planned to be published in the Oct 1 and Oct 15 print editions. Here are the five questions and my responses.
#1) Do you believe Act 170 was the best compromise on public education reform? If not, how would you recommend bending the curve on school costs amid declining student enrollment? (max 300 words)
Vermont’s Education system is in crisis. Vermont has the 2nd highest cost per student and is near the bottom of performance metrics with literacy and math proficiency in the 40-44% range. Acts 73 and 170 contain the key ingredients to rectify this by both reducing costs and improving performance, but fall short in the implementation details. The primary key is the foundation formula that ties school budgets to the number of students with a growth-capped dollar value per student. This eliminates the exponential school budget growth currently driving double-digit property tax increases. Sadly, the formula lacks clarity on including our extremely valuable Career Technical Education centers and full effectivity is delayed until 2034 costing taxpayers hundreds of millions. These shortcomings must be remedied next legislative session. Secondly, cost reduction is driven by efficiency of scale, requiring collaboration and merging of administration across existing schools. This retains our valued teachers and small-by-necessity school protections while trimming administrative positions to align with other state’s ratios. Currently, Vermont schools have nearly 3 times the administrative support staff per pupil than other top performing states. There are considerable administrative savings available by sharing services such as IT, HR, finance, maintenance, and transportation. Unfortunately, implementation of this mandates two redundant processes, CESAs and merger committees, rather than defining clear savings targets, staffing ratios, and incentives for achieving them. Thirdly, it continues the heightened literacy, math, and graduation requirements, including training for teachers to achieve them. Director Ballard shared “the AOE remains laser focused on strengthening math and literacy instruction and improving student outcomes” employing proven methods such as those used in top performing states. Under Gov. Scott’s leadership, she says “the AOE is building momentum and already seeing statewide progress using VTCAP with recent 4th and 5th grade ELA proficiency showing gains of 5-7%.”
For a an analysis of the relevant metrics necessitating education reform, please see my blog article HERE.
#2) UVM Health Network just trimmed its workforce by 199 positions — including 19 at Porter Medical Center. The Green Mountain Care Board set fiscal year 2027 budget parameters for the state's 14 hospitals calling for a 1.2% decrease in net patient revenue and a 2.9% decrease in commercial rates. Is the state on the right track with health care reform, or is a more seismic change — like universal health care — warranted? (300 words)
Healthcare is one of our major affordability issues and we’re feeling it right here at Porter. The 169% increase in Vermont’s marketplace silver plan premiums between 2018 and 2025, while other states saw modest increases or even decreases, is unacceptable and can’t continue. The GMCB was right to intervene for us and order the decreases. The UVMHN cuts at Porter are what any rational business would do in response. But losing service is not acceptable either. What we need is a system people can afford. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the “benchmark” silver insurance plan premium in Vermont is a staggering $15,600, more than three times the $4,800 for the same plan in New Hampshire. Why the disparity between neighbors? During the 1990s, ME, NH, and VT all adopted similar restrictions on health insurance pricing to pursue government-run “single-payer” healthcare systems. Shumlin ended that effort in 2014 deeming it “not financially viable”, yet many of those policies remain in VT statute today! Both ME and NH modernized their policies after prices skyrocketed. Costs came down, people came back to the insurance market, and premiums fell by thousands for young adults and people in their 60’s. We can do that too! While universal healthcare may sound like a simple answer, we’ve tried the “seismic change” method and it doesn’t work, nor would it bring back staff to Porter. What does work, as our neighbors found, is exactly what Governor Scott initiated in Executive Order 05-26: age rating so younger people rejoin the pool reducing everyone’s rates; non-tobacco incentives; federal innovation waiver dollars; association health plans and stop-loss rules; and protecting the vulnerable with guaranteed-issue for pre-existing conditions. I will support follow-through on these significant common-sense statutory policies laid out by the Governor, not another seismic system redesign.
For a more complete analysis of Vermont’s healthcare affordability, please see my blog article HERE.
#3) What policies would you champion to promote more affordable and workforce housing development in Vermont? Please offer specifics. (300 words)
Business owners across Vermont say they can’t find staff because workers can’t find affordable housing. This is the root cause of many of our problems. “Affordable housing” does not just mean government subsidized housing. It is a livable house that a working Vermonter can afford to mortgage and own. Two things drive housing cost: availability (supply and demand) and property taxes. Property taxes are addressed in the Education discussion. Availability increases when building and refurbishing become cost effective to produce an affordable home. The building costs we can control are driven by permitting. The process is slow, unpredictable, and expensive. At the 2026 Solutions Summit a Democrat Legislator said what many already know: Act 250 and its associated siloed permitting processes are the problem. Repealing these statutes is not the near-term job. Making it stop blocking housing in places where we want housing is. Having repealed Act 181’s Tier 3 and Road Rule, we need to continue what is working: CHIP to finance roads and utility infrastructure to unlock wise developments; Act 250 exemptions for housing construction in designated areas while standard Act 250 rules apply everywhere else; and VHIP and MHIP programs to bring Vermont’s aging housing stock and empty manufactured home lots back into service. But infrastructure funding trapped in a multi-year permit cycle doesn’t get us there. The next step is to improve permitting predictability, speed, and costs by requiring a one-stop-shop for all housing permit applications, concurrent reviews with transparent application status and elapsed time, hard deadlines for housing permits, energy code flexibility to keep prices down, and various permit and mitigation fee reductions. This will have the double effect of reducing housing costs for existing Vermonters and attracting more people to Vermont to staff businesses that desperately need help, thus improving our whole economy.
For an additional view on affordable housing, see my blog article HERE.
#4) Is the state doing enough to promote business growth? If not, how would you catalyze more economic development in Vermont? (200 words)
Vermont already has good targeted business assistance programs like VEGI, STEP, Elevate, and Brownfield Revitalization. And we have businesses that use and promote the Vermont brand well like Vermont Cookie Love, Dakin Farms, and Beta Technologies. What we need is relief from the stack of burdensome policies that drove the need for the targeted assistance programs in the first place. Even with all our natural beauty, Vermont’s net migration is negative. Business owners tell me they can’t find staff because housing is scarce and expensive, taxes punish good years and crush growth, and permitting is a huge barrier to those trying to expand. Kevin Chu of the Vermont Futures Project confirmed the data shows that across all states there is a strong correlation between out-migration and low housing permits per capita. The catalyst? Follow Governor Scott’s lead: build enough housing so workers can live here; make permitting faster and predictable; and reduce the tax load. Businesses will thrive when workers can afford to stay and success is not penalized. Vermont is a beautiful place to live and work. Our policies should stop making that a luxury.
#5) Is there a way to balance protecting personal property rights while also ensuring the public’s right to a clean, beautiful and healthy environment; how do you decide when one or the other take precedence? (200 words)
I don’t see property rights and clean, working landscape as a “one-or-the-other” choice. It’s a “yes-and”. Vermont is the gold standard for our Use Value Appraisal program (aka. Current Use). It does both well. Approximately 2.6M acres is in UVA. That’s 43% of Vermont! Landowners keep title, pay tax on use value instead of development value, and follow a land management plan ensuring sustainable practices. That is conservation WITH people on the land, not INSTEAD of them. UVA has steadily grown for the past 30 years independent of Acts 250, 59, and 181 which too many rural towns saw as government overreach. When the two conflict, I prefer incentives and local control. Vermonters want to be good stewards of their land. Clean water is a must and contamination hurts us all. While the legislature debates solutions to these issues I initiated the Advisory Committee on Clean Water and Agriculture here in our district. We’ve shared concerns, brought in the experts, and are putting practices to work locally. Stewardship is preventing harm and keeping land in production so the next generation can stay. We can live on it, work it, steward it, and keep it beautiful at the same time.
I’ve covered this topic in multiple blogs HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Or, if you prefer to listen, join me on WDEV HERE and scroll ahead to the 1:07 mark to hear my 9/30/2026 interview with Rachel Burgin.
If you would like to hear live discussion on these and other topics from our candidates (including me) please attend the following events:
Addison County Senatorial Forum - Mon, Oct 5th, 6:00-7:30, Kirk Alumni Center, Middlebury College.
Meet Gov. Scott and all Addison County Republican Candidates - Wed, Oct 7th, 5-9pm, American Legion, Armory Ln, Vergennes.
Addison County Farm Bureau Candidate Forum and Annual Meeting - Mon, Oct 12th, 5:30-8:30, St. Peter Parish Hall, Vergennes.
ANWSD Addison-3 Candidate Forum - Tues, Oct 20, 7:00-8:45, Ferrisburgh Town Hall.
Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition Candidate Meet & Greet - Mon, Oct 26th, 6-8pm, UVM Extension, 23 Pond Ln, Middlebury.
Stay tuned and stay engaged.
I remain honored to be your Representative,
Rob North
Addison, Ferrisburgh, New Haven, Panton, Vergennes, and Waltham
