Leadership Matters
Study this chart. It tells a very important story. It plots the key education system metrics of all 50 states on two axes. States with higher spending per student are to the right, lower spending is to the left. Better performance is up, worse performance is down. The size of the circle represents the number of students. Colors indicate geographic location. Upper left is good (high performance at low cost). Bottom right is bad (poor performance at high cost). Vermont is ALONE at the bottom right. We’re not just bad, we’re TERRIBLE!
Our high-cost/low-performance education system is KILLING Vermont. It’s driving up housing costs by driving up property taxes to pay for education. Vermont’s businesses are not getting the skilled graduates they need. Even Vermont’s roads and bridges are suffering the effects of transportation funds being diverted to pay for education. None of Vermont’s other problems can be solved while every available dollar is being absorbed by our failed education system.
This dire situation didn’t happen overnight, and the causes are many – a continuing decline in student populations in a rural state, strong resistance to losing local control of schools, aging infrastructures, and broad resistance to the hard choices required to exert meaningful change. Over the past 30 years, our Vermont Legislature has been unable and/or unwilling to make those hard, but necessary, changes to our education system. And look at where it has gotten us.
It is time for new leadership if our education crisis is to be resolved. Our Vermont education system funding and structure is the direct responsibility of our State Legislature, and it is crystal clear that the people who allowed us to fall to the bottom right-hand corner of this chart are NOT the people who can get us out of it. Democrats have held the majority in Vermont’s Legislature for 40 years. Now, it’s time to give the Vermont Republicans the reins. Leadership matters.
This session, the Governor and Republican legislators put forth real solutions for education transformation in committees and negotiations. The final result achieved many of those goals, but with an additional year delay and further approvals required before the critical cost saving structural changes and foundation formula go into effect in July 2029.
For more examples of examples of the devastating effects of poor leadership in our Vermont State Legislature over the past several decades click HERE.
Vermont has problems. Vermont Republicans have solutions.
Stay tuned and stay engaged.
I remain honored to be your Representative,
Rob North
Addison, Ferrisburgh, New Haven, Panton, Vergennes, and Waltham
