Legislative Breakfast Focuses on Education
By Chris Costanzo

At the Bethel Business Association’s legislative breakfast held Monday, March 26, Gov. Jim Douglas told The Herald that it was not true that he, the speaker of the house and the president pro-tem of the senate have agreed not to change Vermont’s school funding system at this time.

That allegation had been made at the previous legislative breakfast in February by Rochester’s Sandy Haas who represents Bethel, Rochester, Stockbridge and Pittsfield in the Vermont House, and also by Windsor county senator Dick McCormack.

Douglas noted that the actual agreement was to work together on the problem and to address each other’s initiatives constructively, saying, "What I, the president pro-tem, and the speaker agreed upon was to share proposals regarding educational costs, and not to criticize each other’s ideas." 

In his public comments, the governor said that despite the number of colleges per capita in Vermont, the state has one of the country’s least affordable systems of higher education. In view of the increasing requirement for a baccalaureate degree in many jobs, Douglas said he advocated an aggressive program to bolster higher education, such as using the state’s tobacco settlement money for scholarships.

Bethel’s Jennifer Ankner-Edelstein asked if it would not be better to dedicate any additional funding to high schools rather than colleges, since secondary schools are the real core problem in state public education. Douglas replied that Vermont already puts most of its resources into K-12 education, and places far less than other states into pre-K and higher education.

There was much dialogue between the attendees and the governor about the plight of local schools, which lack an economy of scale, and are forced to pay high taxes and penalties to sustain their high cost-per pupil.

Douglas noted that employers are reporting difficulty recruiting personnel because people don’t want to pay Vermont’s high property tax. He said that Vermont’s property taxes shouldn’t rise faster than paychecks. He noted, however, that his proposal to place a legislative cap on property taxes has been criticized as "draconian" because it tells towns how much they can spend, "but other states do it, and we need that discipline."

The governor noted with satisfaction that Vermont’s health care program initiated last year has garnered national attention for its comprehensive character that goes beyond "just a subsidy program." As the "second oldest state in America" (in terms of aging population), Douglas said that health care is a particularly significant issue for Vermont.  

He also commented on the shortage of housing in Vermont, and noted that 20,000 new homes will be necessary over the next few years, especially in the northwestern part of the state.

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