MONTPELIER – The governor and his education secretary today released their annual list of public-school winners and losers and used it to justify their plans to radically upend what Vermonters cherish – their local public schools. The following statement can be attributed to Don Tinney, a high school English teacher who serves as the president of Vermont-NEA:
“On behalf of my fellow 13,000 members who work hard every day to ensure that every child receives a great public education, I am disappointed but not surprised that Governor Scott and his education secretary would politicize the Vermont State Report Card with its assessment results in an effort to pit schools and communities against one another. So instead of buying into this rhetoric, let me be clear: we are dedicated to meeting the needs of all children; we support strong communities anchored by locally controlled public schools; and we strive to continuously improve our strong public schools.
“The governor clearly has an agenda to upend our system of local public schools. What is most stunning is that just a month ago in his State of the State address he was praising the work of educators and acknowledging the challenges they and their students face. Instead of debating how we can ensure that all schools deliver excellence every day, he continues to beat up on public schools and the educators that work in them. The whole debate ignores what Vermonters really want: a change in how we pay for public schools and an elimination of the unpredictable, opaque, and complex education property tax.
“Time and again, Vermonters elect to keep their communities’ schools open. Time and again they overwhelmingly pass their local school budgets. And time and again they clamor for a simpler way to pay for schools that ensures that the wealthiest Vermonters pay their fair share.
“The governor’s “report card” comes after he has been in office for nearly a decade, a decade spent bashing our public schools while failing to address important underlying demographic issues that impact our communities and schools.
“We implore everyone who supports Vermont students and the hard-working public-school educators who serve them to join us in our fight for great public schools.”
