MONTPELIER – Organizations representing educators, principals, superintendents, and local school boards condemned Gov. Phil Scott’s years-long practice of announcing how he will vote on his local school budget, calling it a political stunt with serious consequences.
“Given the influence your words carry across Vermont and especially within your hometown, I am concerned about the impact of your statement,” said Flor Diaz Smith, chair of the Washington Central School Board and president of the Vermont School Boards Association. “Your comments focused primarily on property taxes, without reference to the academic, social and emotional needs of our students and families.”
Diaz Smith’s comments were echoed by the Vermont Superintendents Association, the Vermont Principals’ Association, and the union representing the majority of public-school employees.
Scott’s very public repudiation of local school boards and the tough decisions they balance when preparing budgets is in service of an agenda that would significantly shift decision-making away from local communities, impose sweeping arbitrary consolidation, and further hamstring funding without addressing the root causes driving costs, according to Don Tinney, a high school English teacher who serves as president of the 13,000-member Vermont-NEA.
“There isn’t a single school board in Vermont that doesn’t carefully craft budgets that meet the needs of their communities’ children,” he said. “By very publicly denouncing the efforts of the school board in his own community, he is clearly hoping other voters go along with him.” Tinney said that while the governor – like all Vermonters – has the right to vote as he wishes, his very public “no” vote does nothing to serve the needs of Vermont’s students.
Superintendents – who, among other responsibilities, carry out the policies of school boards – also condemned Scott’s all-but tacit call for all Vermonters to vote down their budgets tomorrow.
“Our focus remains where it always has been — on students,” said Amy Minor, president of the Vermont Superintendents Association. “School boards and superintendents engage in months of thoughtful, transparent discussions to balance student needs with fiscal responsibility.
“It is difficult to square repeated calls for fiscal restraint and economic growth with a pattern of public criticism unaccompanied by meaningful, collaborative solutions. After nearly a decade in office, Vermonters deserve leadership that advances those goals in partnership with local communities. Strong schools are essential to strong communities and a strong economy.”
The principals’ association said the governor’s remarks are disappointing and counterproductive, especially coming days before Vermonters head to Town Meeting on Tuesday. “Vermonters support local school budgets because they trust their teachers, principals and school board members. This trust is built on relationships forged in doing the hard work of providing our systems with the resources we need at a price that local communities can afford,” said Chris Young, president of the Vermont Principals' Association. “It is disappointing and counterproductive for the governor to use his considerable power to divide communities and the state at a time in which school board members, superintendents, principals, and teachers are working so hard to address the increasing needs of Vermont students.”
The groups noted that the governor has already admonished lawmakers that he will cast future “no” votes if they don’t put the state’s public education system on the path he prefers. During his budget address, he made it clear he will veto the state budget and the annual school spending bill if they don’t contain all the elements of his “reform” roadmap.
“As people who care deeply about the success of Vermont’s students and the strength of Vermont’s communities, we all would prefer that the governor work alongside us to ensure that all students get the free, quality public education guaranteed by our Constitution,” Tinney said.
The organizations call on the governor to lead by example, to bring Vermonters together rather than deepen divisions, and to work in true partnership with the legislature and local communities.
