DIGGER DIALOGUE: A Q&A with Ed Secretary Dan French
Dan French speaks during a press conference announcing his appointment as Vermont’s education secretary. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger Dan French, Vermont’s new secretary of education, is a big...
View ArticleBoard gives OK to state’s initial No Child Left Behind waiver plan
Fayneese Miller, chair of the State Board of Education. VTD/Josh Larkin Vermont will likely get a reprieve from the No Child Left Behind Act under new rules set by the Obama administration. Gov. Peter...
View ArticleVermont loses out on millions in Race To the Top funding
Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca. VTD/Josh Larkin RANDOLPH – Vermont’s hopes to cash in on some $500 million in federal monies for early education were dashed Friday when the Departments of...
View ArticleShumlin wants to return more than 1,000 workers to Waterbury
MONTPELIER – State workers displaced by Tropical Storm Irene got a look at their forwarding address Thursday from Gov. Peter Shumlin. In his annual budget address, the governor told lawmakers that his...
View ArticleSchneider: The world of Super Intendents
Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Rama Schneider of Williamstown. Welcome to the world of Super Intendents and mandated school consolidation. According to Gov. Shumlin we should be changing our for-now...
View ArticleCross: School spending in Vermont
Editor’s note: This op-ed is by George Cross, a former representative from Winooski. There is a constant barrage of opinions about school spending in Vermont. The Picus study and the Dover-Wilmington...
View ArticleShumlin proposes to make algebra and geometry mandatory for high school students
Gov. Peter Shumlin, Feb. 22, 2012. VTD/Alan Panebaker Math = jobs. Local companies can’t find workers who have enough of a grounding in mathematics to run manufacturing equipment — or who qualify for...
View ArticleThree percent school spending increase could drive statewide property tax up...
New proposed legislation would have the state collect property taxes instead of towns. VTD/Josh Larkin The Legislature will likely need to raise the statewide property tax rate by 2 cents, the head of...
View ArticleEducation would be governor’s purview, under House bill
Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca. VTD/Josh Larkin The governor is one step closer to becoming the chief education officer in Vermont. The House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that...
View ArticleShumlin: Cabinet-level position “gives governors a stake” in education
Gov. Peter Shumlin signs H.440. Photo by Taylor Dobbs Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a bill on Thursday that moves the education system directly under the governor’s control. The bill, H. 440, created a new...
View ArticleVermont breaks with the federal government on education reform
Vermont’s educational system has received high marks for many years. It routinely ranks close to the top on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, came in third last year among states with a...
View ArticleVermont student science scores remain flat
Vermont’s science scores are in from the NECAP assessment administered last spring, and “they aren’t anything to crack champagne over,” acknowledges Michael Hock, director of educational assessment for...
View ArticleOhanian: Putting a test on computer doesn’t make it up-to-date
Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Susan Ohanian of Charlotte, a longtime teacher and author of 25 books on education policy and practice. Her website is at www.susanohanian.org. The press release...
View ArticleCandidates for new secretary of education position come from divergent...
Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca. VTD/Josh Larkin Armando Vilaseca, the commissioner of the Department of Education, will compete with two longtime Vermont superintendents for the new Secretary...
View ArticleVermont fourth-graders slip in latest science assessment test
Photo courtesy Idaho National Labratory/Creative Commons Science scores for Vermont’s fourth-graders slipped 6 percentage points in 2013. Only 47 percent of students scored at a proficient level or...
View ArticleState board questions Dan French over Kurn Hattin review
The original building of Kurn Hattin Homes for Children in Westminster. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger Members of the State Board of Education sharply questioned Secretary of Education Dan French on...
View ArticleAs Covid cases decline, Vermont winds down contact tracing contract
The Zampieri State Office Building on Cherry Street in Burlington houses the Vermont Department of Health headquarters and other state offices. Wikimedia Commons photo The state is moving away from...
View ArticleFeds reject Vermont’s $15 million education IT proposal; state required to...
The international firm, TPI, won a $499,000 contract to assess the state's IT system. Photo from stockxchng The federal government rejected a $15 million grant proposal from the Vermont Department of...
View ArticleCharting a course for education? Two analyses, two different answers to cost...
Gov. Jim Douglas reads to schoolchildren This is a tale of two charts. Each addresses a factor that has a profound impact on the quality and cost of education in the state of Vermont: student-teacher...
View ArticleZenie: New expectations add costs to education
Editor’s note: This oped is by Rep. John Zenie, Chittenden 7-1, Colchester. For the past two years I served on the House Education Committee. There were fundamentally two subject matters that drove all...
View Article$62 million “jobs bill” will soften Vermont’s budget woes slightly
Congressman Peter Welch, D-Vt. The U.S. House approved a $26 billion state aid package on Tuesday that will bring a total of $62 million to Vermont in education and extra Medicaid funding. The “jobs...
View ArticleMcClaughry: The Vicious Acts of 2010
Editor’s note: This op-ed is by John McClaughry, vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute (www.ethanallen.org). For years afterward it was called “The Vicious Act of ’92”. Act 20 of 1892 decreed the...
View ArticleZenie: Ed spending reduction targets could become mandatory
Editor’s note: This op-ed is by John Zenie, a member of the Colchester School Board and a Vermont State Representative until January 2011. Vermonters want the best quality educational system at an...
View ArticleVermont schools come up $15.8 million short on Challenges target
Crossett Brook School Most Vermont school districts balked at the Challenges for Change target reductions for fiscal year 2012. In the aggregate, Vermont schools will be $15.8 million short of the...
View ArticleCross: Should have listened to Willie Sutton
Editor’s note: This op-ed is by George C. Cross of Winooski. When asked why he robbed banks, the notorious Willie Sutton supposedly responded, “That’s where the money is.” Unfortunately, the architects...
View ArticleDaybell: Closing the schools that are closing the achievement gap
Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Morgan Daybell, the executive director of the Vermont Progressive Party. Montgomery Elementary School (disclosure: I serve on the board and am a parent) was recognized...
View ArticleMathis: Dim glow emanates from “Lighthouse Schools”
Editor’s note: This op-ed is by William J. Mathis, the managing director of the National Education Policy Center and is a former Vermont school superintendent. Since the 1970s, education reformers have...
View ArticleSmall schools, big changes, Part 1: Changing the heart of a town
Editor’s note: This is part one of a two part series by Max Breiteneicher of The Commons. “A school or schools shall be established in each town, by the Legislature, for the convenient instruction of...
View ArticleState board: Keep education focused on students, not politics
Members of the Vermont State Board of Education have testified before the House and Senate Education Committees regarding the Board’s major objection to the proposal of having the Commissioner of...
View ArticleVentriss: Rethinking education governance
Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Lisa Ventriss, president of the Vermont Business Roundtable, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of 110 CEOs of Vermont’s top private and nonprofit employers. In the...
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