February 24, 2003

Fix Vermont's School Quality and Cost

Kudos for Sunday's (Feb. 23) Act 60 coverage, particularly the School Funding Primer and Act 60 Numbers. It's abundantly clear that Vermont cannot sustain the cost increases for K-12 education. Unfortunately, student outcomes fail to justify the accelerating spending. Both the fiscal and quality components of Act 60 are broken. The Legislature may fiddle with the funding mechanics, but legislators seem reluctant to exert control of total K-12 spending, the real culprit. State and local policy makers seem unwilling to cap education expenditures.

Declining student enrollment and cost increases driven by healthcare, special education, salaries and administration, are not sustainable. Radical action is needed, yet I find no backbone, let alone a feasible plan, from the Legislature to fix this billion dollar problem.

Remedies must include immediate expansion of school choice well beyond that allowed in Act 150, control of statewide average expenditures per pupil and a funding formula that is simple and as fair as can be devised.

I am personally exasperated with the politics of school funding and the unsustainable increases in costs with so little improvement in student outcomes. The arguments of local vs. state control or Democrats vs. Republicans can no longer be allowed to justify the mess we're in.

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