Education
“Education is fundamental and it’s a keystone of economic opportunity for all Vermonters and especially women.”
Education is a fundamental keystone to economic opportunity for all Vermonters. Schools are the heart of our communities. To give our children their best futures, we must focus on education from pre-k through higher education. We need educational opportunities for all Vermonters seeking more education, including trade schools, internships and mentoring, that meet them where they are and help them realize their full potential as members of our communities.
We must support and respect our teachers for the vital services they provide to our children and our state. We are continually asking them to do more: prepare for active shooters, deal with health emergencies, update their teaching to a trauma-informed curriculum and more. Teachers dedicate themselves to educating our next generation and are part of an education system that will draw young families to our state.
We must expand our understanding of societal issues that inhibit learning and overextend teachers, such as poverty, substance abuse, migration and mental health challenges, and work to address them. If the government were to closely connect the Department of Health and the Agency of Human Services with the Agency of Education and working with frontline state, local and designated agency employees, we could find ways to save money by reducing redundancy, provide a stronger continuum of care and improve outcomes for some of our most vulnerable Vermonters.
During the 2020 campaign, David proposed changing the name of the Department of Human Services to the Department of Human Opportunity. Right now that Agency is focusing on programs that help people survive. However, we need to do more than help people survive, we need to be working to help people get to a better place. This means families would have the stability, support and the economic opportunities they need to help their kids succeed. We need that for our state and communities and for our children. By renaming this The Agency of Human Opportunity, we would send a clear message that aligns all our partners and the services we provide with a vision and goal. This, however, would not be easy. Making changes and ensuring we have improvements would require not just ideas and shifting our focus, it would require putting our assets in the right places and managing them with a mission. Read our Press Release about this or watch our Press Conference.
Vermonters show their support for their local schools by passing the vast majority of school budgets each year. As our student population declines and other school costs increase, it may be time to rethink how we fund our schools and what we need to do to invest in schools of all sizes. Schools are a natural gathering point in many communities. By expanding the ways we use public school spaces, including expanding them into community centers, we could build connections between different community members, including folks of all ages, entrepreneurs, small businesses and others. This could also expand financial resource opportunities for our schools.
David believes we should immediately make services and support for children and families easier to access. Frontline employees and those receiving services should be at the table when we create family friendly and accessible legislation and plans. When we were first confronted with the opioid crisis we realized people needed easier and more consistent and effective access to services and we created the hub and spoke model. It worked and, while challenged by COVID, is still working. We need to bring the services that kids and families rely on into their communities. Our government could partner with schools and use our investment in these buildings for the whole community. This would open up conversations and negotiations about the State renting space from our school districts instead of redundantly spending on state office buildings, many of which are leased and not even owned by the state. This would help our schools with revenue for their budgets and meet the goal of greater accessibility for our families and children. Read the Press Release about this or watch our Press Conference from the 2020 campaign.
Members of our communities, parents, and families need to have a say in the future of our schools. We all know that schools are the heart of our communities. However, many small schools are struggling with reduced enrollment and untenable merger options. During the 2020 campaign, Lt. Governor Zuckerman was joined by over forty guests for a conversation about the intent of Act 46, improvements to the merger process, opportunities to strengthen community schools, and how the next governor could support community schools. Watch this conversation in the video below.
We are facing a shortage of people prepared to work in the trades. We should support these solid occupations and celebrate both those who want to attend higher education and those who want to learn a trade in Vermont. In addition, we should encourage demographic groups who have historically been underrepresented in the trades, including women, to take advantage of these opportunities in Vermont. Trade schools and higher education should be affordable and accessible to those who want to take that path, which is why free in-state tuition for Vermonters is important.
We must support our Vermont State Colleges. They are economic drivers in our rural communities, and offer hope and a path forward for countless Vermont students. Watch David’s Press Conference or read the Press Release calling for fully funding these institutions during the 2020 campaign.
We should also support universal afterschool and pre-K education. These programs keep our youth safe, and working families need reliable childcare options. We must work to destigmatize parental childcare and uplift the women and men who provide this vital service to our society. Childcare is a part of our children's growth and education. We need to increase access to high-quality, affordable, child care for those who must or choose to work. By supporting and expanding programs like T.E.A.C.H., we would not only improve education for Vermont’s children, we would raise wages for workers in a field dominated by women.