Senate committee hears proposals to expand Vermont career pathways after presenters flag falling graduation and college-continuation rates

Tom Chaney, executive director of Advance Vermont, and Carolyn Weir, executive director of the McClure Foundation, told the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee on Tuesday that Vermont needs better, more accessible career and education pathways to meet employers’ needs and to shore up students’ chances of completing postsecondary credentials.

The presenters pointed to state and national data showing declines in several measures of educational continuation and attainment and urged the Legislature to sustain and scale programs that link high school students to community‑college credentials and careers.

Why this matters: Committee members were shown data the presenters said come from the Agency of Education, the New England Secondary Schools Consortium and other sources indicating that Vermont set a policy goal in 2019 of 70 percent of working‑age Vermonters holding a postsecondary credential by 2025, but that 2023 figures cited in the hearing put the state at about 59 percent attainment. Presenters also said high school graduation has fallen from roughly 90 percent around 2017 to about 83 percent most recently, and that college enrollment among graduates has dropped to about 40 percent from about 54 percent in 2019.

Tom Chaney said Advance Vermont’s work focuses on giving students and the adults who advise them the information and tools to plan education and career pathways. "We believe that career and education navigation is really critical," Chaney told the committee. He described Advance Vermont’s MyFutureVT website, an online hub that the nonprofit maintains to list careers, training programs and local job openings, and a separate AI‑based Vermont Employment Pathfinder tool that can match skills to jobs and build résumés.

Carolyn Weir described philanthropic steps her foundation has funded to create and scale "accelerated, debt‑free" associate‑degree pathways at Community College of Vermont (CCV). She said CCV’s early‑college and related programs can let students earn substantial college credit while still in high school and that, in McClure Foundation‑supported pilots, students on those pathways have completed associate degrees faster and at higher rates than typical cohorts. "Early college made college seem more achievable," Weir said, recounting students’ accounts.

Presenters and senators discussed equity and labor‑market alignment. Committee members noted disparities by gender and generation: presenters said female students enroll in college at higher rates than males and that first‑generation college students enroll at lower rates. Chaney highlighted that roughly three‑quarters of the state’s “most promising” jobs — occupations identified by workforce analyses — require a credential.

Funding requests and policy asks were a major focus. Chaney said Advance Vermont requested $350,000 in base state funding; he told the committee the House budget included $200,000 for the organization. Weir said the McClure Foundation has funded a five‑year commitment to make CCV’s early‑college pathway effectively tuition‑free for participating students and asked the state to codify and take on the program in coming fiscal years. She said the foundation’s scaled pathway costs ‘‘less than a million dollars this fiscal year’’ and asked the Legislature to consider a nominal commitment in FY2026 and a larger appropriation in FY2027 so the model could continue without the foundation as sole funder.

Committee members asked for more detail on data sources and measurement. Senators and staff raised the National Student Clearinghouse enrollment records, the New England consortium data and Agency of Education dashboards as sources, and urged that the state validate figures and examine drivers of the decline in graduation and continuation (pandemic effects, cost, work‑family balance and other barriers were discussed). One senator asked for school‑level graduation counts to avoid possible distortion from averaging school rates.

Presenters emphasized that the solutions they described are not limited to higher education alone: they recommended stronger career advising in high school, expanded work‑based learning and apprenticeship routes, support for teacher pipelines and continuation of loan‑forgiveness and navigator programs. Weir framed the proposal as part of a broader "big blur" strategy to align grades 11–14 so the final years of high school and the first two years of college function more seamlessly for students seeking credentials.

The committee did not take any formal votes during the presentations. Members asked presenters to return with further data and with bill language; Weir said Representative Reese Link and other legislators had sponsored related legislation in the House (she cited an identifying number during the hearing). Lawmakers signaled interest in coordinating with the Senate Education Committee on graduation trends and on potential funding for the CCV pathway.

Looking ahead: Presenters asked lawmakers to sustain funding for navigation tools (MyFutureVT and related platforms), to consider codifying and funding the accelerated early‑college associate‑degree pathway, and to support targeted steps to diversify and stabilize the teacher workforce. Committee members asked for follow‑up briefings and school‑level data to inform any budgetary or statutory steps.

Ending: The committee took no action at the hearing but asked staff to gather additional source data and follow up with the presenters. Advance Vermont and the McClure Foundation said they would return with more detailed cost and outcome figures if the committee requests them.