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Vermont education leaders press legislature for equitable funding, pre-K ADM and education-fund audit
Summary
Representatives of principals, superintendents and teacher associations urged the Senate Education Committee to protect public education by redesigning funding to prevent unintended consequences, provide transition dollars, count pre-K students fully in the ADM and audit use of the education fund.
Representatives of the Vermont Principals Association, Vermont Superintendents Association and Vermont NEA told the Senate Education Committee on Jan. 24 that any overhaul of K–12 funding must protect students and avoid unfunded mandates. Jay Nichols, executive director of the Vermont Principals Association, said the VPA’s chief priority is “to protect public education and all Vermont children.”
Why it matters: Witnesses argued that broad changes to how education is funded could produce abrupt, local budget shocks that would harm student services, particularly in higher-need communities. They asked the legislature to model changes, fund transitions and ensure public dollars follow consistent rules.
Key points from testimony: Nichols told the committee the VPA supports a “nuanced database approach” to funding changes and requested transition dollars for districts “that may be immediately hit by funding changes in a manner that negatively impacts students.” He repeated the association’s mantra: “same dollars, same rules” — meaning any provider receiving public education dollars should follow the same rules as public schools.
Chelsea Myers, executive director of the Vermont Superintendents Association, asked for a formal education-fund analysis to confirm dollars are used for educational purposes and suggested the legislature consider removing statutes or requirements that no longer serve students. Myers also urged revising the funding formula to incentivize public schools to operate pre-K programs and to provide full ADM (average daily membership) credit for pre-K seats when instruction is provided by appropriately licensed staff.
Specific figures and context cited: Testimony noted a broad house-to-house disparity in per-weighted-pupil spending currently running about $10,000 to $18,000. Witnesses repeatedly warned against imposing new cost items without an identified funding source and flagged health-care cost growth as a significant uncontrollable driver of local budgets; several speakers cited recent double-digit premium increases (Jay Nichols said his organization recently saw about a 12% insurance increase).
What the witnesses want next: The groups asked the committee to require modeling of funding changes, provide transition funding where needed, count pre-K students in the ADM when instruction is delivered by licensed teachers or provisional license holders, and audit the education fund for noneducational uses.
Ending: Witnesses said they will continue to give the Legislature field-based data and fleshed-out recommendations as funding proposals move forward.
