The Results Are In

The results of spending about $17k per student each year—most in the country last year—the results from Vermont's public school system are in. Vermont students took the Smarter Balanced Assessment test in Spring 2015, and . .

• Grade 3 — 52 percent proficient and above in math; 52 percent proficient and above in English language arts
• Grade 4 — 45 percent proficient and above in math; 51 percent proficient and above in English language arts
• Grade 5 — 42 percent proficient and above in math; 57 percent proficient and above in English language arts
• Grade 6 — 37 percent proficient and above in math; 53 percent proficient and above in English language arts
• Grade 7 — 43 percent proficient and above in math; 55 percent proficient and above in English language arts
• Grade 8 — 40 percent proficient and above in math; 54 percent proficient and above in English language arts
• Grade 11 — 37 percent proficient and above in math; 58 percent proficient and above in English language arts

SEE: Burlington Free Press

"Other People's Money"

'Not Doing As Well As We Claim'

“We are an all-white population. Texas scores for all-white population in Texas — not the Hispanics and other minority groups — actually do better than Vermont. When you parse the statistics, we are not doing as well as we claim because we compare ourselves continually to other states which have large minority populations.”

Rep. Duncan Kilmartin, Rep. Newport, Vermont

'Act 60/68 is Broken and Beyond Repair'

"The fact is Act 60/68 is broken and beyond repair. It is a system so convoluted and complicated that next to nobody understands it, and it is completely unsustainable, as is clear with the suffocating property tax increases. Montpelier must recognize this, and address it. After all, we put this system into place, and we are abdicating our responsibility if we don't take action."

Heidi E. Scheuermann, Republican

Vermont House of Representatives

Lamoille-1 Representative District

Skewed Priorities?

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin's 2015 budget proposal calls for a higher education appropriation of almost $90 million, a 1% increase.

His proposed budget for corrections is over $137 million, an increase of nearly 5%. 

Vermont jails house about 2,000 prisoners at any one time while 16,000 Vermont kids are enrolled in the state's colleges and universities.

FROM: The Caledonian-Record editorial comments, February 24, 2014.