(Act 59 of 2021) “The Task Force shall recommend to the General Assembly an action plan and proposed legislation to ensure that all public school students have equitable access to educational opportunities, taking into account the Pupil Weighting Factors Report dated December 24, 2019 (Report), produced by a University of Vermont-led team of researchers.” 

The Task Force, Vermont School Districts and education stakeholders have done a tremendous amount of work to correct the 20 year injustice inherent in Vermont’s education finance system. We agree with many of the recommendations of the Task Force and will work earnestly with our colleagues and communities to see those implemented this year.

Removing English Language Learner (ELL) students from Vermont’s equity calculation by removing the ELL student weight and the erosion of local control for districts with higher student needs through a cost equity calculation are non-starters and have little to no support in the field. We cannot take multi-lingual students and more diverse districts out of the equations we are applying elsewhere. We request House and Senate leadership remove these concepts from further consideration, restore ELL students to the weighting formula proposal, and proceed immediately with implementation of the rest of the recommendations. 

Vermont has a growing coalition of lawmakers, school districts and stakeholders committed to correcting this two-decade long inequity for kids and communities and taxpayers. We look forward to increasing the pace of our work with them when we return to the statehouse the first week of January.

—

Representative Laura Sibilia of Dover (I) represents the Windham Bennington District in the Vermont House and is a Co Chair of the Rural Caucus (lsibilia@leg.state.vt.us 802-384-0233)

Representative Selene Colburn of Burlington (P) represents the Chittenden 6-4 District in the Vermont House and is the Leader of the House Progressives (scolburn@leg.state.vt.us; 802-233-1358)