We face the same budget challenges as we did under Jim Douglas, the same tricky choices, the same bad options – but we’re entering into an era where we’ll be approaching the solutions in a different way. As Governor, Jim Douglas was notoriously hostile towards any fair or equitable approach towards school funding. Why? Because he saw the budget crunch as an opportunity to score points in his ongoing war with the Vermont NEA. Local communities, school and students were simply acceptable budgetary casualties.
With this in mind, here’s the latest from Governor-Elect Shumlin:
Governor-elect Peter Shumlin today said that local school boards and communities are best left to make their own budget decisions and he will not ask the Legislature to enforce the voluntary education spending cuts recommended under Challenges for Change. At the same time, he said that local school districts will still receive $23.2 million less from the state this year. While much of that should be made up with the nearly $19 million in federal education stimulus money that the state received earlier this fall, the $19 million is a one-time allocation of funds and school districts should continue to develop fiscally sound budgets so as not to result in increased property taxes.
[…] “We always knew that this would be a difficult year for school budgets,” said Shumlin. “Our local boards and educational leaders have worked diligently to provide the quality education we expect from our schools and local voters expect. I trust our local school boards and voters to develop fiscally sound budgets that reflect the values we hold dear as Vermonters.”
Same challenges. Same tableau of bad options. But instead of lectures, attacks, ideological resistance to using federal financial support for its intended purpose of mitigating the impacts of the tanking economy, and duels-at-20-paces, we hear an appreciation of the impacts locally, an appreciation for local control, a sense of partnership, and (gulp)… was that the dreaded empathy?!? All of which is made even more meaningful by the fact that this budget-cutting order was a Challenges for Change edict – the same Challenges for Change that Shumlin himself bears much responsibility for as former Senate leader. This is also a sign in itself – that this administration may well understand the need for adaptation in a way the previous one never gave one whit about.
There is a clear conflict between some of the politicians in Montpelier and the actual people who vote for the school budgets around Vermont. The vast majority of those towns passed school budgets that reflect the commonsense notion that we need to do what it takes to prepare our children for the information age economy.
Why is there a constituency in Montpelier to cut education funding? Who benefits from this? Who says we should only spend $X as a state on education when the people want 10% more? Now I understand too well that the Douglas administration does not support public education and would prefer a privatized system that funnels money to corporations. Since Gov-elect Shumlin does not, why are we even having this conversation?
The message from voters and school boards around the state is crystal clear: raise the revenue, because this is what we need to spend. The vast majority of taxpayers are income-sensitized, so the impact is quite progressive. Again, I ask, what is the problem with our elected leaders that they don’t understand this?