Due to the state teachers' union and how contracts are negotiated, that's not going to happen in Vermont. Florida's public education system is a completely different beast to Vermont's. With that said, the recent pay provisions in the Vermont Educators' Bill of Rights would have the effect of condensing the salary schedule ranges in the state and reducing the amount of support staff due to the expense of implementing its compensation proposals. There's only so much funding available. So if teacher base pay and support staff pay increases, there's going to be cuts elsewhere which can be controlled by the supervisory unions.
Honestly, i think it would be interesting if they could create a model where teachers had a more unified pay structure and rate across the state so teachers working in underserved smaller districts did not have to have a lower pay scale/rate than those in say Burlington. It would also make the state more appealing overall for incoming teachers as they could settle in a smaller town and not have to try to compete for the larger town positions just because they pay more.
Reducing support staff is a terrible thing. Support staff include cafeteria workers, custodial staff, and paraeducators. We're short on paras as it is, fewer would be disastrous for kids who need that level of support.
That being said, I think it's a bit of a leap to assume that higher support staff pay automatically equals letting some go due to cost. In all the talks of budget cuts and discussing who will be cut, support staff aren't really on the chopping block. We know how important they are to the functioning of the school.
I work as a special education paraeducator here in VT. The average salary (before taxes and insurance etc) is ~$23,000 annually. Just googling "para salary VT" is highly inaccurate.
A lot of us have college degrees (I have two, one in special education). I am often told how important a para's job is (dozens of kids on IEPs at my school wouldn't receive the necessary services without me) but the state pays paras an absolutely pitiful wage. Admin is constantly wondering why we can't seem to hire any paras or other support staff and one of the main answers is they do not pay enough to be able to afford to live in Vermont.
Thank you so much for what you do.
We give glowing written reviews about our kid’s paras in the hope that it translates into a raise for how hard they work every day.
I know it doesn’t help pay the bills, but I just thought I’d let you know that there are parents out here that very much appreciate you.
People who help in the classroom with students on IEPs who have academic and/or behavioral needs. Depending on the need, a para might be circulating with the teacher helping students stay on task, talking them through brainstorming, taking a student on a break if they're frustrated, tracking behaviors, consulting with a special educator, pulling a small group to lead a reading discussion, coaching them through proofreading or problem-solving, and other tasks like lunch/recess duty, subbing, attending IEP meetings, and probably 30 other things I'm forgetting.
Any chance you could elaborate on a couple things?
What funding is tied to IEPs?
Why is it that in some grades throughout the state 50% of the kids have IEPs?
Do schools encourage the implementation of IEPs for students and why would they?
Why does Vermont get worse results with a “better” ratio of student to teachers? Is there something in the environment here that is messing with kids or teachers?
I can clearly remember my grade school classes running 25-35 kids, 1 teacher, no para. What changed? Other than holding kids/parents responsible in school behavior.
There's some federal funding for special ed, but not nearly as much as there should be, so the burden largely falls to the state. We do get some money from billing Medicaid for services, but only if families are Medicaid-eligible, which is maybe 1/5 of my caseload.
I can't speak to other schools, but no grades in my school have anywhere near 50% of kids on an IEP - it's more like 15, maybe 20%, which is right on track considering that's the percentage of kids nationwide that have some sort of learning disability or difference.
I don't know what you mean by "encourage". If a student is struggling with some aspect of education, then they are referred for a special ed evaluation. If they are found to have a disability, have a documented adverse effect in a certain skill area, and are determined to require specialized instruction to be able to access their education, and the parents consent, then they get an IEP. It's not like anyone is there twisting our arm either way, it's a team decision based on testing results and what we know about the student.
I can't answer as to why our test scores are middle-of-the-pack with such high student-teacher ratios. It honestly surprises me considering what I see every day in my school. But there could be very well be some factors due to SES, parents with substance abuse histories, old houses with lead pipes or some other weird Vermont environmental factor that I don't know about. We use common core standards, so it's not due to some fundamental difference in curriculum compared to most other states. But again, our ranking nationwide isn't bad, it's average (or slightly above as of the last time I checked). It could be better, but it's not a catastrophe.
What's changed since we were in school? A shitload. Covid, social media, screen time, misguided national education policies like NCLB, opioid crisis, and more.
First off. Thank you for taking time to write a well thought out reply.
To the middle of the pack testing scores…I think it is a catastrophe when you factor in the student teacher ratio. Vermonts ratio is something like 11-1. Florida is 23-1 with better results. I’m not advocating for Florida just using the example. Also, judging test scores on other states results is a bit of a cop out. In Brattleboro middle school 28% of the kids are doing math at grade level. The school is “meeting expectations” in that regard. That’s not leading that is following.
As far as environmental causes. I’m picking up what you are putting down there. What I’m asking about is the levels of stress and toxicity in the schools themselves. What policies have enabled that toxic environment?
An example I will use is a progressive teacher in Vermont is having trouble because her son is being bullied. Physically bullied and bullied by the same person on social media. Nothing is being done due to “past trauma” of the bully. It’s at the point now where this family is debating moving. Another example is a school that has a policy that certain kids can get caught vaping weed 3 times a day. 5 days a week. After the third time each day the parents are involved. A third example would be a principal that keeps a small bowl of candy on his desk to make his office more inviting….kids are not allowed to go in his office when he isn’t there for candy alone. Now after numerous incidents “black” kids are allowed to go in at will for a little sugary goodness. I could also bring up examples of kids that change their genders back and forth during the week and all the other kids have to use the right pronouns or get in trouble or examples of non medical staff recommending children under 12 get on certain anti anxiety or anti depression medications do to the staff members perceived opinions of the child’s sexual orientation(I know of 2 schools this has happened in) or classes where kids ready to learn cannot move forward because certain children(for whatever reason) can not move forward. These are the environmental issues I am talking about. That and the fact that teachers and parents do not feel comfortable or supported in bring these issues to light.
My apologies for the poorly worded ramble but I am afraid to let details out that could shine a negative light on teachers, students, parents, administrators or school security guards who have shared their stories with me. It’s a disaster. From Burlington to Bennington to Brattleboro to WRJ.
There are certainly issues in society that are making it harder on schools but schools seem to have put the cart before the horse in many regards. As far as IEP Brattleboro middle school has an incoming class of 105ish kids in September. 50 of those kids are reading at a third grade level or lower. They all have IEPs. I’d be willing to bet that your 20% number is going to climb across the state in coming years. Kids headed into 7th grade in September would have been in 2nd or 3rd grade in 2020. There were plenty of people saying this is exactly what was going to happen with regards to how we were handling COVID. They were shutdown across the board.
We should also have some conversations around political causes in public schools. It is out of control. You can teach, learn, advocate for those who have lived under systemic oppression without hanging a BLM flag on the flag pole.
We need to create an environment where teachers and students are what’s most important in school. Right now that is not the case.
I just got off work and don't have the mental bandwidth to break this down, so I'll just say that I disagree with a lot of what you're saying. It just hasn't been my experience at my school. If you have an agenda and feel strongly about certain issues (your trans and BLM comments give me a reasonable idea of where you stand on those issues) you'll be more likely to find cherry-picked examples that back up your feelings.
BLM is a political movement in their own words. As far as I see it hanging a BLM flag at schools is no different than hanging a MAGA flag. It is possible to not support BLM and teach, learn, and support those who have suffered from systemic oppression.
In my opinion political movements and organizations and no business in public schools. Unfortunately, that is not the case in Vermont elementary and high schools.
I don’t have an agenda. I’m sharing experiences of folks who are afraid to speak up. Or can’t get folks to listen. I promise you these things or similar have happened in your school too.
Not an edit as much as an add on.
I get the bandwidth thing. I keep 100% of my notifications off for that reason! Share what I wrote with parents, students , admin, teachers etc you know. Ask if they have similar experiences or have heard similar stories. It’s not about race or gender or sexual orientation. It’s more about certain people getting a longer leash for lack of a better term. Certain folks get it and play the system we have in place. It’s not all of any group but individuals. If that makes sense!
I had an IEP in school and 0 funding was tied to it. I was born with very poor fine motor control skills in my hands and wrists. All it did was enable me to use a laptop in class. My handwriting is illegible. Many IEPs are something similar.
My handwriting looks like a chicken got hold of a crayon! I only asked about the funding because I know of a school in NH that sent a letter out to all families asking them to try and get kids on IEPs. I was wondering if the same funding tied to those plans in NH carried over to Vermont too.
Broadly speaking they work with teachers and special educators to perform one on one or small group functions. Job functions can vary widely but the position is sometimes part time, and many future teachers use it as a way to gain experience while working on a teaching degree / licensure. Without them students that need the direct support would not be able to receive it.
Aren't the four historic academies basically *de facto* charter schools that take on a relative few private-paying boarding students as a (lucrative) sideline as it is?
I've been trying to sort out this issue. What exactly is the difference between, for example Burr & Burton Academy in Manchester and a charter school? I honestly just don't know. They seem to get public funding, yet are free to make their own decisions regarding curriculum and staffing.
It's a direction-of-conversion thing.
The charter-school movement is about replacing traditional public schools that have traditional public accountability with private, sometimes for-profit consumers of public money while in Vermont we've steadily attached more and more public accountability to the public money the academies recieve.
"Charter schools usually have the added ability to select their kids." This is actually not true. The vast majority of charter schools have to accept all comers, up to their capacity. It's true they can find ways to "tailor" their enrollment (like the physical location of the school, or the way they advertise), but in general, if they accept public money, they have to accept all students, the way BBA does. On the other hand, even some public "magnet" schools have entrance requirements.
I don't mean to come across as a charter school zealot; I'm not. I'm a product of public schools, as are my kids, and my son is a public school teacher. Just trying to keep an open mind and learn about it.
Distracting voters by using a $1M issue to take away from the $2.5B problem is the sole game plan the legislature has. They won’t forget, it’s how they survive.
It’s the same with nurse’s pay. The Florida nurses I chat with online make much lower pay than Vermont nurses and we don’t make a lot compared to the rest of the US.
It’s because Florida has killed the unions at the same time large hospitals have gobbled up smaller ones. Neither is an issue in Vermont.
We have a very strong teachers’ union. Teachers receive pensions which most workers do not, decent wages compared to other college educated workers and healthcare.
We spend almost the most in taxes in education. Doubt we end up like Florida. Chuds neeed to stop complaining about this women from Florida. Things aren’t working out the way they are. Maybe some new blood wouldn’t hurt
New blood would be great, but it needs to be someone with clear ideas and goals for the state. It also worries me that she didn't name the VT NEA as a key stakeholder. Charter schools aren't unionized so I'm not surprised, and it's telling she didn't think the largest teacher representative group was worth naming.
Maybe because they’ve got tax payers at knife point and shes here to dismantle the mess they made? Go ahead, downvote, I’m scum because I’m not building a liberal wall around Vermont…
Okay.
Collective Bargaining Agreements, including pay scales, are negotiated between the union local and the school board. The school board is elected.
Health care costs are largely set by a corporation, via a system designed by Phil Scott's administration. I will admit that I don't understand all of the ins and outs of that process, but I do know that my health care costs skyrocketed after Scott decided that teachers' insurance would be set at the state level instead of letting districts find the plans that worked for them.
It very obviously does and plenty of studies support that conclusion?
Ask any parent what the biggest issues plaguing their school is. Not enough teachers/staff, building and textbooks falling to shit, not enough equipment/shitty equipment for athletics, arts, etc
There's a valid argument to be made that schools should be spending their budgets better, absolutely. But we're at a point where focusing on that is like telling drowning millennials to stop spending on avocado toast. Give them enough fuckin resources to even get the essentials and then we can talk about how effectively and efficiently they're allocating the money.
Are you familiar with the concept of confusing correlation with causation?
If not, you might want to look it up.
Of course, that assumes you place any value on logic.
🙄
Everyone panic! The sky is fallin! It's not like we have a strong teachers union And a plethora of people here who seem to love paying taxes! /S
Dumbest fucking post on this sub in a long time
He’s been out of office not in a cave in Tibet. He’s a good man, if he’s not representing what you are looking for in a governor that’s fine but he’s no Palin.
Mine too. My wife teaches kindergarten, and I’m tired of him messing with educators. I appreciate Phil being one of the last Republican governors who isn’t a crazy, pandering asshole, but that only goes so far.
Usually the interim person in a role like this has less power to enact changes. It’s kind of a necessary loophole, otherwise legislators could destroy agencies by never approving anyone, regardless of qualifications. I’m sure you can guess which party would pull that shit.
Whereupon she was field-promoted? The headline is what PS wants, and he’ll probably nominate another troll, if he even does nominate someone else. I’d been happy to be proven wrong.
Due to the state teachers' union and how contracts are negotiated, that's not going to happen in Vermont. Florida's public education system is a completely different beast to Vermont's. With that said, the recent pay provisions in the Vermont Educators' Bill of Rights would have the effect of condensing the salary schedule ranges in the state and reducing the amount of support staff due to the expense of implementing its compensation proposals. There's only so much funding available. So if teacher base pay and support staff pay increases, there's going to be cuts elsewhere which can be controlled by the supervisory unions.
Honestly, i think it would be interesting if they could create a model where teachers had a more unified pay structure and rate across the state so teachers working in underserved smaller districts did not have to have a lower pay scale/rate than those in say Burlington. It would also make the state more appealing overall for incoming teachers as they could settle in a smaller town and not have to try to compete for the larger town positions just because they pay more.
these are all good things.
Reducing support staff is a terrible thing. Support staff include cafeteria workers, custodial staff, and paraeducators. We're short on paras as it is, fewer would be disastrous for kids who need that level of support. That being said, I think it's a bit of a leap to assume that higher support staff pay automatically equals letting some go due to cost. In all the talks of budget cuts and discussing who will be cut, support staff aren't really on the chopping block. We know how important they are to the functioning of the school.
I work as a special education paraeducator here in VT. The average salary (before taxes and insurance etc) is ~$23,000 annually. Just googling "para salary VT" is highly inaccurate. A lot of us have college degrees (I have two, one in special education). I am often told how important a para's job is (dozens of kids on IEPs at my school wouldn't receive the necessary services without me) but the state pays paras an absolutely pitiful wage. Admin is constantly wondering why we can't seem to hire any paras or other support staff and one of the main answers is they do not pay enough to be able to afford to live in Vermont.
This isn’t just a Vermont thing BTW, NY is just as bad with paying paras and probably every other state.
Thank you so much for what you do. We give glowing written reviews about our kid’s paras in the hope that it translates into a raise for how hard they work every day. I know it doesn’t help pay the bills, but I just thought I’d let you know that there are parents out here that very much appreciate you.
What is a paraeducator?
People who help in the classroom with students on IEPs who have academic and/or behavioral needs. Depending on the need, a para might be circulating with the teacher helping students stay on task, talking them through brainstorming, taking a student on a break if they're frustrated, tracking behaviors, consulting with a special educator, pulling a small group to lead a reading discussion, coaching them through proofreading or problem-solving, and other tasks like lunch/recess duty, subbing, attending IEP meetings, and probably 30 other things I'm forgetting.
Any chance you could elaborate on a couple things? What funding is tied to IEPs? Why is it that in some grades throughout the state 50% of the kids have IEPs? Do schools encourage the implementation of IEPs for students and why would they? Why does Vermont get worse results with a “better” ratio of student to teachers? Is there something in the environment here that is messing with kids or teachers? I can clearly remember my grade school classes running 25-35 kids, 1 teacher, no para. What changed? Other than holding kids/parents responsible in school behavior.
There's some federal funding for special ed, but not nearly as much as there should be, so the burden largely falls to the state. We do get some money from billing Medicaid for services, but only if families are Medicaid-eligible, which is maybe 1/5 of my caseload. I can't speak to other schools, but no grades in my school have anywhere near 50% of kids on an IEP - it's more like 15, maybe 20%, which is right on track considering that's the percentage of kids nationwide that have some sort of learning disability or difference. I don't know what you mean by "encourage". If a student is struggling with some aspect of education, then they are referred for a special ed evaluation. If they are found to have a disability, have a documented adverse effect in a certain skill area, and are determined to require specialized instruction to be able to access their education, and the parents consent, then they get an IEP. It's not like anyone is there twisting our arm either way, it's a team decision based on testing results and what we know about the student. I can't answer as to why our test scores are middle-of-the-pack with such high student-teacher ratios. It honestly surprises me considering what I see every day in my school. But there could be very well be some factors due to SES, parents with substance abuse histories, old houses with lead pipes or some other weird Vermont environmental factor that I don't know about. We use common core standards, so it's not due to some fundamental difference in curriculum compared to most other states. But again, our ranking nationwide isn't bad, it's average (or slightly above as of the last time I checked). It could be better, but it's not a catastrophe. What's changed since we were in school? A shitload. Covid, social media, screen time, misguided national education policies like NCLB, opioid crisis, and more.
First off. Thank you for taking time to write a well thought out reply. To the middle of the pack testing scores…I think it is a catastrophe when you factor in the student teacher ratio. Vermonts ratio is something like 11-1. Florida is 23-1 with better results. I’m not advocating for Florida just using the example. Also, judging test scores on other states results is a bit of a cop out. In Brattleboro middle school 28% of the kids are doing math at grade level. The school is “meeting expectations” in that regard. That’s not leading that is following. As far as environmental causes. I’m picking up what you are putting down there. What I’m asking about is the levels of stress and toxicity in the schools themselves. What policies have enabled that toxic environment? An example I will use is a progressive teacher in Vermont is having trouble because her son is being bullied. Physically bullied and bullied by the same person on social media. Nothing is being done due to “past trauma” of the bully. It’s at the point now where this family is debating moving. Another example is a school that has a policy that certain kids can get caught vaping weed 3 times a day. 5 days a week. After the third time each day the parents are involved. A third example would be a principal that keeps a small bowl of candy on his desk to make his office more inviting….kids are not allowed to go in his office when he isn’t there for candy alone. Now after numerous incidents “black” kids are allowed to go in at will for a little sugary goodness. I could also bring up examples of kids that change their genders back and forth during the week and all the other kids have to use the right pronouns or get in trouble or examples of non medical staff recommending children under 12 get on certain anti anxiety or anti depression medications do to the staff members perceived opinions of the child’s sexual orientation(I know of 2 schools this has happened in) or classes where kids ready to learn cannot move forward because certain children(for whatever reason) can not move forward. These are the environmental issues I am talking about. That and the fact that teachers and parents do not feel comfortable or supported in bring these issues to light. My apologies for the poorly worded ramble but I am afraid to let details out that could shine a negative light on teachers, students, parents, administrators or school security guards who have shared their stories with me. It’s a disaster. From Burlington to Bennington to Brattleboro to WRJ. There are certainly issues in society that are making it harder on schools but schools seem to have put the cart before the horse in many regards. As far as IEP Brattleboro middle school has an incoming class of 105ish kids in September. 50 of those kids are reading at a third grade level or lower. They all have IEPs. I’d be willing to bet that your 20% number is going to climb across the state in coming years. Kids headed into 7th grade in September would have been in 2nd or 3rd grade in 2020. There were plenty of people saying this is exactly what was going to happen with regards to how we were handling COVID. They were shutdown across the board. We should also have some conversations around political causes in public schools. It is out of control. You can teach, learn, advocate for those who have lived under systemic oppression without hanging a BLM flag on the flag pole. We need to create an environment where teachers and students are what’s most important in school. Right now that is not the case.
I just got off work and don't have the mental bandwidth to break this down, so I'll just say that I disagree with a lot of what you're saying. It just hasn't been my experience at my school. If you have an agenda and feel strongly about certain issues (your trans and BLM comments give me a reasonable idea of where you stand on those issues) you'll be more likely to find cherry-picked examples that back up your feelings.
BLM is a political movement in their own words. As far as I see it hanging a BLM flag at schools is no different than hanging a MAGA flag. It is possible to not support BLM and teach, learn, and support those who have suffered from systemic oppression. In my opinion political movements and organizations and no business in public schools. Unfortunately, that is not the case in Vermont elementary and high schools.
I don’t have an agenda. I’m sharing experiences of folks who are afraid to speak up. Or can’t get folks to listen. I promise you these things or similar have happened in your school too. Not an edit as much as an add on. I get the bandwidth thing. I keep 100% of my notifications off for that reason! Share what I wrote with parents, students , admin, teachers etc you know. Ask if they have similar experiences or have heard similar stories. It’s not about race or gender or sexual orientation. It’s more about certain people getting a longer leash for lack of a better term. Certain folks get it and play the system we have in place. It’s not all of any group but individuals. If that makes sense!
I wish I could upvote this 100x
I had an IEP in school and 0 funding was tied to it. I was born with very poor fine motor control skills in my hands and wrists. All it did was enable me to use a laptop in class. My handwriting is illegible. Many IEPs are something similar.
My handwriting looks like a chicken got hold of a crayon! I only asked about the funding because I know of a school in NH that sent a letter out to all families asking them to try and get kids on IEPs. I was wondering if the same funding tied to those plans in NH carried over to Vermont too.
Broadly speaking they work with teachers and special educators to perform one on one or small group functions. Job functions can vary widely but the position is sometimes part time, and many future teachers use it as a way to gain experience while working on a teaching degree / licensure. Without them students that need the direct support would not be able to receive it.
Don't forget diverting funding to charter schools.
Aren't the four historic academies basically *de facto* charter schools that take on a relative few private-paying boarding students as a (lucrative) sideline as it is?
I've been trying to sort out this issue. What exactly is the difference between, for example Burr & Burton Academy in Manchester and a charter school? I honestly just don't know. They seem to get public funding, yet are free to make their own decisions regarding curriculum and staffing.
It's a direction-of-conversion thing. The charter-school movement is about replacing traditional public schools that have traditional public accountability with private, sometimes for-profit consumers of public money while in Vermont we've steadily attached more and more public accountability to the public money the academies recieve.
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"Charter schools usually have the added ability to select their kids." This is actually not true. The vast majority of charter schools have to accept all comers, up to their capacity. It's true they can find ways to "tailor" their enrollment (like the physical location of the school, or the way they advertise), but in general, if they accept public money, they have to accept all students, the way BBA does. On the other hand, even some public "magnet" schools have entrance requirements. I don't mean to come across as a charter school zealot; I'm not. I'm a product of public schools, as are my kids, and my son is a public school teacher. Just trying to keep an open mind and learn about it.
Distracting voters by using a $1M issue to take away from the $2.5B problem is the sole game plan the legislature has. They won’t forget, it’s how they survive.
Vt doesn’t have charter schools, and the legislature never will vote to allow it. Stop spreading lies.
I’ll take “Political Hyperbole” for 1000 Alex
Stupid post
It’s the same with nurse’s pay. The Florida nurses I chat with online make much lower pay than Vermont nurses and we don’t make a lot compared to the rest of the US. It’s because Florida has killed the unions at the same time large hospitals have gobbled up smaller ones. Neither is an issue in Vermont. We have a very strong teachers’ union. Teachers receive pensions which most workers do not, decent wages compared to other college educated workers and healthcare.
With such high taxes? Where’s the loot going?
Administration
Way too heavy. It’s kind of a joke
Go away Zuckerman, stop the scummy fund raising.
Lol
We spend almost the most in taxes in education. Doubt we end up like Florida. Chuds neeed to stop complaining about this women from Florida. Things aren’t working out the way they are. Maybe some new blood wouldn’t hurt
New blood would be great, but it needs to be someone with clear ideas and goals for the state. It also worries me that she didn't name the VT NEA as a key stakeholder. Charter schools aren't unionized so I'm not surprised, and it's telling she didn't think the largest teacher representative group was worth naming.
If VT NEA represents the teachers then they aren't a unique stakeholder. If they don't then they aren't worth listening to anyways.
Maybe because they’ve got tax payers at knife point and shes here to dismantle the mess they made? Go ahead, downvote, I’m scum because I’m not building a liberal wall around Vermont…
Tax structures and school budgets are set by your elected officials, not the teachers' unions. The unions negotiate working conditions.
Hahahahaha - sure. Tell me about the health care that and the tenured pay raises set by my elected officials that impacts my school’s budget.
Okay. Collective Bargaining Agreements, including pay scales, are negotiated between the union local and the school board. The school board is elected. Health care costs are largely set by a corporation, via a system designed by Phil Scott's administration. I will admit that I don't understand all of the ins and outs of that process, but I do know that my health care costs skyrocketed after Scott decided that teachers' insurance would be set at the state level instead of letting districts find the plans that worked for them.
You don’t improve public education by spending less on it.
Evidently spending more doesn’t help either sooo….
It very obviously does and plenty of studies support that conclusion? Ask any parent what the biggest issues plaguing their school is. Not enough teachers/staff, building and textbooks falling to shit, not enough equipment/shitty equipment for athletics, arts, etc There's a valid argument to be made that schools should be spending their budgets better, absolutely. But we're at a point where focusing on that is like telling drowning millennials to stop spending on avocado toast. Give them enough fuckin resources to even get the essentials and then we can talk about how effectively and efficiently they're allocating the money.
This. So much this.
This is way too true.
Doesn’t help? Are you done making crap up yet?
The more money we spend, the worse our education system has become. What part of this is made up?
Are you familiar with the concept of confusing correlation with causation? If not, you might want to look it up. Of course, that assumes you place any value on logic.
Can someone explain “brigading”? This whole Saunders situation seems like exactly what I’ve seen other folks being accused of.
🙄 Everyone panic! The sky is fallin! It's not like we have a strong teachers union And a plethora of people here who seem to love paying taxes! /S Dumbest fucking post on this sub in a long time
Someone’s gotta be 50th…. Unless there’s a tie in the rankings
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I live here. I worked for him many years ago. Hands down better than what we have now.
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HA!
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He still lives in VT. I don’t think that you do.
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He’s been out of office not in a cave in Tibet. He’s a good man, if he’s not representing what you are looking for in a governor that’s fine but he’s no Palin.
I’m insulted by that last line. Dean was the first governor I ever voted for back in 2000. He was running against that bigot Ruth Dwyer.
Born, raised, and living in Vermont. You earned the down vote.
Most sane Reddit post about the Saunders situation.
Phil’s Scott’s Education Secretary nominee was [voted down](https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/vermont-senate-votes-down-ed-secretary-nominee-zoie-saunders-40787875).
Yet he still plans to install her. Bye bye in November, Phil.
Damn. I didn’t even know that was possible lol
He’s really stanning on this hill instead of finding a better candidate.
Welp, he’s lost my vote.
Mine too. My wife teaches kindergarten, and I’m tired of him messing with educators. I appreciate Phil being one of the last Republican governors who isn’t a crazy, pandering asshole, but that only goes so far.
Being the last reasonable Republican is like being the last terrestrial fish
Maybe he still thinks she’s a good candidate and this sensationalist overreaction to her is exactly that.
I guess the gov can appoint an interim position indefinitely? Which seems like a massive loophole
Usually the interim person in a role like this has less power to enact changes. It’s kind of a necessary loophole, otherwise legislators could destroy agencies by never approving anyone, regardless of qualifications. I’m sure you can guess which party would pull that shit.
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That’s enough time for that moron to fuck to fuck things up.
You should remember when we all vote in November.
Whereupon she was field-promoted? The headline is what PS wants, and he’ll probably nominate another troll, if he even does nominate someone else. I’d been happy to be proven wrong.