FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 22, 2021
Contact:
Marc Schauber, Executive Director
802-780-0266 / marc@cvtse.org
STATEMENT BY THE COALITION FOR VERMONT STUDENT EQUITY ON THE PUPIL WEIGHTING TASK FORCE REJECTING SCIENTIFICALLY DERIVED RECOMMENDATIONS
The Coalition for Vermont Student Equity (CVTSE) has been working to implement a corrected education funding formula that would help children and schools in districts that have been harmed by education funding inequities over the past 20+ years. These corrections were recommended by the University of Vermont and Rutgers University researchers in 2019.
The researchers’ recommendations were simple: correct the equity formula in Vermont’s education funding system to reflect the real-world costs of educating children living in poverty and rural areas, and children who are English language learners. CVTSE is deeply disappointed that the Pupil Weighting Task Force has made the decision to ignore the empirically derived recommendations which would correct the education equity formula and ensure that all children in Vermont have access to an equitable education system. Instead, legislators on the Pupil Weighting Task Force have decided to ignore the research of experts and to go their own way. Put simply, the Pupil Weighting Task Force has decided to put politics ahead of Vermont’s children. Not only does this new approach legislators have derived do nothing to correct the inequities in Vermont’s education funding formula, it paves the way for a statewide voucher program that will further funnel public dollars into private schools. We believe that the Legislature did not intend for the Task Force on the Implementation of the Pupil Weighting Factors Report to make education finance more complicated, or to further enrich private schools at the expense of bringing equity to public educational opportunities.
Districts from Rutland to the NEK, from Windham County to Winooski remain strongly opposed to any proposal that doesn’t correct the flawed formula as recommended by UVM and Rutgers University.
CVTSE is calling on the Task Force to use their remaining two meetings to create an actual implementation plan for the peer-reviewed recommendations made by UVM and Rutgers University. Vermonters from communities all across the state have weighed in at countless meetings both last legislative session and over the summer and fall to ask for the recommendations to be implemented. The harm that Vermont children have experienced due to the last 20+ years of flawed calculations cannot be undone, but the system can and must be repaired going forward.
Board of Directors
Coalition for Vermont Student Equity / CVTSE.org
Kendra Sowers, Chair
Alison Notte
David Schoales
Rory Thibault
CVTSE Board Releases Statement on Task Force’s Path
Posted: November 23, 2021 by mschauber
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 22, 2021
Contact:
Marc Schauber, Executive Director
802-780-0266 / marc@cvtse.org
STATEMENT BY THE COALITION FOR VERMONT STUDENT EQUITY ON THE PUPIL WEIGHTING TASK FORCE REJECTING SCIENTIFICALLY DERIVED RECOMMENDATIONS
The Coalition for Vermont Student Equity (CVTSE) has been working to implement a corrected education funding formula that would help children and schools in districts that have been harmed by education funding inequities over the past 20+ years. These corrections were recommended by the University of Vermont and Rutgers University researchers in 2019.
The researchers’ recommendations were simple: correct the equity formula in Vermont’s education funding system to reflect the real-world costs of educating children living in poverty and rural areas, and children who are English language learners. CVTSE is deeply disappointed that the Pupil Weighting Task Force has made the decision to ignore the empirically derived recommendations which would correct the education equity formula and ensure that all children in Vermont have access to an equitable education system. Instead, legislators on the Pupil Weighting Task Force have decided to ignore the research of experts and to go their own way. Put simply, the Pupil Weighting Task Force has decided to put politics ahead of Vermont’s children. Not only does this new approach legislators have derived do nothing to correct the inequities in Vermont’s education funding formula, it paves the way for a statewide voucher program that will further funnel public dollars into private schools. We believe that the Legislature did not intend for the Task Force on the Implementation of the Pupil Weighting Factors Report to make education finance more complicated, or to further enrich private schools at the expense of bringing equity to public educational opportunities.
Districts from Rutland to the NEK, from Windham County to Winooski remain strongly opposed to any proposal that doesn’t correct the flawed formula as recommended by UVM and Rutgers University.
CVTSE is calling on the Task Force to use their remaining two meetings to create an actual implementation plan for the peer-reviewed recommendations made by UVM and Rutgers University. Vermonters from communities all across the state have weighed in at countless meetings both last legislative session and over the summer and fall to ask for the recommendations to be implemented. The harm that Vermont children have experienced due to the last 20+ years of flawed calculations cannot be undone, but the system can and must be repaired going forward.
Board of Directors
Coalition for Vermont Student Equity / CVTSE.org
Kendra Sowers, Chair
Alison Notte
David Schoales
Rory Thibault
Category: News Tags: Coalition, CVTSE, press release, Pupil Weighting, statement, Task Force