Governor lays out school priorities for 2015

Gov. Peter Shumlin said he will oppose any education legislation during the next year that will cost school districts money.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140917/NEWS02/709179903

Published September 17, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Governor lays out school priorities for 2015 By Josh O’Gorman VERMONT PRESS BUREAU SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Peter Shumlin said he will oppose any education legislation during the next year that will cost school districts money. During its monthly meeting Tuesday at Springfield High School, the State Board of Education heard from Shumlin’s legislative liaison about the governor’s education priorities for the 2015 legislative session. Those priorities include implementing laws and initiatives that are already in place, and eschewing any new legislation that could be costly to the local taxpayer, said Aly Richards, director of special projects and intergovernmental affairs for the governor’s office. “A moratorium on new ed legislation that costs districts money is something we are going to hold strong to,” Richards told the Board. Instead, Richards said, Shumlin would like for this to be an “implementation year” and allow the Agency of Education to work with school districts and supervisory unions to put into place the initiatives already passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor. At the top of that priority list is “high-quality early learning” that will take the form of universal pre-kindergarten education. Passed by the Legislature and signed into law during the most recent session, Act 166 ensures publicly funded education — 10 hours a week, 35 weeks a year — for every pre-K-age child whose parents wish to enroll him or her. These services can be offered through a public school or a private provider. While the law went into effect in July, most of the provisions will kick in during the 2015-16 school year. Priority No. 2 includes the implementation of the education quality standards approved by the State Board of Education in 2013. These standards support the implementation of personalized learning plans for every student, as well as an emphasis on technology and reasoning skills that will be needed by students entering the workforce in the 21st century. And speaking of the workforce, Shumlin will encourage the implementation of initiatives to better prepare Vermont’s students for higher education and ultimately find quality jobs with decent pay in the state. “We know we don’t do nearly enough to move high school students beyond high school,” Richards said. Existing programs include dual enrollment, which allows juniors and seniors in high school to take college courses, as well as the Vermont Strong Scholars Program, which will repay a portion of college debt for a student who graduates from a Vermont college and takes a job in the state related to the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. Conspicuously absent from the governor’s list of priorities is any mention of the consolidation of school districts and supervisory union, a topic that generated two very different bills from the House and the Senate during the last Legislative session. However, in an August letter to Agency of Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe, Shumlin recommends freeing up capital funds for school construction for districts that pursue consolidation.