House Education Committee Update

1.15.10 Education Committee

The Education Committee has been receiving updates and reports: Roots of Success; Truancy; Transformation Policy Commission; Retirement Study Committee; Small School Grants; Education Finance Study Committee; the H 405 related to Pre-K -16 Partnerships as well as omnipresent Joint Legislative Government Accountability challenge for change (public strategies group). We have taken initial testimony on H 471 related to supervisory union policies regarding class size, and on Educational Governance in Vt from the Vt Business Roundtable and various Superintendents. We met with Tax Commissioner Westman to better understand educational costs and funding in relationship to other government services and available revenues. We also had joint sessions with Gov Ops(retirement), Senate Ed.(challenges for change) and Ag.(food to school).

Immediate choices will be driven by our financial situation now and in the immediate future. However, current financial concerns may make it possible to develop long term public policy yielding long term dividends. The Transformation Report, PreK-16 Report, The challenge for change, and the Business Round Table analysis point to structural changes which offer the promise of improving access and improved educational quality on a state wide level.