Thread by @RHolcombeVT

1/ Yesterday, the Chair of VT’s State Board of Ed attended a local school board meeting. He introduced himself as “not a resident” (a second home owner) & advocated for sending private school vouchers to programs that are allowed to pick and choose who they enroll. #vted

2/ The occasion? A Barstow School Board meeting to discuss whether or not to propose voucher-funded students to attend three nearby public high schools, as provided for in statute, so that tax dollars support schools that don’t exclude some children.
mountaintimes.info/barstow-school…

3/The State Board is the regulatory board for #vted’s system of public education. This cameo by the chair in Barstow is interesting: the chair of the board that oversees public school districts came to say ‘don’t spend your money just on public schools..
legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/secti…

4/ …I recommend you also send tax dollars to private non-profits organizations w/out public oversight, with limited financial transparency, and with the freedom to choose which of your kids they will enroll.’ #vted

5/ For comparison, imagine if the chair of the Public Utilities Commission came to your local select board meeting & advised it not to install a community solar panel, but to instead buy power retail from a private company, perhaps one on whose board he used to serve.

6/ Or, imagine if the Gov showed up at your local school board meeting and told you how to vote. Some voices just have more power, which is why state authorities are usually careful about showing up to direct local voters on local policy, esp. when they are not residents.

7/ Barstow will vote to do what Barstow will do, but given Chair Olsen’s decision to speak locally against a local proposal for resident students, how would the Barstow board feel coming before the State Board for review at a later date, if it disregards his policy advice?

8/ Olsen, a former private school trustee, does have deep convictions— he once repeatedly “records requested” the Agency of Ed to ferret out whether and which staff used the word “private” in emails in reference to VT’s taxpayer-funded private nonprofit “independent” schools.

10/ VT pays vouchers to private schools that say “no” to some taxpayer-funded students. Some of these private schools admit you if you are a "good fit" in the eyes of the school, but you only enroll if you can afford the rest of the tuition, don’t need busing or free lunches.

11/ Voucher systems reframe education as a personal responsibility, not a community responsibility. In a state where diff. people have diff. levels of material wellbeing, access and opportunity, and face different kinds of bias, that means not all children have the same access.

12/ W/ vouchers/subsidies, as in our child care market, private schools don't have to provide enough spots for all of a community's kids. The burden is on families to find access. The community is not responsible for ensuring every child can go to the same school as his friends.

13/ Given Olsen’s comments and that he led the state board committee that proposed new rules for private schools, #vted can’t assume this rule making process is about making sure every child has a chance to go to the same school with his or her neighbors.

https://twitter.com/RHolcombeVT/status/1430876754642604038

14/ (Shout out to @MitziJohnsonVT , who suggested amending statute to allow districts to designate up to 3 schools- what Barstow is considering. This targeting can ensure equitable access for students & stabilize revenues for the schools that serve those students.) #vtpoli #vted

So long as VT’s private schools have the privilege, in statute & rule, of deciding who to enroll & who not to enroll, & use that privilege to say “no” to some kids, this is a system of schools that choose, not school choice, no matter what you hear to the contrary.
#vted