What zero trumpets sounds like
2023-09-06
Dear friend,
The grass is green, while red maples are starting to tinge toward purple and red out there. What a beautiful time.
We have some birthdays coming up. I love planning a yard party this time of year. What are you excited for?
My son being back in school feels fun. How are you feeling about your child/grandchild's education this year?
A bill that voters and I talked a lot about in the last legislative session was H.483 - Accountability and oversight of approved independent schools (final vote on it discussed here -- "Yes" on school bills H.483 and H.486).
As a rookie legislator, those bills were lessons on how one chamber can work hard on a bill, pass it, and see the other chamber not take it up. This kind of inefficiency makes it harder to change state law without widespread agreement and determination (see No to excuses, yes to second chances).
While H.483 led to lots of conversations with residents, and was heavily covered in the Montpelier press in the process of not-passing, H.461 is the opposite.
H.461 passed with no tooting horns. Zero trumpets. That is, no "fanfare" in the dictionary definition of the word. I saw only one news article on it, well after it passed (Seven Days: Vermont Eases Oversight of Homeschooling Even as the Number of Students Has Grown).
What's of interest in H.461, which is now Act 66: An act relating to making miscellaneous changes in education laws?
Vermont already has an excellent tuition program for National Guard volunteers, the Vermont National Guard Tuition Benefit Program. I supported Act 66 because it reduces hurdles for students in taking that tuition money to where it makes the most sense for them.
Section 4 of Act 66 allows money from the National Guard Tuition Benefit Program to follow a student who goes out-of-state for a degree program not offered by in Vermont.
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Another key part of Act 66, which I also support with reservations, is described well by Seven Days:
Starting July 1, families who homeschool will no longer have to submit to the state their annual plans for teaching their children or the end-of-year assessments that document student progress. The changes were part of a low-profile miscellaneous education bill passed by the legislature in May and signed by the governor without ceremony this month.
Homeschooling parents welcomed the policy shift, which they have sought for years. But not everyone is pleased. The Coalition for Responsible Home Education, a national organization of adults who were homeschooled, warns that reducing oversight may lead some families to take less care with instruction, resulting in harm to children, who have the right to an education.
The Vermont Agency of Education [AoE] itself proposed the changes, telling lawmakers earlier this year its aim was to streamline the paperwork burden on both the agency and homeschooling families. The "simplifications" to the law, the agency said, will bring Vermont's homeschooling policy — historically one of the strictest in the country — in line with those of other northern New England states.
"This is huge," said Retta Jean Dunlap, a retired homeschooling parent who founded the advocacy group Vermont Home Education Network. She said "99.9 percent" of homeschooling families she's talked to favor the changes, which they believe will allow them more flexibility, independence and a reprieve from cumbersome paperwork. Read full article
I support this change because it supports homeschooling at its best. It gives maximum freedom for students to explore education in the way that best suits their needs, with a minimum of jumping through hoops.
I remain concerned, because every child in Vermont and the U.S. has the Constitutional right to go to school and get an education. Unfortunately, we do see kids slip through the cracks in public schools, and homeschooling isn't immune.
However, AoE is understaffed (as is every part of the education system, from bus drivers to teachers). One commentator said that AoE's comments to families on schooling plans and assessments were "picayune."
My education having failed me here, I looked up "picayune" in the dictionary, also saying it aloud for the first time (kind of fun). It refers to the low value of a French provincial copper coin in Louisiana in the 1800s, a picayune, from an old French word for "small coin," picaioun.
Dang! That's quite a burn.
The system we had for monitoring progress in homeschoolers wasn’t working. Act 66 takes us back to basics. Let's monitor it from there.
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The Legislature goes back to school on January 3, 2024. In my final four months of freedom I am knocking on doors and scheduling times to meet with citizens like you, McKenna, and to visit workplaces, organizations, and groups that matter to you.
This was a fun moment at a recent stop I made to the Dismas House in Rutland, Vermont. Dismas is a supportive community for former prisoners transitioning from incarceration.
Mike S, making progress in his life one step at a time.
My colleague on House Corrections & Institutions, Rep. Eric Maguire, is the House Director at Dismas. Rep. Maguire told me that rather than focusing on rules to instill model behavior in residents, he asks residents to consider their "personal commitment, obligation, and responsibility."
"That's dignity," Eric said to me. I agree. This is not something to be taken for granted.
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I am a step behind with some of you on email replies and followup visits. As mentioned, you could say I was a new recruit in the Legislature this year, an old English word that, combined with rook, the old English for "crow" (as solid a bird as ever was), gets you rookie.
If you have contacted me in the past and not heard back, or want to check in on any issue, now is a great time to send a fresh email or text 802-275-2881 and I'll schedule with you right away.
After taking a little time off I'm hoping to be emailing a little more often. There are plenty of topics, like Act 66, that we haven't had time to discuss in this space.
Here's a quick poll. What would you like me to write about next? Please click on one:
--Photos and stories from inside Vermont's prison for women
--What I learned inside the Legislature about opiates that surprised me
--The first corporate-environmental conspiracy theory I'm ready to buy into
I'll tally the click-votes and do that one next. Please email with your comments, feedback, or suggestions as well!
P.S. We brushed off our chess skills on vacation, with this great set made from plumbing fittings in a coffee shop.
I was surprised to learn that the "rook" of chess probably has no connection with "rook" also being a word for "crow."
In the medieval percursor to chess, shatranj, the rook symbolized a chariot. The Persian word rukh means "chariot." According to Wikipedia, the "rook" to English-speaking chess players is known as हाथी (elephant) to Hindi-speaking players, while East Asian chess games such as xiangqi and shogi have names also meaning chariot (車) for the same piece.
What's your favorite vocab? Send me a quick note and I'll feature it the next time I write about education policy.