PARENT POWER!

Vermont

U.S.
Rank

#31
Overall PPI Score:
63.9%
PPI Grade Key:
← Back to Vermont state overview
A
B
C
D
F

Score:

50%

Grade:

F

Rank:

#51

There is no charter law in this state.

Fast Facts:
Charter Law Analysis:
Learn More:
Fast Facts:

Law enacted: 1869

Number of programs: 1

Statewide Participation: 6,000

Types of programs: Voucher

Choice Laws & Analysis:

Voucher
Town Tuitioning Program
On June 2 2021, a monumental federal court ruling declared that students attending religious schools can no longer be denied eligibility to receive tuition assistance through the Town Tuitioning Program. That program was launched in 1869 and today serves roughly 6,000 students  who live in towns that do not have public schools. Until now, tuition has been restricted to secular schools. Now that will change. There are geographical limitations, enrollment caps or household income limits to be eligible to participate.

Learn More:

EdChoice Analysis on Vermont

Federation of Children Choice Program Information

2019 ALEC Report Card on American Education

Score:

64%

Grade:

D

Rank:

#49

Student growth data and teacher effectiveness are not mandatory in teacher evaluation systems in the state; licensure advancement and renewals “are not based on evidence of teacher effectiveness.”

TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT: 72%
General Teacher Preparation 65%
Elementary Teacher Preparation 80%
Secondary Teacher Preparation 80%
Special Education Teacher Preparation 58%
Alternate Routes 75%  

STAFFING AND SUPPORT: 60%
Hiring 65%
Retaining Effective Teachers 55%

TEACHER EVALUATION: 58%
Teacher and Principal Evaluation

TEACHER COMPENSATION: 65%

Learn More:

National Council for Teacher Quality State Teacher Policy Database

Score:

50%

Grade:

F

Rank:

#51

There is no charter law in this state.

Fast Facts:
Charter Law Analysis:
Learn More:
Fast Facts:

Law enacted: 1869

Number of programs: 1

Statewide Participation: 6,000

Types of programs: Voucher

Choice Laws & Analysis:

Voucher
Town Tuitioning Program
On June 2 2021, a monumental federal court ruling declared that students attending religious schools can no longer be denied eligibility to receive tuition assistance through the Town Tuitioning Program. That program was launched in 1869 and today serves roughly 6,000 students  who live in towns that do not have public schools. Until now, tuition has been restricted to secular schools. Now that will change. There are geographical limitations, enrollment caps or household income limits to be eligible to participate.

Learn More:

EdChoice Analysis on Vermont

Federation of Children Choice Program Information

2019 ALEC Report Card on American Education

Score:

64%

Grade:

D

Rank:

#49

Student growth data and teacher effectiveness are not mandatory in teacher evaluation systems in the state; licensure advancement and renewals “are not based on evidence of teacher effectiveness.”

TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT: 72%
General Teacher Preparation 65%
Elementary Teacher Preparation 80%
Secondary Teacher Preparation 80%
Special Education Teacher Preparation 58%
Alternate Routes 75%  

STAFFING AND SUPPORT: 60%
Hiring 65%
Retaining Effective Teachers 55%

TEACHER EVALUATION: 58%
Teacher and Principal Evaluation

TEACHER COMPENSATION: 65%

Learn More:

National Council for Teacher Quality State Teacher Policy Database

Digital Learning:

Score:

75%

Grade:

C

Rank:

#26

The Vermont Agency of Education supports the expansion of digital learning in the state, stating “The Education Quality Standards specify that digital and technology resources be maintained and expanded as needed and that access to technology be provided to support students in meeting or exceeding standards.” Vermont has a state digital learning plan as well as Technology Standards for students to prepare students for college and career. The GoOpen Initiative supports the use of Open Education Resources in classrooms. For more information, click here.

Vermont Virtual Learning Cooperative is a state virtual school that opened in 2010 offering over 300 online courses to students. The school has both part-time and full-time diploma programs, and approximately 1,500 students from 70 schools in the state are enrolled.

Bandwidth: “100% of students in Vermont can access the Internet at speeds of 100 kbps per student, and many students are connected at higher speeds.”

Personalized Learning:

Vermont implemented the Flexible Pathways Initiative, benefiting secondary education students in the state. School districts must offer high school students various pathways of learning including workforce development and virtual learning, and schools must create personalized learning plans for every middle and high school student.

Learn More:

Vermont Agency of Education

GoOpen Initiative

Vermont Virtual Learning Cooperative

Flexible Pathways Initiative

On March 15, schools were closed in response to the COVID-19 crisis and did not open again for the remainder of the school year. Vermont worked to ensure all students could continue learning remotely, and created a website with information and resources for families, teachers, and administrators.

The state was ahead of the curve since it already had a virtual learning option and scaled up in response to the COVID-19 crisis and provided the option at no cost to districts. As a result, students here have been able to continue learning. The state also ensured students had access to the internet, but not devices, an area that could have used improvement.

On July 28, the state announced schools would begin September 8, and Gov. Scott encouraged districts to offer in-person instruction “to the greatest extent possible,” but virtual instruction or a hybrid model was also supported. The decision was left to the districts, with guidelines for reopening provided here by the state.

Fast Facts

4th Grade Math Proficiency:

34%

8th Grade Math Proficiency:

26%

12th Grade Math Proficiency:

24% (nat'l average)

4th Grade Reading Proficiency:

33%

8th Grade Reading Proficiency:

34%

12th Grade Reading Proficiency:

37% (nat'l average)

Graduation Rate:

85%

Average SAT Score:

1095/1600

Average ACT Score:

23.7/36

Public School Enrollment:

83,975

Percent Enrolled in Charter Schools:

0%

Average Student Funding:

$20,838.00
Digital Learning:

Score:

75%

Grade:

C

Rank:

#26

The Vermont Agency of Education supports the expansion of digital learning in the state, stating “The Education Quality Standards specify that digital and technology resources be maintained and expanded as needed and that access to technology be provided to support students in meeting or exceeding standards.” Vermont has a state digital learning plan as well as Technology Standards for students to prepare students for college and career. The GoOpen Initiative supports the use of Open Education Resources in classrooms. For more information, click here.

Vermont Virtual Learning Cooperative is a state virtual school that opened in 2010 offering over 300 online courses to students. The school has both part-time and full-time diploma programs, and approximately 1,500 students from 70 schools in the state are enrolled.

Bandwidth: “100% of students in Vermont can access the Internet at speeds of 100 kbps per student, and many students are connected at higher speeds.”

Personalized Learning:

Vermont implemented the Flexible Pathways Initiative, benefiting secondary education students in the state. School districts must offer high school students various pathways of learning including workforce development and virtual learning, and schools must create personalized learning plans for every middle and high school student.

Learn More:

Vermont Agency of Education

GoOpen Initiative

Vermont Virtual Learning Cooperative

Flexible Pathways Initiative

On March 15, schools were closed in response to the COVID-19 crisis and did not open again for the remainder of the school year. Vermont worked to ensure all students could continue learning remotely, and created a website with information and resources for families, teachers, and administrators.

The state was ahead of the curve since it already had a virtual learning option and scaled up in response to the COVID-19 crisis and provided the option at no cost to districts. As a result, students here have been able to continue learning. The state also ensured students had access to the internet, but not devices, an area that could have used improvement.

On July 28, the state announced schools would begin September 8, and Gov. Scott encouraged districts to offer in-person instruction “to the greatest extent possible,” but virtual instruction or a hybrid model was also supported. The decision was left to the districts, with guidelines for reopening provided here by the state.

4th Grade Math Proficiency:

34%

8th Grade Math Proficiency:

26%

12th Grade Math Proficiency:

24% (nat’l average)

4th Grade Reading Proficiency:

33%

8th Grade Reading Proficiency:

34%

12th Grade Reading Proficiency:

37% (nat’l average)

Graduation Rate:

85%

Average SAT Score:

1095/1600

Average ACT Score:

23.7/36

Public School Enrollment:

83,975

Percent Enrolled in Charter Schools:

0%

Average Student Funding:

$20,838.00
Your governor:

Phil Scott (R)

First term began in 2017 (two-year term; no term limit)

Governor Phil Scott is supportive of expanded education opportunities for families. Vermont is home to the oldest school choice program in America and one that has begun to expand thanks to being constitutionally upheld. He has proposed efforts to expand even further but needs to do a lot more to foster more innovative options, especially given that Vermont is one of only five states that doesn’t have a charter school law or expansive other opportunities.

State Legislature:

The legislature in Vermont is not pro-education reform. Currently, the state is one of only a handful that has yet to pass a charter school law. Iit will take real leadership from the governor as well as vocal advocates to compel them to bring expanded educational opportunities to all families here.

Vermont does not have a Blaine Amendment, but its constitution “contains a Compelled Support Clause that the Vermont Supreme Court has read to exclude parents who choose religious schools from participating in the current voucher program.” (Institute for Justice)

Learn More:

Institute for Justice: Vermont School Choice and State Constitution

Report cards are not easily accessible from Vermont’s Agency of Education website. There are three different places that provide school-level data: Vermont Education Dashboard, School Reports, and Vermont Annual Snapshot, and they are all located in various places on the website making it a confusing process for parents. After reviewing all three, the Vermont Annual Snapshot contains the best quantitative data on how schools are performing.

Under the Students tab parents can access educational opportunities on Dual Enrollment, Career and Technical Education and Adult Enrollment, and under Families there is information on home study and independent schools in the state.

School board elections are not held during the general election cycle, which usually means lower voter turnout.

Your governor:

Phil Scott (R)

First term began in 2017 (two-year term; no term limit)

Governor Phil Scott is supportive of expanded education opportunities for families. Vermont is home to the oldest school choice program in America and one that has begun to expand thanks to being constitutionally upheld. He has proposed efforts to expand even further but needs to do a lot more to foster more innovative options, especially given that Vermont is one of only five states that doesn’t have a charter school law or expansive other opportunities.

State Legislature:

The legislature in Vermont is not pro-education reform. Currently, the state is one of only a handful that has yet to pass a charter school law. Iit will take real leadership from the governor as well as vocal advocates to compel them to bring expanded educational opportunities to all families here.

Vermont does not have a Blaine Amendment, but its constitution “contains a Compelled Support Clause that the Vermont Supreme Court has read to exclude parents who choose religious schools from participating in the current voucher program.” (Institute for Justice)

Learn More:

Institute for Justice: Vermont School Choice and State Constitution

Report cards are not easily accessible from Vermont’s Agency of Education website. There are three different places that provide school-level data: Vermont Education Dashboard, School Reports, and Vermont Annual Snapshot, and they are all located in various places on the website making it a confusing process for parents. After reviewing all three, the Vermont Annual Snapshot contains the best quantitative data on how schools are performing.

Under the Students tab parents can access educational opportunities on Dual Enrollment, Career and Technical Education and Adult Enrollment, and under Families there is information on home study and independent schools in the state.

School board elections are not held during the general election cycle, which usually means lower voter turnout.

Select Your State

Charter Schools

Charter schools are public schools, open by choice, free from most rules and regulations that hamper traditional public schools and held accountable for results.

Since 1991, when charter schools were first established in Minnesota, the principle has remained the same — increased operational autonomy in exchange for increased accountability for outcomes. This freedom to innovate allows academically excellent charter schools to flourish.

As of 2020, there were more than 7,300 charter schools across the country with more than 3.3 million students, with demand higher everywhere they are located. Forty-six states, including Washington, D.C. have charter school laws. West Virginia enacted the most recent law in 2019. All charter laws are not created equal, however, and in fact, many are so flawed that they allow for only minimal opportunity for parents. PPI draws from CER’s newest Charter School Law Rankings and Scorecard, produced in the summer of 2020. For the US as a whole, the glass is more empty than full when it comes to meaningful charter choices.

Since 1996, CER has researched, analyzed, and ranked charter school laws, taking the content of each law into consideration as well as how it impacts charter schools on the ground. This Parent Power Index looks at four main areas of each state’s law:

If it allows for multiple authorizers, and if applicants have the ability to appeal a denial; whether it allows for growth, particularly with no caps on number of schools or enrollment; if schools and teachers have freedom to innovate; and if there is equitable funding of schools, including for facilities and transportation.

Charter schools are the most analyzed public school reform in decades. Since 1996, CER has studied their impact, their environment, and their practice and made recommendations for how to improve each law. The Parent Power Index charter score is based on whether the law allows for freedom and flexibility that can ensure parents, teachers and the general public are able to build vibrant, successful charter schools without undue interference from flawed state regulators, with equitable funding and parents in the driver’s seat. More about how this works can be found in CER publications, most notably Charting a New Course and The Future of School.

In addition, past rankings document how states have grown or confined charter schools and what best practices should be followed. Finally CER has provided a model charter school law for policymakers that is the standard bearer for advocates who believe that parents, not systems, should drive education.

Choice Programs

Educational choice is best defined as the availability of a multitude of public programs that provide parents with the ability to include private and religious entities – schools, tutoring, and other organizations – in their choices. Those programs are enacted at the state level, allowing in a wide variety of ways that the funds allocated for education in a state either follow the student to the institution the parent chooses or, as in the case of tax credits, public funds are redistributed to support the choices parents make, rather than automatically going to government based school districts.

These options are often referred to as scholarship programs, vouchers, tax credits, education accounts and more.

The existence of a higher degree of educational choice in a community or state, particularly for lower income students, has been found to be a significant factor in improving education and ensuring all students have access to the best school that meets their individual needs. Where once private options were only available to the more advantaged, most choice programs today ensure that those without resources have the power to shape their student’s education and invest in their future.

PPI 2020 assesses the extent to which every state gives families better and more abundant educational options through various mechanisms. Choice programs are analyzed and evaluated on their potential to reach all children across a state and for the degree to which they can actually support the full choice of parents, as opposed to only providing a modest amount of financial support. Programs where a significant population of parents can obtain scholarships or vouchers to send their children to the school of their choice score higher than those that have limitations based on geography, income, and student eligibility constraints.

To determine scores, PPI relies on well-established organizations which study, advance and support such programs. The scores were developed with this lens, and on information and ratings from EdChoice’s School Choice in America Dashboard, American Legislative Exchange Council’s Report Card on American Education: 23rd Edition, and American Federation for Children’s School Choice Interactive Map.

Teacher Quality

Teacher Quality is an equally important facet of ensuring greater educational opportunity. There is a direct correlation between quality teachers and student achievement, and teachers have the power to foster highly effective learning environments and leave a lasting impact on the future of their students. State teacher policies are critical in ensuring that students have the opportunity to receive the best education possible. Without schools full of well-prepared teachers who are held accountable either directly to the parent or to taxpayers for student achievement, opportunity can be meaningless. Most states vary widely in the criteria used to train, hire, retain, evaluate, reward and advance teachers, and local rules also influence that criteria greatly, as do teachers unions. PPI looked again to the expert analysis of the National Council of Teacher Quality, and from several aspects of their work PPI extrapolated final teacher quality scores. (NCTQ does not grade each state.)

Relying solely on the rich data collected from the National Council on Teacher Quality, states are measured by across a wide range of policy categories: Training and Recruitment, Staffing and Support, Evaluation, and Compensation. The score is by no means comprehensive about teacher quality across every community and state, but it is based on the extent to which states rigorously expect, manage and measure different aspects of teacher training, hiring, evaluation and compensation. States score higher when they have strong, data-driven, performance-based accountability systems that ensure teachers are rewarded, retained, and advanced based on their effectiveness. Likewise, states that establish rigorous teacher preparation programs and offer alternative licensing programs earn higher scores.

For more information about the Teacher Quality landscape, please see the National Council on Teacher Quality’s detailed analysis in their State Teacher Policy Database.

Innovation

States are measured on their increasing commitment to and practice of innovative approaches to education that include digital learning models and pathways, full or in part, encouraging personalized learning through focus on competency and mastery – even on a pilot level – or by allowing flexibility in schools and school districts that want to do it. Personalized learning models value mastery of material over traditional subject matter time tests, and competency over end of course grades. While these practices are best decided locally, closest to the student, states can motivate, incentivize, fund, discourage or encourage.

To determine scores, the PPI drew heavily from ExcelinEd’s 2019 State Progress Toward Next Generation Learning, Aurora Institute’s 2020 Future-Focused State Policy Actions to Transform K-12 Education, and KnowledgeWorks’ 2019 State Policy Framework for Personalized Learning.

COVID-19 Response

When COVID-19 reached our shores in early 2020, states were forced to close their schools for in-person instruction. Whether and how to continue teaching and set expectations for continued learning outside of the classroom was a big debate. Many states and schools quickly pivoted to delivering education remotely, either through technology enabled tools or with low-tech paper packets and phone calls, or a combination of both. The response from schools and school districts varied widely, with some being willing to adapt and some actually discouraging both teaching and learning. CER tracked those responses (and continues to do so, given the fluidity of the situation). States that were encouraging, set expectations, and demanded that schools figure out whatever they could to keep moving students forward, tended to have more schools and districts that responded well and worked to deliver education regardless of challenges. Many states that had digital or virtual learning programs in place were able to make a more seamless shift. Innovative leaders at local and state levels rose to the occasion. But many states and localities dragged their feet and, in some cases, outright discouraged schooling to keep going, including forbidding teachers in some areas to be required to do any face to face teaching via technology.

States were evaluated based on reviewing their official notices and declarations, and by reviewing a broad array of surveys and data many groups have been maintaining. This score also factors in states’ prior commitments to expanding broadband and internet access and how they worked to provide devices to keep students learning and engaged.

What was, and is, a challenging and unprecedented time for schools, teachers, and parents was also an opportunity to look at states’ and schools’ abilities to adapt, be flexible, and innovate.

For more on Education Innovation, check out the CER ACTION Series:

  • Virtual Events & Videos
  • Key Data
  • Resources
  • Publications

Leadership

Improving education opportunity and innovation requires leaders who boldly and courageously push forward to create or expand successful programs that allow a wide variety of educational choice and individualized programs to thrive. Governors and state legislators are the most important entities in each state to pave the way, or deter, expanded parent power. Some leaders pay lip service to issues, while others wake up with a fire in their belly to ensure that they are doing what they can every day to push through conventional wisdom and demand 21st century schooling opportunities for all students.

Whether or not your governor is the bold, fire-in-the-belly kind, or a passive applauder of others’ efforts, is evaluated to help you push or prod or applaud. PPI looks at their positions AND actions on charter schools, choice programs, innovation, and commitment to increasing educational opportunities for all students at every level and summarizes it for you here. You have the power to elect leaders who prioritize parents and students!

Constitutional Issues

The ability for states to enact educational change can be significantly limited depending on certain provisions in state constitutions.

The most common clause that limits educational opportunity in most states are “Blaine Amendments” – named after 19th century Congressman James Blaine nearly 150 years ago. Historically, these provisions in 37 state constitutions were either interpreted to restrict educational choice programs that include private schools or have been a deterrent for many programs being considered, let alone enacted.

This issue received a great deal of press leading up to and following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 30, 2020 decision in the case of Espinoza vs Montana Department of Revenue, a case that dealt with Montana’s Blaine Amendment. That landmark decision found that the U.S. Constitution “forbids states from excluding religious schools as options for families participating in educational choice programs, including through Blaine Amendments.”

As a result, most states have a new path to enact programs that provide options for families, including religious schools. Their individual versions of Blaine Amendments can either be nullified with attorney generals’ opinions, with legislation or with both. Additional restrictions on expanded opportunity are often dedicated by what is called a Compelled Support Clause where dated constitutional language restricts public funding to government entities.

We look at each state’s particular constitutional issues, utilizing a number of sources, CER attorney analysis and the Institute for Justice’s research as our guide. Additional information about Espinoza and Blaine Amendments can be found here.

In addition, if states have other constitutional barriers to more opportunity, they are evaluated in this area.

Transparency

Transparency is a key element of providing great opportunities for students. Every parent needs and deserves full transparency of school-level data to allow them to make informed decisions and drive changes in how their students are educated. School report cards empower parents in their decision making by giving them access to meaningful and quality education data about a particular school or district. Report cards often provide information on student performance, student growth, attendance, graduation rates, demographics, teacher quality, school environment, assessments, and more. States that have greater transparency and accountability provide the public with data that is current, readily available, and easy to understand.

States are measured based on the transparency and accessibility of data for the average person looking to learn about their child’s school. States have more gas in the tank when school report cards are easily accessible from their state DOE homepage; report cards are comprehensive, user-friendly, and easy to understand; and information about educational options are readily available. Additionally, states score higher when they hold School Board Elections during the General Election cycle, as opposed to off-times of the year when turnout is low, because this tends to afford parents more power in their decision-making.