News
Rep. Rick Hube Reports on Legislative Spin on the Shenanigans of Last Session
News from the
Statehouse
What is the Legislative Plan for Reducing State Government Spending?
Today's (12/6/09) Burlington Free Press editorial states:
"Spending decisions must go beyond a purpose of being good and worthy, or even "the right thing to do." The budget conversation in the Statehouse and school board meetings must shift from what we want to do or what we should do to what we can afford to do.
Ethan Allen Institute Recommends Radical Makeover of Vermont's K-12 Education System
The Ethan Allen Institute issued this report on December 1, 2009. The report recommends radical transformation of Vermont's education system with far more choice and control of where education dollars are spent by the students and their parents. The report recommends a series of principles and actions for reform.
Page 24, the Summary for Policymakers is shown below.
Disclaimer: Publishing reports, recommendations or reports for education reform on this website does not imply that VEH supports all elements of those reports.
Reducing Unsustainable K-12 Education Spending and Accountability
In the runup to the January Legislative session, buzz from several quarters about how to reduce the cost and increase the quality of public education. Perhaps an inventory of the many studies, commissions, panels, committees, etc. is available. We know for certain that dozens of reports and numerous recommendations in the past gather dust on many shelves. This is a lasting testament to the powerful forces arrayed against changing the status quo.
Public Hearing on Vermont's Severe Pension/Benefits Funding Problem
Below are the details of a public hearing scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7:00 pm by the State Treasurer using the Vermont Interactive Television network. Folks should attend and express their views about Vermont's severe funding problem now and in the future.
Once again, we are seeing the result of financial commitments that overtake Vermont's tax capacity to pay for them. We have too many state employees and too many teachers and education staff and we simply cannot support their costs with Vermont's private sector tax base.
Government Dependency
A friend sent the following information. Note the data is 2007 pre-recession. The dependency can only be higher now.
This exemplifies the underlying belief of those of us at VEH: Government
spending has outstripped the private sector tax base. I suspect the
data for Vermont would show even more government dependency than the
national data... certainly not indicative of a healthy economy. Of greater concern, when people depend on the government for their livlihood, an erosion of freedom is certain to follow.