FRANCE – If and when the governor and Legislature agree on something they call “transformational educational reform,” it’s unlikely to be what most people expected or wanted. Vermonters won’t see the property tax relief they were hoping for because changes to the funding system will be a few years off.[Read More…]
Another Opinion
Still Not Signing: A Superintendent’s Response
The federal government gave us ten days to sign away our values. Here’s our answer. April 8, 2025 To Whom It May (Unfortunately) Concern at the U.S. Department of Education: Thank you for your April 3 memorandum, which I read several times — not because it was legally persuasive, but[Read More…]
Americans are Exhausted and Angry
I’ve been worrying a great deal about President Trump’s disregard for the rule of law and his demolition of valuable publicly funded programs and institutions. At the same time, perspective is important: it’s important to understand that Trump and the MAGA movement didn’t just appear out of thin air, or[Read More…]
Lawmakers Further Apart on Details of Ed Bill
MONTPELIER – You couldn’t walk 10 steps under the golden dome Friday without someone asking if we were getting out of here today. Legislative lawyers are under-rested and over-extended. Lawmakers have skipped too many meals. And everyone has a pet theory: so-and-so wants a delay, someone has a secret proposal[Read More…]
Education Reform: Trust Vermont Values
GREENSBORO – The road to education reform in Vermont has been long and winding, and we are at another crossroads. Driven by increasingly unaffordable property tax bills, House bill H. 454 attempts to use district consolidation as a cost-saving measure along with a funding formula change meant to contain spending.[Read More…]
Hardwick Farmers Market is Fun, Fresh and Free!
HARDWICK – The Hardwick Farmers Market opens Fridays for fun, fresh food, and free stuff at Atkins Field on Granite Street starting May 23, from 3 to 6 p.m. While no one has to buy anything, it’s a great idea to do so because the wares on site are grown[Read More…]
Comfortable and Insensitive
WALDEN – If you haven’t read Chekhov’s short story “Gooseberries” or haven’t read it recently, now is the perfect time to do so. It’s a story about two brothers of rather humble birth. Ivan, the older one, becomes a veterinary surgeon, the younger Nikolay, a clerk whose work in cramped[Read More…]
We Cannot Move Forward Constructively
GREENSBORO – Now that the vote regarding the Rural Edge proposal is behind us, many have suggested it’s time to move on. I agree. But we cannot move forward constructively without addressing the divisive tone and tactics that have shaped this conversation for far too long. I’m not writing to[Read More…]
What are Your Dreams for the Future?
EAST ALBANY – At 18 years old I moved to the Northeast Kingdom and I fell in love. I fell in love with the mountains, the farms, and the lakes. But mostly, I fell in love with the people. In the Northeast Kingdom, people show up for one another. We[Read More…]
Health Care Administrator, Fire Thyself
I’ve worked in health care policy for 10 years, with a specific emphasis on reproductive health care access. In this time, it has become public knowledge that the United States leads the developed world in maternal mortality, and maternal morbidity has gone woefully understudied. Rather than addressing this issue, it[Read More…]
An Open Letter to the Vermont General Assembly
VERMONT – (This commentary is by a group of former Vermont lawmakers. Their names are listed below the text.) More than 50 years ago, Vermont recognized the hardship faced by homeowners whose property taxes were rising faster than their ability to pay them. Since then, state fiscal policy has moved,[Read More…]
People Ask Editors to Remove Names from Old Stories
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Government workers, teachers and green card holders across the country are asking editors to remove their names and the record of their support for causes now targeted by the Trump administration from old stories. Journalists from around the country routinely ask me for ethics help. In[Read More…]
