The Vermont Principals’ Association has just under 800 members. These members are mostly principals, assistant principals, and high school athletic directors; however, many superintendents, curriculum coordinators, and special education administrators are also members of the VPA. (Full Testimony)

In terms of the new pupil weighting and the impact on FY25 budgets, the cost drivers I
mentioned previously to Senate Education are exacerbating the circumstances… (Full Written Testimony)

First, thank you to Senators Gulick and Hashim for signing on to this bill and Senate Education
in general for its strong interest over the last few legislative sessions in looking to assist schools
in improving instruction and ultimately outcomes in reading performance for our students. (Full Written Testimony)

January 09, 2024, Washington, D.C. —The United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) announces that high school students Mr. Christopher Lawrence Alfano and Ms. Eva VanderVliet Gould will join Senator Bernard Sanders and Senator Peter Welch in representing Vermont during the 62nd annual USSYP Washington Week, to be held March 2 — 9, 2024. Christopher Alfano of Dorset and Eva Gould of Brattleboro were selected from among the state’s top student leaders to be part of the 104 national student delegation. Each delegate will also receive a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate study. (Full Press Release)

“Let me start by thanking the Agency of Education and Rob Evans of Margolis Healy for their work on school safety and hearing thoughts from the field to make drills meaningful, effective, and pragmatic without unnecessarily increasing student feelings of trauma.” (full written testimony)

Jay Nichols’ Comments to the State Board of Education on Secretary of Education Search, 10/2/23

Qualitative Results from VPA, VSA, VSBA, as shared on 10/2/23 with the Vermont State Board of Education

State Board Comments on Secretary of Education 9/20/23

Public Comments: My comments are on the open Secretary of Education position from a State Board of Education Meeting on 9/20/23 AOE Leadership and state level leadership is critical to the future of VT educationWe stand on a precipice in which we have some students being openly discriminated against in some schools, partly because our General Assembly chose to not address the Carson V. Makin Supreme Court case that allows money to go to religious schools and other private schools that discriminate.  Whoever the next Secretary is needs to be someone who is committed to Each and Every student regardless of their social class, religion, gender identity, and all demographic and social identities. By working collectively in the quest to collectively serve all students regardless of their background in an equitable manner we can truly become the Educational State that we all want; the opportunity is great, the challenges are significant and having the right person in that position is paramount.We need a pragmatic and inspiring leader at this time more than any time in my career. From my perspective, the field is begging for leadership and it ideally should come from the AOE’s top leader or leaders.Jay Nichols, VPA Executive Director

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State Board Comments, 8/18/23

I recently gave the following comments at the State Board Mtg. My comments are aligned with the direction of our Executive Council that all Vermont children and schools funded by Vermont Taxpayer dollars should be subject to the same rules. Here are my comments in their entirety:

Nichols Public Comments State Board of Education 8/18/23

Good afternoon, for the record, Jay Nichols Executive Director of the Vermont Principals’ Association. The VPA has a deeply shared belief that all Vermont children should be equally valued and that all Vermont children are equally important to our future as a state.

This means that the same set of basic rules for schools should apply for any school, public or private, that is receiving taxpayer supported funds. At the VPA, our Executive Council has dubbed this, “Same Dollars, Same Rules.” This is a mantra we hope the State Board and the Legislature will recognize as one of fundamental fairness going forward and that is essential for the educational and economic vitality of our state.

We have heard that private or independent schools should have a different set of rules. We think that is true if a school is truly independent; however, any school that is receiving taxpayer dollars to operate is not independent; but rather dependent; on the state and therefore should follow the same rules. Let’s move away from our current publicly segregated system and show all Vermont children that we value them equally. Separate but equal did not work to improve our society when minority students were discriminated against after the civil war and into the modern education era and that approach doesn’t work now.

Thank you.

Jay Nichols

*** I want to be very clear that we have many private schools that are members who DO NOT discriminate against any students and the Executive Council and the VPA Team fully supports them and appreciates all they do! 

Vermont Intervention Model for Extra Curricular Activities

This model understand the pivotal role that extracurricular activities play in a student’s holistic development, fostering their talents, skills, and passion outside the classroom. The framework is designed to provide a comprehensive approach to creating safe spaces through intervention strategies, ensuring that every student has access to a wide range of enriching opportunities.

VPA Representative: Mike McRaith

Dear House Education,

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this issue again in this session. Your attention to our public school educator workforce is vitally important. There are many important issues that need your support in Vermont education, and I believe that this one is as fundamental as any. Without attending to the workforce shortages, other efforts and initiatives will lack the foundation necessary to make progress. I especially appreciate the opportunity to speak to recommendations on H.416 to include attention and resources to diversifying our public school educator workforce. In that regard, I remind house education of the testimony given on February 24th from Mikaela Simms, Jonathan Phipps and myself.

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Testimony in House Education for Diversifying the Educator Workforce & Youtube Version 2/24/23

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My recommendations for edits to the current version of H.416 are as follows

Section 1: Vermont Teacher Forgivable Loan Incentive Program

● Page 3, in the list of determining students eligible for student loan forgiveness there is no mechanism to prioritize financial need. It only requires that a student has completed the FAFSA. The FAFSA is its own hurdle for marginalized populations. That aside, the current language leaves the possibility that a college student with low financial need may be considered at the same priority as a college student with high financial need. Please add, “Prioritization will be given to applicants with demonstrated financial need”.

● Page 4, line 5: list out which schools in Vermont are considered an “eligible school”, and recommend including Spark in that list.

● Page 5, line 19, 20: add “outreach and specific support for engaging in the program to underrepresented demographics in the educator workforce”

● The funding is to come from the general fund. Here is some estimated math on the number of students this could serve.

2,500,000 -175,000 fiscal agent (7% to VSAC) = 2,325,000 in FY24
UVM in-State Tuition for 30 credits = $16,280
This means that the current FY24 proposed appropriation could serve 143 students with one year of tuition forgiveness at the in-state UVM tuition rate. If that appropriation must account for all four years, it serves around 35 students. This does not account for the out of state tuition rate or variance in cost among eligible Vermont education prep programs.

Section 2: Peer Review Support Grant Program; Report

● Change the heading of the section to “Non-Traditional Pathways Program”. The abbreviated rationale is to expand the possibility of creativity and flexibility in supporting peer-review and other strategies and pathways.

● Page 5, Lines 11 to 16 to read (edits in green)
(1) Program creation support. In fiscal year 2023, there is established the Peer Review Support Non-Traditional Pathways Grant Program, to be administered by the Agency of Education, to provide grants to develop expand support, mentoring, data collection, and professional development to prospective educators seeking licensure through the Agency of Education’s peer review process Non-Traditional Pathways including Peer Review, Transcript Review, Emergency, Provisional, and Apprentice pathways with the goals of increased program completion rates and increased rates of licensure for underrepresented demographics.

● Page 6, Line 1 and 2: peer review program non-traditional pathways the support necessary for successful completion of the peer review process by providing following but not limited to:
Line 13: Peer Review Non-Traditional Pathways

Section 3

● No changes. Ending the fees will help reduce barriers for marginalized populations

Section 4

● Strike, The Standards board has already achieved 50 state reciprocity

New Section

Diversifying the Educator Workforce

In addition to the above edits to improve access and support for diversifying the educator workforce, I am proposing the following additions to the bill under a new section.

A) The Agency of Education will collect demographic information from educators with transparency of its expressed purpose of improving the longstanding and well documented issue of under-representation of educators of color in Vermont. The Agency will be provided with necessary appropriations to collect and analyze the given data.

B) (Testimony needs to be heard from the Agency of Education regarding their current upcoming report from APA on metrics of current educator workforce issues in Vermont and in regards to what they need in order to achieve this data collection).

C) Dedicated Personnel at the Agency of Education (and necessary appropriation for grants and budget) to focus on supporting Educator Workforce issues, with specific attention to Diversifying the Educator Workforce. This role will be a new role, with a budget and job responsibilities to include:

• Building and maintaining a Teach Vermont educator recruitment website along the lines of https://connecticut.teach.org/
• Serving as collector of recruitment and retention best practices for districts to reference
• Lead and network statewide efforts and convenings to meet the goals of sustaining educators of color as recommended by the Vermont Educators of Color Association.
• Convene networking opportunities on regional and local initiatives on workforce development programs to work collectively and collaboratively.
• Lead a group of representative stakeholders for statewide recommendations for continued development and comprehensive programming on recruitment and retention of educators, including educators of color.
• Lead a grant process to support existing and developing relevant affinity groups in the state.

Total Recommended Appropriation $400,000 for FY2024.

In addition to the above technical recommendations to H.416 I recommend:

● The bill will be reviewed by additional stakeholders with additional testimony, with
special attention to educators of color in Vermont.

● I recommend discussion and legislative action and a significant appropriation for the implementation of ACT 1 of 2019. In countless research papers and in countless conversations with educators of color–attending to the environment is as important as anything in recruitment and retention efforts. The recommendations of the ACT 1 working group to the Educational Quality Standards, if/when adopted, will provide an excellent opportunity to attend to that environment. Roll out and adoption by local districts will need statewide leadership in professional learning in order to do so with fidelity.

Testimony: House Education

Topic: Diversifying the Vermont Educator Workforce

Date: 2-24-23

VPA Rep: Mike McRaith, Associate Executive Director

“A growing body of research demonstrates the positive impacts of teachers of color on short- and long-term academic outcomes of all students. For students of color, the research finds that having just one teacher of color at any point between kindergarten and third grade can boost academic achievement, high school graduation rates, and college enrollment rates (Dee, 2004; Gershenson, 2018). Nationally, students of color represent 50% of total public K-12 enrollment, and by 2060, that number will climb to 66%. Yet, people of color currently make up only 20% of the educator workforce (National Center for Education Statistics, 2018). The imperative is clear: A racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse educator workforce is vital to closing the inequitable gaps that persist between students of color and their White peers.”1

1 Opening paragraph and graph are taken from the Diversifying the Educator Workforce Collaborative Regional Landscape Snapshot of March, 2022. Authored by the Great Schools Partnership. (Link to Document)

The research on the importance and effectiveness of learning that goes along with diversifying the educator workforce has been known for decades. There is a positive impact for all students and the positive impact on students of color is particularly profound. Vermont has an increasing percentage of youth of the global majority, while our educator demographic remains around 97% white. In my role at the Vermont Principals’ Association, I’ve tried to take and initiate every meeting possible on this issue over the past three and a half years. In countless meetings and conversations, I’ve yet to meet anyone who disagrees about its importance and need, yet there is no comprehensive programming to address the challenge. Of specific importance are the hours that I have spent in conversation with longtime Vermont educational leaders: Mikaela Simms, Bonnie Johnson-Aten, and Lashawn Whitmore-Sells. Their leadership, lived experience, and insights significantly inform my thinking and communicated ideas here.

Key Learnings About the DEW Landscape:

● There have been many localized attempts in past decades with mixed results but no significant change.

● There are several small-scale pockets of effort in some districts and educational non-profit organizations, some regional convening efforts, some regional official reports.

● Despite the clear and longstanding need to diversify the educator workforce, I know of no official state-level effort (ever?) to address the fact that our population is becoming more diverse while our educator workforce is not.

Recommendations

● Require demographic data to be collected and reported. At this time, to my knowledge, Vermont does not collect demographic data on our educator workforce. Thus, we actually do not have a clear picture of when the numbers go up or down, no way to see longitudinal data. This needs expectations and resources to meet that expectation.

● Have dedicated and committed leadership to diversifying the educator workforce. There is no department, no task-force, no project management, no sprint team, no job role that is currently asked to focus on this issue at the state level. There is nobody connecting the dots between grassroots efforts, providing state convenings, building partnerships, providing research, or resources on best practices, nobody recruiting, nobody to advocate for appropriations, etc.

● Attend to the Environment. The issues that are impacting the educator pipeline and educator retention are true for educators of the global majority as well. In addition to those baseline challenges are the micro and macro aggressions experienced systematically and routinely by educators of global majority and other marginalized identities.

• Follow the Recommendations Provided by the Vermont Educators of Color Association: Vision Document for Sustaining Educators of Color in VT
• Fund a coordinated implementation of ACT 1 of 2019 to improve key knowledges, community engagement, equitable policies, representative curricula, instructional practices, educational access, and related educator professional learning.
• Coordinate a network of support: utilizing some of the existing grassroots efforts for educator affinity spaces (existing examples) and expand with concentrated hours, funding, and focus.

● Incentivize and Support the Pathways. The various potential pathways include: retention, recruiting out of state, youth in state, licensing access (e.g. multiple languages), adult-ed programs, peer-review incentives, and university students. Each of these pathways could have its own programming, leadership, and appropriations. With that said, based on my discussions over the past several years, I suggest the two follow areas of focus:

• Retention (see above on environment)
• University Programs: I believe that a collaboration is possible between public pk-12 districts, Vermont teacher prep programs, philanthropy, and the state (AOE, Office of Racial Equity, or Dept. of Labor) to strengthen recruitment and placement. I believe a program that provided some targeted recruitment, loan forgiveness, early mentoring, and retention bonuses would lead to a sustained increase in our percentage of educators of the global majority.

● Advocate for Long-Term Statewide Commitment & Investment. Attending to the clear need to diversify the educator workforce is important and is only one area of needed attention on the need to improve racial equity in Vermont. This area would be more well supported by a comprehensive and long-term commitment by the state as whole, along the lines of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan from the State of Oregon (for example).

Additional Testimony to Consider: I recommend the following people/groups for additional testimony and perspectives. I can connect you directly as needed/wanted.

● VPA Member and Burlington school administrator, Bonnie Johnson-Aten. Bonnie leads the VPA affinity group, “A Place of Our Own” for school leaders of color in Vermont

● The Vermont Professionals of Color Network

● Jess DeCarolis at the Agency of Education who co-authored the study from 2019.

● DEI coordinator in the Champlain Valley School District, Lashawn Witmore Sells, who has been active in Diversifying the Educator Workforce initiatives in Vermont for the past 15 years

● A representative from the Vermont Office of Racial Equity

● Representatives from the ACT 1 Working Group with lived experience as an educator, student, and/or parent

● Carolyn Weir, Executive Director at the McClure Foundation

Listed and Related Resources/Information

● Great Schools Partnership & Barr Foundation: Diversifying the Educator Workforce Collaborative–Call to Action

○ 2019-2020 Report: Increasing the Racial, Ethnic, and Linguistic Diversity of the Educator Workforce. Note the Promising Practices Throughout (e.g. pages 10, 12, 14, 17)

○ 2022 Diversifying the Educator Workforce Regional Landscape Snapshot

● Known Affinity Spaces for Vermont Educators of Color

● Vision Document for Sustaining Educators of Color in VT (spring, 2022)

● 3 VPA Podcast Episodes on Diversifying the Vermont Educator Workforce

● Spark Teacher Educator Institute

● The VPA is working with the McClure Foundation to bring NEMNET for professional learning to VPA membership

● New DEW Grant launched at the Rowland Foundation

● VT Partnership for Fairness & Diversity provided Recommendations for Recruitment & Retention of Educators in Vermont

● VPA Statement on Educator Workforce 11-4-22

● Educator Workforce Brief from VSA, VPA, & VSBA 3-3-22

● https://colorado.teach.org/ & https://connecticut.teach.org/

● VPA Survey to Members of Work Force Issue, May 2020

● Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan from the State of Oregon