The 802 Ed
What's going on in Vermont education policy and practice
Welcome back, and welcome to the summer! Like many of our readers we are taking a break until late August. See you then!
This issue of the 802 Ed covers many topics that are immediately useful like Vermont’s education governance reform seems to be finally moving forward, academic performance is under the microscope nationally, and the attention economy is reshaping schools through the cell phone bans. Be sure to check out the pieces on school choice!
New to the lingo? At the suggestion of a reader we include a guide to common abbreviations, just scroll down past the news.
- Steven Berbeco, Editor
School Leadership
Shh in The Hot Seat. Higher Ed Jobs asks: “What if the key to navigating complexity, making sound decisions, and sustaining ourselves … is silence?”
New and Improved Education System. VT Digger keys us into H.955, a compromise bill that seems to have both chambers of the legislature and the governor on the same page about education governance and finance, and the need for action: “Our excellence in education has fallen like a rock.”
Vermont Public points out that that foundation formula that is incorporated into the bill is “wildly unpopular with Vermonters.”
The VPO piped in with thorny comments about the last-minute push: “And on Tuesday, as quickly as humanly (and Robert’s Rulesly) possible, the Senate slammed it through in a single day.”
AP English Gets Easier. Education Next zooms into a review of AP English exam texts over the years and comes out with the analysis that text level keeps getting “dumbed down.”
“Slow Moving Freight Train.” New York Times hands the pen to a commentator, who reviewed the status of school choice vouchers and raised questions about whether public education is becoming a shared civic institution or a consumer marketplace. Gift link
ICE Reshapes Child Care. Vermont Business Journal reports on a new study from University of Vermont that finds intensified immigration enforcement has likely contributed to higher child care costs and fewer slots for families.
Finger-Pointing in Montpelier. VT Digger lifts the veil on a blame game between AOE and lawmakers over $700,000 in funding for the Read Vermont literacy program. This was a popular item in last issue, so here it is again for readers who may have missed it.
Who Teaches #1 and #2? Education Week explores the conflict districts face when the youngest students arrive without toilet training.
Worldwide Cell Phone Bans. Hechinger Report knits together more than a half dozen studies from around the world on what happens when phones aren’t permitted in school.
Shuffling Staff More Kindly. School Administrator offers suggestions on how to make changes on the organizational chart with sensitivity: “Ultimately, you will not be judged as a superintendent by the extent to which you achieved the ultimate outcome of reducing administrative staff, but rather by the extent to which you treated those affected with compassion throughout the process.”
Pause Button on Child Care. VT Digger reports on the legislature’s decision to hold off on making changes to licensing for early childhood education: “We need to be absolutely sure that this is the right way to go.”
Heads Up, Vermont. States are taking innovative steps to support their students. Vermont school leaders and lawmakers should take note:
Maine has introduced badges that students can earn in important soft skills like adaptation, leadership and goal-setting.
Schools in Indiana now have access to advanced curriculum from the University of Cambridge, in England.
School Shootings in 2026. Education Week’s tracker has logged 13 school shootings in 2026. “On May 18, three adults were shot and killed in front of the Islamic Center of San Diego, which houses a mosque and two schools within the same compound, in San Diego, Calif.” Total school shootings in 2025: 18. As a reminder, DPS and AOE operate an anonymous school safety tip line for students, school staff, and their community: calling 1-844-SAFE4VT; texting SAFE4VT to 274637; or online at safe4vt.org. For questions about school safety training in Vermont, contact Sunni Erikson.
Buzz On The Street
This sections highlights recent op-eds and letters to the editor about education.
Ginger Schwab expresses disappointment that a student protest was held during school hours: “This decision sends our children the message that adult political activism can outweigh their education.” This was a popular item in last issue, so here it is again for readers who may have missed it.
Ada Breese contends that schools are drifting into a kind of intellectual autopilot, where both students and teachers increasingly outsource thinking to AI: “The danger lies in where it leads.”
Shawn Tester argues that Vermont’s independent schools are not elite extras but essential infrastructure for rural communities: “Pull the thread of school choice in rural Vermont, and you may not realize until too late just how much was attached to it.”
Ariel Kalil and Derek Rury bemoan America’s collapsing test scores as schools increasingly hand out higher grades while students learn less and struggle to focus in a screen-saturated culture: “Nearly nine in 10 parents in the United States believe that their child is performing at or above grade level in reading and math. Many, if not most, of them are wrong.” Gift link
Ken Fredette makes the point that Vermont’s education funding crisis should be solved through targeted property tax and health care reforms, not by dismantling the current school finance system with a constitutionally questionable foundation formula: “The formula falls flat.”
Reader Survey
In each issue we ask a survey question to get a sense of what is on our readers’ minds. Then, the following issue, we report back on what we learned.
Last issue we asked: Do you think Vermont lawmakers understand the realities facing local schools and educators? Responses were strongest for No, they seem to have little idea. Fewer than a quarter as many readers selected Yes, they are well-connected.
No survey question this time. Have a great summer, see you again in August!
Listen Up
Check out the 802 Ed’s conversation-style podcast! Generated by Notebook LM
Job Listings
Supercharge The Applicant Pool. The market for school staff in Vermont is fierce and it’s important to stand out when attracting quality candidates. Why get wedged in among thousands of open positions on SchoolSpring? Your opportunity can stand out in an upcoming issue of the 802 Ed, dropping into the Inbox of thousands of readers. Sponsored by 802 Ed
School Leader Vacancies. Latest report from VPA counts 97 school leader positions, like principal and assistant principal, that are turning over for next school year.
The Big List. Josh Czupryk compiles and publishes a monthly spreadsheet with about 600 job opportunities for remote work in K-12 education.
Looking for a Change? With so many open jobs in education, there are sometimes unusual opportunities. For example, the State of Vermont is hiring a home-based Lister Education Manager with a salary up to $51.12/hour for individuals with “a passion for education.”
Thank The Team
You read it, you love it, and now is a good time to say thanks. Cover our coffee budget! Writing, editing, researching… all of that is caffeine driven. Choose this option and the extra energy will go to finding a few more updates to share.
Note From The Editor
The last days of the school year arrive the same way a Vermont thunderstorm does: slowly, then all at once. One minute, students are staring longingly through classroom windows. The next, lockers are empty and teachers are carrying home enough coffee mugs to stock a small diner. Another school year slips into the rearview mirror.
As someone who spends a lot of time thinking and writing about education, I find comfort in the annual rhythm of it all. Schools remain one of the few places in modern life where people still gather to do the hard, hopeful work of building a future we cannot yet see.
This year offered another reminder that progress rarely travels in a straight line. That was true in our classrooms, and it was certainly true in Montpelier.
After years of debate, brinkmanship, compromise, and more committee hearings than any sane person should voluntarily watch, our lawmakers jiggled the snow globe and approved a significant education reform package that seeks to reshape school funding and governance while stopping short of forcing district mergers. And about that new foundation formula that seems like a bad idea.. I’ll just stand over here shaking up this can of I Told You So.
But whether you view the legislation as historic, problematic, insufficient, or all three at once, it represents one of the most consequential education policy shifts Vermont has undertaken in decades.
The lesson feels familiar: big challenges are solved by stubborn persistence, awkward compromises, and people who keep showing up.
Speaking of awkward persistence, I ran my first marathon a week ago. To be clear, my primary goal was survival and my secondary goal was avoiding public humiliation. I am pleased to report that I accomplished both, this editorial aside. Even more remarkably, I did not finish last.
My name isn’t engraved on a trophy, but somewhere around mile 18, while negotiating terms with muscle groups that had entered open rebellion, I gained a newfound appreciation for every student, educator, parent, and policymaker who keeps putting one foot in front of the other when the finish line still feels impossibly far away.
Progress, you may agree, is less about speed than stamina.
Meanwhile, Vermont is entering its finest season. The lilacs have mostly surrendered as the peonies and irises make their entrance. Lake water is becoming marginally less bracing. The Green Mountains have traded spring’s muddy uncertainty for summer’s confident green and, for a few precious weeks, in what may be the rarest miracle of all, we have collectively agreed to stop complaining about the weather.
Before summer fully takes hold and we all sign off for a while, I want to offer a sincere thank you to everyone who reads this column. In an age when attention scatters like dandelion seeds in the wind, the simple act of reading remains an act of generosity and connection.
Whether you’ve agreed with every word or occasionally sent me emails that I’m glad my mother didn’t read, I am grateful for your time and engagement. Public conversation only works when people participate in it.
The school year is ending. A marathon has been completed, if not elegantly. And Vermont, as always, continues its perpetual experiment in democracy, community, and figuring things out together.
Not a bad way to start the summer. See you on the other side of it.
Eye on Data
The chart below tracks number of open positions for special education staff in Vermont in the past 90 days, presented as data points and a linear trend line. Data from SchoolSpring.
Pass It On
Like what you are reading? Hit the button below to send a copy to a colleague, friend, neighbor, your boss… whoever!
Grants & Opportunities
Financial Hub. University of Vermont is looking for a contractor to centralize administrative and financial services for the College of Arts and Sciences. Deadline is June 1.
Summer Fellowship in Design. The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center is offering a stipended, 3-day workshop in August for middle and high school teachers who teach arts, geography, or STEM to learn how to use authentic environmental data and design practices. to not only engage with data but understand how to make real-world change. Deadline is June 14.
802 Ed in The News
Last issue’s editorial on Education Reform Standstill was also published in VT Digger, Times Argus, Rutland Herald, and Vermont Business Journal.
If You Missed It
Prize-Winning Communications. Congratulations to Burlington’s Russ Elek who has been named the New England School Communicator of the year!
Schools as Safe Locations. The House and Senate almost passed a bill limiting federal agents’ ability to arrest people in and on the way to schools and other “sensitive” locations, but couldn’t get it past the finish line: “We barely accomplished anything this session.”
Billions Blocked from Education. Check out a running list of $2 billion in education programs that have been blocked by the White House.
NAEP by State. Results for 12th grade NAEP testing will be available on a state-by-state basis by the national governing board: “Better late than never.”
It Wasn’t Only The Pandemic. A research study published by Stanford University points to student academic decline in math and literacy since 2013.
Since 2021 the biweekly 802 Ed has brought together the latest from Vermont’s associations for principals, superintendents, and school board members, as well as state and national education agencies and many other news sources. We hope that you’ll find something useful in each issue and welcome comments or suggestions for upcoming issues: editor@802ed.com.
Abbreviation list: AASA School Superintendents Association, AOE Agency of Education, CTE Career and Technical Education, DCF Department for Children and Families, DMH Department of Mental Health, DPS Department of Public Safety, FERPA Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, NAEP National Assessment of Education Progress, NEASC New England Association of Schools and Colleges, RFP Request for Proposals, SBE State Board of Education, SEL Social Emotional Learning, UVEI Upper Valley Educators Institute, VDH Vermont Department of Health, VEHI Vermont Education Health Initiative, VPA Vermont Principals Association, VPO Vermont Political Observer, VREC Vermont Rural Education Collaborative, VSA Vermont Superintendents Association, VSBA Vermont School Board Association, VSBIT Vermont School Boards Insurance Trust, VSBPE Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators, VTCLA Vermont Curriculum Leaders Association, VTSU Vermont State University.
Special bonus for making it to the bottom: Just in time for summer, a searchable database of 162 creemee stands in Vermont. That should keep us all busy for a few months!