Vermont Public
Education Defense
GIVE EVERY KID A FAIR CHANCE
Public education belongs to ALL of us.
Our public education dollars must work for ALL of us.
No taxpayer funded private school should be
allowed to take Vermont public education dollars
while excluding some of our kids
and denying the rights of Vermonters.
A taxpayer funded private school refused to hire a teacher when they found out she is a lesbian.
Another forces families to sign a homophobic
faith pledge to enroll, and had a handbook that compares being gay to engaging in bestiality and incest.
Taxpayer funded private schools use test scores, grades, interviews and discipline records to decide which kids to serve, taking tax dollars and diverting those students
(including economically disadvantaged students) they exclude to now defunded public schools.
Vermont also allows public education dollars to be used in other states and countries, where our state’s protection
against discrimination don’t apply.
Is this fair?
Do you think your tax dollars should platform
homophobia, fund exclusion and undemocratic practices?
Say “NO!” to meanness.
Our goals are to protect the rights and dignity of all,
not the privilege of some.
Rules that apply to public schools should apply to all schools
that use public school dollars, including all rules related
to social equity, ethnic studies
and representative curriculum and open enrollment.
TAKE ACTION!
Step 1:
Open your personal email account.
Copy and paste the following addresses of the
Vermont Legislative Leadership and Education committee members into the send box:
To: PBaruth@leg.state.vt.us, BCampion@leg.state.vt.us,
MGulick@leg.state.vt.us, NHashim@leg.state.vt.us, rwhite@leg.state.vt.us,
rmccormack@leg.state.vt.us, aclarkson@leg.state.vt.us, Speaker@leg.state.vt.us, jmasland@leg.state.vt.us, rholcombe@leg.state.vt.us
Subject: Oppose the confirmation of Zoie Sanders
Step 2:
Copy and paste the following text into your message box
(feel free to edit and make it your own):
Message:
Dear State Legislators:
I am concerned that my tax dollars pay for schools that are not inclusive to all students.
Please take up a bill this session to remedy this situation.
Thank you,
Thank you,
(Fill in Your Name and Town)
If you are not yet eligible to vote, that's okay! Just change voter to student.
Optional:
Find Your Local Legislators Here and add their addresses to your email.
Step 3:
Send the email! We do not collect your information.
References
In remarks on Friday, Saunders said her goal was to make Vermont "a national model — producing the best educational outcomes in the United States, from cradle to career."
One wonders what type of for profit model Saunders envisions after her tenure at Charter Schools, USA and the lawsuit they brought against Broward County Schools.
For several years, school boards in Davidson and Rutherford counties had denied NEI’s expansion, often citing the company’s links to Charter Schools USA, a prohibited for-profit charter organization, and Hamlin Capital Management, a Connecticut-based hedge fund specializing in profiting off charter schools‘ real estate transactions.
Governor appoints new Ed Sec
with ties to Charter Schools, Inc.
Gov Scott has appointed Zoie Saunders for the position of Secretary of education. Saunders was VP of strategy of Charter Schools, Inc .- a for- profit entity that has shown to increase segregation and that donates to Republican candidates for political office.
Charter Schools USA is a for-profit Florida company that operates over 80 schools in six states, according to its website. Its founder and long-time CEO, Jonathan Hage, has played influential roles in Florida Republican politics, including serving on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ education transition team. VPED opposes this nomination and asks that you write letters to the relevant Senators to voice your concern. ( See Action Alert)
The owner of a successful soapstone company, Glenn Bowman could pay the $50,000-plus annual tuitions at each school out of his own pocket,
but he "doesn't have to."
Vermont’s voucher program contributes about $30,000 a year toward tuition, ultimately saving Bowman more than $100,000 overall on his children’s high school educations.
Sandherr wrote to the school ahead of her interview, asking if the families and teachers at Bishop Marshall
would accept that she was married to a woman.
“Given what you’ve shared, I do not believe you would be able to sign our employment contract, based on its terms,”
Carrie Wilson, Bishop Marshall’s
head of school, wrote back in response.
A student becomes pregnant at one of the taxpayer funded private schools. She and her family are told she is “not the right fit anymore, and; you will do better somewhere else.” and is not provided with any support and ends up being pushed out of the school.
Vermont’s constitution stipulates that taxpayers can’t be compelled to pay for religious education.
But how to regulate that within the new legal landscape is a question that the state Supreme Court, the Legislature, the State Board of Education and the Agency of Education have so far declined to answer.
Recently, the Vermont Independent Schools Association (VISA) stated that the Proposed updates to the Education Quality Standards (EQS) from the Act 1 working group should not apply to them. Private school advocates have been lobbying the State Board EQS subcommittee to remove the phrase “approved independent schools” saying that they have their own rules and that the proposed updates to the EQS should not apply to them.
Taxpayer funded private school,
Grace Christian School in Bennington Vermont requires families to sign a statement of faith for entry to school.
The pledge includes "marriage is between one man and one woman"
and that gender is immutable.
Grace Christian a taxpayer funded private school in Bennington, Vermont receives public funding yet excludes
LGBTQ families, students and faculty from
their school community.
Their website and handbook refers to "Homosexuality and bisexuality as immoral" and a similar "sin to incest and bestiality."
Mid Vermont Christian School in Quechee, Vermont forfeits a game rather than play a team with a transgender student.
The taxpayer funded private school
was subsequently
barred from VPA sports over this issue.
There is no existing appeals process, but Mid Vermont could come before the Vermont Principal Association leadership and
seek to be readmitted.
Taxpayer Funded
Private School
Teaches "Scriptural Marriage"
Taxpayer funded private school,
United Christian Academy's
focus is
“Biblical and family values oriented.”
UCA “will seek to bolster the work of the family,
support the Bible’s teaching on
sanctity of scriptural marriage,
and emphasize traditional values.
A taxpayer funded private school refused to take a student on a 504 plan. The parent was told the student
was not a “good fit” for their school.
This a Vermont Agency of Education
approved
taxpayer funded private school who is
eligible to receive public funding.
Vermont taxpayer funded private
school recommends
as a
trusted resource on their website.
This group promotes "conversion therapy"a failed ideology
that attemptsto "change"
LGBT people.
illegal in the state of Vermont.
The Bennington, Vermont taxpayer funded school "reserves the right to dismiss a child if their behavior or attitude inside or outside of school or that of their family is inconsistent with community principles"
Website: Genesis 1:27 tells us that we are created “male and female in God’s image” and that God saw this as “very good.”