Friends Testifies in House Education Committee

On Wednesday (3/25) Friends members Neil Odell and Krista Huling testified in the House Education Committee asking lawmakers for equity, transparency and accountability for all schools receiving public money. We believe any school in Vermont that receives public dollars should meet the same clear criteria. This includes employing licensed educators, offering open enrollment, ensuring students are protected from dismissal without cause, following financial transparency requirements, adhering to curricular standards, reporting outcomes to the public, and meeting class size minimums where applicable. If the state determines that these are appropriate standards for Vermont schools, they should apply to all Vermont schools that benefit from the public's financial backing.

In addition to our testimony we provided members of House Education a list of the differences in the rules, regulations and standards that apply to public and private schools. This list came directly from a 2020 Vermont State Auditor report "Approved Independent [Private] Schools Are Not Subject to Most of the Statutes and Rules That Govern Public Schools"

You can view the testimony here and also see the written remarks that we sent to House Education at the following links:

Neil Odell Testimony

Krista Huling Testimony