Education and Health Care: Vermont Must Do Both

By the Essex House Delegation 
Vermonters are right to be alarmed by rising property taxes. Families feel it. Municipalities feel it.  And legislators feel it.   
We appreciate the Essex Westford School District School Board Advocacy Committee for contributing thoughtful, data-driven analysis to the conversation of cost drivers and the Governor’s proposed mega-district. We want to be clear that we do not support the Governor’s proposal to create a single unified Chittenden County district. And we appreciate the board’s recent commentary highlighting an essential truth: rising education costs cannot be discussed without acknowledging all the cost drivers, including increasing health care expenses. From 2019 to 2026, public school employee health insurance costs increased by more than 113%. And it’s not just public school employees; everyone who has health insurance has seen similar increases. That kind of growth would overwhelm any budget, no matter how responsibly managed. 

But Vermont’s challenge is not an either/or choice between addressing health care and other education cost drivers OR transforming our education system. It is a both/and moment, and delaying action on either will only deepen the strain on taxpayers and schools alike. Local school boards do not negotiate statewide health care contracts, and neither does the State, yet they are expected to absorb the consequences. Health care costs are a major driver of education spending, and the state must take responsibility for addressing them. Let’s be clear: health care costs are high in Vermont because prices are high. The legislature has taken significant action to bring down these prices.  

• Last year, we capped outpatient drug prices at 120% of the average sales price, resulting in an immediate $200 million reduction in health care spending. 
• We directed the Green Mountain Care Board to set caps on hospital prices for the upcoming hospital fiscal year as a means of bringing down overall health care costs. 
• We tasked the Agency of Human Services with developing a statewide strategic health care plan to ensure every Vermont community has access to essential services, while concentrating other services in the settings that can deliver them most efficiently, at the lowest cost, and with the highest quality. 

But we are not done, there is much to do, and we will spend this upcoming session ensuring that everything we do in healthcare addresses affordability first and foremost.   

At the same time, Vermont’s education system was built for a very different state than the one we live in today. Enrollment is declining statewide, while student needs are growing. Simply counting students does not tell the full story. What matters is who those students are and what support they need. In EWSD, as in many districts, student weights that reflect poverty, disability, language needs, and grade level have increased even as overall enrollment has declined. Educating today’s students requires different resources than educating students in the past. 

That is why education transformation is still necessary, even as we work to rein in health care costs. 

Importantly, EWSD and other Chittenden County districts demonstrate that thoughtful, responsible change is possible. EWSD has made difficult decisions, reduced staffing, collaborated regionally, and continued to deliver outcomes above the state average. Chittenden County districts have spent years consolidating, sharing services, and modernizing governance structures, not because they were forced to, but because local leaders recognized changing realities. 

For that reason, we do not support the Governor’s proposal for a unified Chittenden County school district. A one-size-fits-all district serving more than 20,000 students risks undoing years of deliberate, locally driven progress.  

Chittenden County is an example to be followed. The region has already done much of the work that other parts of the state are only beginning. Rather than dismantling systems that are working, the focus should be on helping the rest of Vermont achieve similar levels of efficiency and collaboration. 

That is where Act 73 comes in. At its core, Act 73 acknowledges a reality many Vermonters recognize: our education governance system must evolve to remain sustainable and equitable. The law aims to reduce duplication, encourage collaboration, and align resources more effectively with student needs. Directionally, it moves Vermont toward what districts like EWSD have already been doing. 

Implementation matters. The Legislature has a responsibility to ensure Act 73 is carried out with evidence, transparency, and respect for communities, and without disrupting districts that are already operating responsibly. Education reform should scale best practices statewide, not penalize those who adopted them early. 

We are grateful to EWSD and local school boards across the state for leading with transparency, responsibility, and courage in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. As legislators, our task is to match that leadership: to confront rising health care costs, modernize education governance, and protect both educational quality and affordability. 
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In the coming weeks and months, your Essex House Delegation is committed to sharing the work and progress of our House Education Committee as they continue the work to determine how Act 73 should be implemented in Vermont. We look forward to robust dialogue with our community and welcome folks reaching out at any time.  

Essex House Delegation 
Rep. Karen Dolan, Chittenden 22 - [email protected] 
Rep. Lori Houghton, Chittenden 22 - [email protected] 
Rep. Leonora Dodge, Chittenden 23 - [email protected] 
Rep. Rey Garofano, Chittenden 23 - [email protected] 
Rep. Alyssa Black, Chittenden 24 - [email protected] 
 
 

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