Montpelier, Vermont - March 8, 2010
A southern Vermont school board is protesting the way the state is conducting a series of meetings aimed at cutting education expenses. The meetings are being held behind closed doors and the Dover School Board says that is undemocratic.
The meetings are part of the recently signed "Challenges for Change" law, which asks for creative approaches to budget challenges.
A group of state employees, teachers, school superintendents, and more met Monday afternoon in Montpelier for the first of seven meetings. They are the Education Design Team, tasked with reducing administrative expenses while achieving better outcomes. Earlier in the day, members of the Dover School Board sent a letter to the state's education commissioner demanding the meetings open to the public.
"There's potentially some really transformative things that are being considered, or that have been asked to be considered by the legislature and we think those should be deliberated in the open," says Laura Sibilia, who serves on the Dover School Board.
Tom Evslin, the state's Chief Technology Officer, who is also overseeing the education design team and the 10 others like it across state departments, says the meetings are behind closed doors so they will spark more creative thinking.
"If from the very beginning you're saying, 'Boy am I going to sound like an idiot if I make that suggestion?' then you can't really think, and so it's an opportunity perhaps for people to have dumb ideas, for people to fight about ideas," says Evslin.
Each of the teams falls under the new Challenges for Change law passed by the legislature a few weeks ago. It seeks to streamline government and save money. The Dover School Board is worried that in education talk that means consolidation.
"There will have to be consolidation considerations in order to find those administrative costs," says Sibilia.
The design team has to submit its ideas to lawmakers in two weeks and that is when Evslin says the public will have its chance to weigh in on the proposals.
"It's not that they're being shut out of the process," he says.
Evslin also consulted with the Attorney General's office, which concluded the state's open meeting law does not apply to the design team, because it does not have the power to make a decision. It is simply an advisory panel.
The Dover School Board also requested that it be allowed to see any documents the design team uses to make its decisions. Evslin says they will comply with that request and make the documents public.
Bianca Slota - WCAX News
