Education in Vermont facts for kids

Education in Vermont is all about the schools and colleges in the U.S. state of Vermont. This includes public schools, private schools, and colleges like the University of Vermont.

Vermont's Education Leaders

The Vermont State Board of Education (VSBE) helps manage public schools in Vermont. The governor chooses people for this board, and the Vermont Senate approves them.

Local towns and their school districts run the individual public schools. But the VSBE checks how well these schools are doing. They also give advice to state leaders about how much money to spend on education and what rules to make.

Schools for Kids and Teens

In Vermont, kids between 6 and 16 years old must go to school. This can be a public school, a private school, an approved education program, or a home study program (homeschooling).

Schools are usually split into three main levels:

• Elementary school (for younger kids)
• Middle school or junior high school (for pre-teens)
• High school (for teenagers)

Sometimes, school districts can be a bit complicated. For example, elementary and middle schools in one district might send their students to a high school in a different district.

Vermont has about 250 public schools. This includes 28 "union high schools." These are high schools supported by several towns that have separate school districts for their elementary schools.

To make education more efficient, towns can create a "union school district." This helps create larger high schools in rural areas. Towns elect two school boards: one for local schools and one for the union schools. The union board hires a superintendent to oversee all the schools. There are over 80 such union districts in Vermont.

Many high school graduates from Vermont choose to go to colleges outside the state. In 2004, about 59.4% did this.

The number of high school students in Vermont is expected to drop quite a bit. This is because Vermont has a low birthrate.

In 2018, the school system was built for 100,000 students but only had 76,000. This means there were 24,000 fewer students than in 1998. The number of students per staff member also went down. Vermont spent about $1.6 billion to educate these 76,000 students. This was the highest amount per student in the country. About half of high school graduates went on to earn a college degree.

The Dresden School District is special. It's the first school district in the U.S. that crosses state lines. It includes Hanover, New Hampshire.

Vermont also added two pre-kindergarten grades for 3- and 4-year-olds.

In 2008, there were over 19,000 full-time teachers and about 94,000 students in public schools. This means there was about one teacher for every 11 students. The number of students has been dropping each year since 2003.

Private schools are not as common as public schools. Some private high schools are "semi-private." This means towns might pay part of the tuition for students to attend these schools. This can happen if it's cheaper than building a new public school when a private one already exists.

About 90 towns in Vermont don't have public schools for all grades. For example, some might only have an elementary school. In these cases, students can choose to go to other public schools or approved private schools. The town then pays the tuition for these students.

In 2016, Vermont had over 280 school districts. By 2018, the state passed a law to combine smaller districts. This was because many districts had fewer than 100 students.

How Many Students?

In 2000, there were about 100,000 students in Vermont public schools. By 2016, this number had dropped to about 80,000 students.

How Vermont Schools Rank

Vermont was called the "nation's smartest state" in 2005 and 2006.

In 2007, a U.S. Government list showed how students performed on tests. White fourth graders in Vermont ranked 25th in reading and 26th in math. White eighth graders ranked 18th in math and 12th in reading.

Education Week magazine ranked Vermont second in the country for high school graduation rates in 2007.

In 2008, Vermont high school students showed the biggest five-year improvement in the country for Advanced Placement (AP) testing. AP classes are college-level courses taken in high school. About 19.8% of Vermont students scored a 3 or higher on AP tests, which is a good score. The national average was 15.2%.

In 2010, Vermont ranked highest in the nation for how well low-income students achieved in school.

Learning Standards

Vermont joined a group of 30 states to use the Common Core State Standards Initiative. These new standards and tests replaced the old New England NECAP test. Vermont planned to use these new standards by 2015. The tests are given in grades 3-8 and at the end of 11th grade.

School Boards and Budgets

In 2010, there were 62 "supervisory unions" that oversaw schools. These unions had fewer than 95,000 students in total.

School boards need voters to approve their budgets before they can spend money.

A Look Back at Education History

Early Schools and Academies

Vermont's first constitution in 1777 was the first in North America to say that public money should be used for education for everyone. At first, this meant elementary schools in villages. These schools often taught boys and girls together. The highest level of teaching was usually tenth grade.

By the late 1700s, "grammar schools" were set up in towns like Bennington and Burlington. These schools taught subjects like English, algebra, geometry, Greek, and Latin. They were better than the smaller village schools, and some even taught at a college level.

By the mid-1800s, as Vermont grew, grammar schools appeared everywhere. Many of these schools received money from town governments to educate students. As public funding for schools became more common, many of these grammar schools became public schools. Some stayed private, and a few even became colleges. For example, the Orange County Grammar School became Vermont Technical College.

In 1845, a state law said that county judges should appoint a county superintendent of schools to oversee the local schools. In 1892, the state created the town school district system.

Training Teachers

In the 1860s, there weren't enough qualified teachers. So, "normal schools" were created to train teachers. The grammar schools at Randolph Center, Castleton, and Johnson became normal schools. Other schools called "seminaries" also trained teachers.

The One-Room Schoolhouse

The one-room schoolhouse was common in rural Vermont for a long time. These schools had students of different ages in one room. Towns often built several schoolhouses because it was hard for students to travel far. By 1920, the state government regulated all public schools, even the one-room ones. In the 1930s, a program called "Vermont Standard Schools" helped keep education quality high in rural areas. Schools that met the requirements got a special green and white plaque.

Combining School Districts

The state passed Act 46 to encourage small school districts to combine into larger ones. This law aimed to make school operations more efficient. The new combined districts were set to start on July 1, 2019.

High School Tests

In 2009, 26% of Vermont seniors took the ACT test, and 70% took the SAT test. The average SAT score for Vermont students was 1,546, which was higher than the U.S. average of 1,509.

Many students also took AP classes. In 2009, 2,677 students took AP classes, and over 6,000 AP tests were given.

Teachers in Vermont

In 2013, Vermont had the lowest ratio of students to teachers in the country. This means teachers could give more attention to each student.

In 2010, a law changed how teachers could retire. Teachers now need to work until age 65 after 30 years of teaching, or their age plus years teaching must equal 90.

How Schools Get Money

The state passed Act 60 in 1997. This law tried to make sure that all towns paid a fair share for education through taxes. It has been a topic of discussion ever since.

In 2017, Vermont spent $1.6 billion on education for 76,000 public school children. This means over $21,000 was spent per student.

In 2010, about 70% of a school's costs went to paying educators.

Even though the number of students in kindergarten through 12th grade went down by almost 10% in the 1990s, the number of staff increased by more than 20%. The money spent per student grew from $6,073 in 1990 to $13,664 in 2006.

In 2007, Vermont spent $264 million on special education. In 2008, 14% of public school students needed special help.

In 2010, Vermont ranked 49th out of 50 states for how much money it gave to support colleges per person.

High School Sports

High schools in Vermont compete in sports in two ways:

• Local Divisions: These groups are based on where schools are located. Larger schools might play smaller ones in the same area.
• Statewide Divisions: These groups are based on the size of the school. The biggest schools are in Division I, and the smallest are in Division IV. The best teams in these divisions play each other for championships.

There are three main geographical groups for sports: Northern Vermont Athletic Conference (NVAC), Marble Valley (MVL), and Connecticut Valley (CVL). These groups are then broken down into smaller divisions.

Colleges and Universities

In 2008, Vermont had the highest average yearly tuition and fees for 4-year colleges in the country, at $11,341. It also had the highest average for 2-year colleges, at $5,830. The Community College of Vermont was the most expensive community college in the U.S.

The average Vermont college graduate in 2007 owed $24,329 in student loans. This made Vermont the fourth worst state for student debt.

College History

When Vermont was its own republic, some towns on the east side of the Connecticut River were part of Vermont. This included Hanover, New Hampshire, where Dartmouth College is located. When Vermont became a state, the Connecticut River became the border, and Dartmouth College was no longer in Vermont.

So, in 1791, Ira Allen started the University of Vermont (UVM). By the mid-1900s, most of the normal schools (which trained teachers) and seminaries became four-year colleges. Today, Vermont has five colleges in the Vermont State Colleges system, plus UVM, and many other private colleges. These include Middlebury College, Champlain College, Vermont Law School, and Norwich University, which is the oldest private military college in the U.S.

Main Universities

The University of Vermont is located in Burlington. In 2008, the state gave UVM $42.2 million in funding. Other state colleges received $25.2 million.

Other Colleges

Besides the main universities, Vermont has several other colleges, both public and private. There are about a dozen small liberal arts colleges across the state. Vermont also has public community colleges through the Community College of Vermont.

Things to Improve

A non-profit group that works on education reform gave Vermont a low ranking for its programs that help high school students get ready for college. They said Vermont needed to do more in four areas:

• Make sure high school standards match what colleges and workplaces expect.
• Give a college readiness test to all high school students.
• Create a system to track students from kindergarten onward.
• Hold high schools responsible for graduating students who are ready for college and jobs.

In 2006, Vermont ranked 42nd for high school graduates who continued to college (54.5%). It was 50th for the number of high school students who went to college in their home state (23.6%). Vermont has the highest cost in the nation for public two-year and four-year colleges.

However, in 2006, Vermont ranked eighth in the country for its high school graduation rate, at 82.3%.