VERMONT DEMOCRATS

Party Platform

VDP Party Platform

ADOPTED AUGUST 17, 2024

Preamble

Since 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration has led the country through the Covid pandemic while making enduring and overdue investments in people, infrastructure, and the transition to a green economy. Targeted government commitments have resulted in remarkable job growth, sustained increase in real wages, a reduction in household and student debt, more affordable healthcare, and a vastly accelerated transition to clean, renewable energy.

Yet by all accounts, 2024 marks the most pivotal year in American history since 1861. At risk is nearly every advance made by our country since the Civil War – for women, for people of color, for workers’ rights, for families, for the environment, for global alliances, and for democracy itself.

The Republican Party has nominated for president a lawless, twice-impeached felon who has been criminally indicted for mishandling classified documents and for attempting to overturn a democratically elected government, which led to the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021. If re-elected, Trump has threatened to imprison peaceful protesters, members of the media, and his political rivals.

At the same time, the majority Republican Supreme Court Justices persistently fail to abide by an ethics code imposed on lower court judges. Recently, they legalized bribery for public officials, stripped away the authority of federal regulators – from the EPA to the FDA – to administer vital regulations, and, by granting presidents immunity for unlawful acts committed in office, have eliminated all restraints on an autocratic presidency.

So now it is up to us. We must join together to create a bulwark of resistance against the anti-democratic attacks of the Trump Republican Party on our nation and Constitution. Vermonters have proven we are up to the task, whether by defending reproductive freedom, fighting climate change, expanding workers’ rights, or by ensuring secure and easy access to the ballot box.

We commend the achievements of our Legislature, including increasing the well-being of all Vermonters by providing the leadership to override the senseless vetoes of a visionless governor. There is still much work ahead to achieve a more just, sustainable, and equitable future.

To that end, the Vermont Democratic Party (VDP) is committed to the following:

1. Democracy:

Strengthen Vermonters’ engagement and confidence in government by ensuring free and fair elections, spirited public participation, transparent and effective government, and a free press.

2. Equity:

Vigorously examine and reform practices, processes, policies, regulations, and legislation that may inhibit or obstruct access to, and participation in, the life of our communities, both rural and urban, by any Vermonter, for reasons of sex, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, religion, age, physical ability, veteran status, mental health status, disability, incarceration history, or immigration circumstances.

3. Prosperity for All:

Direct public and private investments focused on developing an economy that promotes shared and sustainable economic, social, and ecological well-being.

4. Environmental Justice:

Combat the existential threat of climate change by becoming a clean energy leader, improving the quality of life for Vermonters while protecting our beloved natural spaces, our economy, our safety, and the health and future of our children.

5. Health Care for All:

Unequivocally establish that healthcare is a fundamental human right, central to dignity, autonomy, and well-being. Universal, comprehensive, accessible, and affordable health care is essential to human life and to full participation in our society.

6. Justice and Community Safety:

Improve the well-being of our communities through a comprehensive approach to public safety that recognizes our individual implicit biases and the institutional racism inherent within society and the criminal justice system, and embrace more effective alternatives to incarceration, working to end the criminalization of poverty, addiction, and otherness

7. Public Education Second to None:

Secure Vermont’s future by investing in our children – sustaining our commitment to equitable and excellent PreK to post high school education, increasing and improving affordable access to early childcare, and extending affordable, first-rate, post-secondary learning opportunities throughout adulthood

To be sure, these planks are neither exhaustive nor separable. They are indispensable, interdependent elements of a vibrant and creative future for Vermont, rooted in respect for each other, care for our communities, and a collective responsibility for our planet.

1. Democracy

Strengthen Vermonters’ engagement and confidence in government by ensuring free and fair elections, spirited public participation, transparent and effective government, and a free press.

There is increasing recognition that at the Federal level, our democracy has been and continues to be dangerously weakened by gerrymandered House districts, a Supreme Court dominated by ideologues appointed by presidents who did not win the popular vote, and grotesque and cruel Supreme Court decisions opposed by long standing precedent. At the state level, we have an obligation to stand in opposition to these forces by using the power of our Legislature and Constitution to protect and defend democracy.

The VDP believes that all actions of the government must be conducted with transparency, fairness, responsibility, and accountability. Democracy only works when Vermonters can vote freely and easily, with accurate and timely information about critical issues, and when the government itself adheres to an ethics standard applicable to all government employees and elected officials and is held accountable by a free and fair press.

We urge our congressional delegation to push for an end to unfettered money influence on our political system and civic institutions – which has exploded as a result of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision – and to work for essential democracy and election reform legislation included in the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Enhancement Act. We also urge them to enact pending legislation guaranteeing D.C. residents the voting representation in Congress and full local self-government they have been denied for more than 220 years. We also urge our congressional delegation and the national Democratic party to protect and defend democracy globally by promoting peace, security and justice while adhering to US law as well as international human rights law and conventions such as the Geneva Convention.

The Vermont Democratic Party will prioritize work in the following areas:

DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY

Ensure that government programs remain a positive force in Vermonters’ lives by requiring that vacancies in critical public agencies and municipal boards are filled within 90 days, or in as timely a fashion as is practicable.
Pass the Equal Rights Amendment to the Vermont Constitution.
Support programs that promote civics education.
Maintain the separation of church and state as written in the US Constitution.
Ensure that the Secretary of State is provided with adequate resources to promote election cyber security.

ELECTIONS

Ensure that all Vermont residents have safe, free, and easy access to voting, in elections for positions at all levels of government.
Increase voter participation by continuing to eliminate barriers that may arise from language, differing abilities, or work and family responsibilities.
Help first-time voters understand how to register and vote, both in-person and by mail.
Support candidates from diverse backgrounds to run for office at all levels of government.
Ensure the integrity of voting by mail, by supporting the United States Postal Service, including the removal of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General.
Continue conducting fair and transparent elections, with auditable paper ballots.
Support communities that wish to extend voting rights for local elections.
Implement campaign finance reforms that ensure transparency, limit corporate influence, encourage small-dollar donations, and offer a functional public financing option.
Support changes to election law that strengthen transparency and trust by voters, such as requiring that candidates who run in and win a party primary use the same party designation in the general election.
Explore the feasibility of alternatives to our current system of plurality voting, including ranked-choice.
Reform the terms and election cycle of elected officers, from two years to four years.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Resource the State Ethics Commission, and empower it to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate; protect whistleblowers; enforce ethics violations; and offer guidance to public servants to improve Vermonters’ confidence in government institutions.
Strengthen open meeting and public records laws to promote public participation in, and oversight of, government functions.
Defend a free press that increases political knowledge, encourages voter participation, and holds government officials accountable to the people.
Prevent the privatization of public assets and government services, including but not limited to the postal service, veteran’s care, corrections, and mental health services.
Support investigative journalism that counters disinformation and falsehoods amplified by social and other media.
Address the many serious flaws of the present system of campaign finance regulation.

2. Equity

Vigorously examine and reform practices, processes, policies, regulations, and legislation that may inhibit or obstruct access to, and participation in, the life of our communities, both rural and urban, by any Vermonter, for reasons of sex, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, religion, age, physical ability, veterans status, mental health status, disability, incarceration history, or immigration circumstances.

Vermont is made stronger when all people are uplifted and afforded equitable opportunity and access in all our communities. Equity is a foundational principle to our Party, Democratic beliefs, and rural and urban communities across Vermont. Within this plank and across all planks of this Platform, it is critical that equity be both a goal and an outcome across policies.

The VDP recognizes that systemic and institutional racism exists throughout our state and affirms that Black Lives Matter. We acknowledge past and present inequities in our party, our state, and our country, and strive to dismantle the systems of oppression that continue to marginalize valued members of our community. We will continually educate ourselves as individuals, as communities, and as a Party about racial justice and we understand these conversations will be hard and uncomfortable while ensuring a safe and positive environment for all.

The VDP will endeavor to make these changes in these ways:

GOVERNMENT

Examine and evaluate policies, procedures, and legislation – including the Vermont Constitution – through racial equity and intersectionality lenses, and regularly assess decision-making processes at all levels of government.
Work toward equitable distribution of, and access to, power by improving participation in, running for, and serving in elected office to better diversify representation.
Identify and remove barriers to participation in vital democratic practices such as voting and Town Meeting Day, to ensure equitable opportunity for underrepresented communities.
Work to close the racial wealth gap by raising the minimum wage and enacting other legislation and policies that promote equitable hiring and retention practices, high quality jobs, and hold institutions accountable for engaging in predatory lending.

EDUCATION

Affirm and protect the importance and presence of racial justice curriculum, disability education and inclusion, and LGBTQ+ inclusion in Vermont schools.
Affirm and ensure the safety and well-being of students and their families who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and/or have disabilities, ensuring they can learn and thrive in environments free of bias and discrimination.
Condemn book banning and respect the right to read, recognizing that individuals and families can make their own decisions to include diverse literature including topics regarding race, sexuality, and inclusion.

HISTORICALLY MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES

Recognize that present-day Vermont occupies traditional, unceded Indigenous lands. Acknowledge the challenges and lack of self-determination this has caused for Indigenous people, and work to reduce health and socioeconomic disparities faced by the Indigenous community. We support the right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination.
Confront the deep inequities experienced by migrant farmworkers, a community critical to the success of Vermont’s agricultural economy, by addressing inadequate housing conditions, poor healthcare access, food insecurity, and fair wages.
Affirm and support the safety and well-being of the LGBTQ+ community, including reinforcing policies that fortify LGBTQ+ rights, strengthening gender-affirming health care and access to insurance, and recognizing that homophobia and transphobia have no place in our communities.
Provide support and outreach to new residents, including immigrants and refugees, with linguistically and culturally appropriate services to enhance their participation in our communities.

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

Work to root out harassment, including, but not limited to, sexual and racial harassment in our workplaces and other institutions, and take action to ensure those committing these injustices are held accountable.
Denounce divisive rhetoric and hate speech that generates division and fear towards historically marginalized individuals or communities.
Reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities, such as the heightened dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic faced by BIPOC communities and strengthen access to quality health care to reduce maternal health disparities.

3. Prosperity for All

Direct public and private investments focused on developing an economy that promotes shared and sustainable economic, social, and ecological well-being.

We recognize Vermonters as anyone who lives in Vermont regardless of time of arrival or ancestry. We believe that Vermont must be a place where young Vermonters can stay and raise their families, and where older Vermonters can live comfortably and securely. Vermont must also be a beacon for new residents to this country and the energy and dynamism they bring to our economy. Unfortunately, our economic structures and policies have led to enormous imbalances in wealth and income that have left too many of our neighbors behind.

While inflation has fallen in the last two years, many Vermonters are still struggling to make ends meet. While no one state can change the global economic forces at work, the VDP believes that our response must focus on building an innovative and prosperous economy that works for all Vermonters through the following elements:

HOUSING

Increase investment in Vermont’s affordable private and public housing, including immediate shelter for the unhoused.
Tax corporate ownership of single-family homes at a higher rate to help fund low-income housing and single-family ownership of homes. Growth in corporate ownership of such housing decreases the supply of these homes, which drives up the cost of home ownership and deprives many Vermonters of the opportunity to grow generational wealth through home equity.
Continue reforms that encourage housing density in village centers, while protecting rural lands from overdevelopment.
Increase support for the training of building and construction trades to fill the void left by retiring skilled workers.

PROGRESSIVE TAXATION

Fund education through an income-based system rather than the current property tax method.
Roll back the regressive Republican tax cuts for the very wealthy and large corporations.
Implement tax policies that encourage local investment.
Expedite the enforcement of legislation, S.259, requiring fossil fuel companies to
pay for climate-related damages.
Support an excess profits tax on Big Oil to fund affordable energy alternatives.
Expand Vermont’s child tax credit and support renewal of the federal child tax credit to provide critical support for families.

ECONOMIC SECURITY

Ensure a dignified work and life free of discrimination based on race, gender, gender identity, class, sexual orientation, immigration status, religion, age, or disability.
Support and encourage the right to organize a union without retribution and to bargain collectively with the passage of the Vermont Worker Rights Amendment, Proposal 3, to the Vermont Constitution and by expanding S. 102 to include bargaining rights for agricultural and domestic workers.
Increase the minimum wage to a living wage.
Support a national Medicare for All plan with negotiated prices for all prescription drugs.
Implement paid family and medical leave and affordable childcare and care for adults in need of assistance.
Complete the implementation of the publicly administered Vermont Saves program.
Fully fund state employee and teacher pensions.
Increase funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Provide assistance (financial, technical, and regulatory) as Vermonters transition to a carbon-free economy. This includes financial support for sectors impacted by climate change, such as, but not limited to, tourism, winter sports, and maple sugaring.
Examine and evaluate policies, procedures, and legislation to ensure that the basic needs of families are adequately met to prevent separation of children from their families.
Enact a “Baby Bonds” savings program for low-income families to help end intergenerational poverty, spur rural economic development, and retain young Vermonters.
Expand Vermont’s child tax credit and support renewal of the federal child tax credit to provide critical support for families.

INVESTMENT

Establish and fund an ongoing effort to attract both established companies and startups to the state. This effort will be proactive in advertising and promoting Vermont as a state with a supportive infrastructure, strong economic environment, and superior employee quality-of-life.
Invest in quality public schools that support all learners.
Support life-long learning through trade schools, community colleges, state colleges, and the University of Vermont.
Provide access to capital and technical assistance for small businesses. Offer support for employers providing worker training.
Expand affordable high-speed internet and cell phone coverage to all parts of Vermont.
Support the implementation of President Biden's Chips Act to boost domestic manufacturing, particularly at the Global Foundries facility in Vermont.
Commit to improving Vermont’s roads and rails, as well as expanded public and green transportation options.
Implement the clean energy components of the Inflation Reduction Act to expand funding for electric and hybrid vehicles and charging stations.
Support the Vermont Center for Employee Ownership to foster locally employee-owned business development.
Address critical shortages in the healthcare workforce with a comprehensive strategy of recruitment and retention at all levels of health care, particularly in rural areas.

4. Environmental Justice

The impacts of climate change have devastated Vermont towns, with the 2023 and 2024 summers’ flooding ravaging communities across the state, destroying homes, businesses, farms, and public and community infrastructure.

Vermonters understand that climate change is real, that its environmental and economic impacts are being felt today, and that the failure to act now to limit climate change will impact the lives of future generations in inequitable and irreparable ways. Youth are leading the way; Vermonters are listening, and the state must act now.

As we transform our lives, we understand that those with the least culpability bear the greatest brunt of the difficulties. We are dedicated to centering and financially assisting vulnerable Vermonters – particularly rural, low and moderate-income, and traditionally marginalized.

Locally, we cherish Vermont’s splendid natural resources that enable farming, forestry, outdoor recreation, and tourism, while creating a healthy, sustainable ecosystem that cleans our air, sequesters carbon, produces drinking water, and serves as a healthy habitat for all living things.

CARBON EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS BY SECTOR

We must aggressively pursue our Climate Action Plan requirements to attain 90% renewable energy by 2050. Ignoring and failing to meet our legal emissions reduction targets is unacceptable. Adequate, steady, long-term funding is essential to realize these targets. We must do this in three key carbon emissions sectors by ending our dependency on fossil fuels in all:

Electricity
- Wherever possible, transitioning from fossil fuels to clean electricity, in homes, businesses, and community spaces.
- Ensure reliability and safety on our electric grid.
- Lower carbon emissions proactively through efficiency and the reduction of energy consumption
Thermal (Heating & Cooling)
- Pass a Clean Heat Standard measure as envisioned in the Affordable Heat Act.
- Equitably expand access to programs that provide options for weatherization, electrification and utility upgrades.
- Upgrade building energy standards and grow the green contractor network.
- Investigate feasibility of networked geothermal heating systems.
Transportation
- Reduce single person, single vehicle trips by incorporating telecommuting options, including expanding access to high-speed internet.
- Grow public transportation options including commuter rail.
- Create pedestrian and bike friendly streets.
- Invest in electric vehicle infrastructure and incentives for adoption.

AGRICULTURE AND FOOD RESILIENCY

Defend our family-run and small farms through appropriate land use planning.
Expand protections for pollinators and species of birds, bugs, and bees.
Empower Vermont’s natural and working landowners and caretakers to enhance farm and forest vitality by adapting to climate change, through partnership and increased funding.
Promote agriculture methods that build soil health, improve water quality, sequester carbon, and promote biodiversity.

STEWARDSHIP & CLIMATE ADVOCACY

Recognize the importance of survivability and therefore the fundamental right of all current life on earth to clean and available water, breathable air, nutritious and varied foods, and a stable climate.
Encourage the identification and protection of Vermont’s unique and fragile ecological habitats, critical wildlife corridors, and threatened and endangered native species.
Eliminate the use of non-essential single-use plastics and regulate unnecessary wasteful practices that litter our rivers and other natural waterways.
Fully implement the Environmental Justice and Equity policy.
Continue to press for funding to support environmental cleanup and restoration at the state and federal levels.
Refuse campaign funding from fossil fuel companies, polluters, and those who profit from the degradation of our natural spaces.
Divest public assets from fossil fuels.
Retrain and attract Vermonters into climate workforce careers.
Fully fund, staff, and support government agencies that respond to climate disasters.

5. Health Care for All

Our healthcare system should be based on the needs and choices of Vermonters, not on corporate interests. We support a single-payer, Medicare-for-All healthcare system. Until federally sponsored Medicare-for-All legislation is enacted, Vermont must take all available steps toward achieving universal access to and coverage for high-quality, medically necessary health services for all Vermonters. This includes addressing critical challenges in the healthcare workforce and provision of rural care; to that end, we support a universal publicly financed system in Vermont with primary care as the first step.

Access to essential healthcare, including reproductive healthcare, must be protected against the assault coming from the Supreme Court and right-wing political ideologues.

HEALTH CARE ACCESS

Strengthen primary, specialty, dental, and vision care access statewide.
Support a reduction in the overhead and administrative cost of healthcare for Vermonters.
As the COVID pandemic demonstrates, a robust public health system is necessary to protect the well-being of all Vermonters.
Promote prevention and early intervention services.
Lower prescription medication prices by negotiating prices and removing pharmacy benefit managers.
Expand existing public health insurance programs.
Conduct on-going assessment, oversight, and evaluation of current healthcare reform efforts.
Expand access to veterans’ care for PTSD and other health-related issues.
Protect and build a robust public health infrastructure.
Respond to the health crisis of gun violence through adoption of common-sense gun safety measures.
Ensure future public health readiness by conducting a comprehensive review of all aspects of Vermont’s COVID response.
Strengthen science and accurate data as the center of all public health decision-making and to aid the public in making personal health choices.
Emphasize vaccination as an essential element of disease prevention and care.
Ensure the availability of gender-affirming care.
Commit to addressing and eliminating health inequities based on race/ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability, geography, socio-economic status, age, and other factors.
Improve the overall health of Vermonters by addressing the non-medical determinants of health (e.g., food, housing) and impacts of trauma.
Address the unique challenges of providing and staffing health care in a rural state, making appropriate services available in all areas of Vermont.

REPRODUCTIVE LIBERTY

Ensure, in accordance with Article 22 of the Vermont Constitution, that every person has the absolute right to determine the number of children they want to have and access to appropriate care providers for that purpose.
Support access to reproductive health information and sexual health education that is age appropriate.
Ensure that all reproductive healthcare centers and obstetrical referral services adhere to the same standard of honesty and competency and provide information on the full range of options to comply with Act 15.

MENTAL HEALTH, SUBSTANCE USE, AND RECOVERY SERVICES

Address the crisis in availability of mental health, substance use, and recovery services, by ensuring a full range of statewide services including, but not limited to, community-based counseling, support programs, effective inpatient treatment, and supportive and transitional housing.
Make psilocybin and similar substances legally available for therapeutic use in a well-regulated manner.
Address the youth mental health care crisis, a community-wide concern, exacerbated by the pandemic isolation.

HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

Support dignity, independence, and safety for people with disabilities and Vermonters of all ages in their communities and homes.
Support a broad range of well-coordinated, home-based and community services to maximize independent living.
Insist on fully accessible communities, organizations, facilities, services, and zoning regulations.
Ensure access to high-quality affordable long term and respite care.
Protect and expand choices in end-of-life care.

GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Gun violence is too common a cause of death for Americans, including children and victims of domestic violence. See below in Justice and Community Safety for more.

6. Justice and Community Safety

All Vermonters deserve to feel safe in their communities. We recognize that our current approach to crime and punishment often exacerbates the underlying socio-economic problems that lead people to commit crimes, resulting in more crime being committed rather than less, leading to unnecessarily violent interactions between police officers and the communities they serve.

Accordingly, we seek to adopt a comprehensive approach to community safety; one that recognizes both individual and institutional biases within the criminal-legal system, addressing the underlying drivers of crime and social unrest, including poverty, the lack of stable, affordable housing, the lack of meaningful, lifelong educational opportunities, and the lack of access to physical and mental health care.

We must end the criminalization of poverty, addiction, and otherness. To achieve these goals, Vermont Democrats will work to:

PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE

Ban assault weapons; these weapons of war have no place in our society.
Repeal the NRA backed preemption law and let communities pass tougher gun laws for their residents.
Expand Vermont’s culture of safe and responsible gun ownership through activities such as Vermont Hunter Safety Education courses.
Demand accountability in the gun industry, to prevent manufacturers and dealers from endangering public safety.
Mandate responsible gun ownership for those who possess firearms.
Strengthen the availability and duration of domestic violence protections.
Strengthen waiting periods and background check requirements.
Ensure safe and secure storage of firearms.

REDUCE RELIANCE ON THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM TO SOLVE SOCIAL ISSUES

Adopt an approach to the possession and misuse of drugs motivated solely by public health and harm reduction principles, rather than punishing undesirable private behavior.
Ensure that cannabis is appropriately regulated and taxed in a manner that rights the historic wrongs of the War on Drugs and that recognizes the disproportionate impact prohibition has had on minority communities.
Invest resources in the prevention of domestic violence, including support for victims outside of the criminal justice system, transportation, safe and stable housing, mental health services, and access to civil-law legal resources.
Continue to promote behavioral health care for perpetrators of domestic violence.
Expand restorative practices through the justice system and ensure access for all Vermonters to fully supported diversion programs and community justice centers.
Support reform of the civil justice system and the development of educational programs and the full funding of Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services of Vermont to make it easier for Vermonters to assert and defend their rights in the civil courts, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
Fill vacancies in the judicial system statewide.
Address housing needs for those no longer incarcerated.

ENSURE EQUITABLE AND EFFECTIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT

Ban the practice of deploying military equipment and tactics for civilian law enforcement purposes.
Eliminate qualified immunity for police misconduct and implement protections from retribution against officers who speak out about misconduct by colleagues.
Prioritize the use of mental health and substance use counselors, peer support groups, recovery coaches, social workers, and other non-police interventions to assist people in crisis.
Demand accountability and transparency in policing, including establishing empowered civilian oversight structures.
Continue to reduce the use of lethal and non-lethal force by police officers on members of their communities through mandatory de-escalation training.
Expand the law to require that all Vermont law enforcement officers wear and use functioning body cameras while on duty.

IMPROVE ACCOUNTABILITY, SAFETY, AND ADEQUATE RESOURCING OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Reduce the number of Vermonters held in prisons. Eliminate entirely the use of out-of-state prisons by reforming sentencing practices and embracing alternatives to incarceration, such as mental health services, restorative justice programs, transitional housing, and job training.
Eliminate the use of cash bail.
Expand access to expungement, including by enacting a system to automatically seal and expunge criminal records.
End the privatization of correctional services, including in-prison medical services.
Re-examine existing prison sentences considering our current knowledge of how systemic bias has led to disparate outcomes based on race and socio-economic status and reduce existing sentences where these biases are found.
Make Vermont the first state to fully eliminate life without parole sentences.
Promote successful re-entry by providing incarcerated people with greater educational, technical, and professional training opportunities.
Expand substance use treatment while in the criminal justice system.
End the criminalization of consensual sex work between adults and support regulatory practices to prevent sex trafficking.

7. Public Education Second to None

Secure Vermont’s future by investing in our children – sustaining our commitment to equitable and excellent PreK to post high school public education, increasing and improving affordable access to early childcare, and extending affordable, first-rate, post-secondary learning opportunities throughout adulthood.

The cornerstone of a strong democracy is equitable access to a high-quality PreK to post-high school public education system for all children, regardless of their socioeconomic status. A commitment to this comprehensive system for all children and young adults in the state will result in better educational outcomes and the promise of a healthy, happy, and secure future for students.

To achieve these goals, the VDP will work to:

EQUITY

Ensure that all Vermont schools receiving public funding are free from discrimination based on race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or disability, for both students and staff.
Implement updated (Agency of Education) Education Quality Standards, to hold all Vermont schools that receive public funding accountable for equitable practices.
Revise curricula and equitable disciplinary policies and practices that promote racial, social, disability, and special education equity.
Ensure that all staff at publicly funded schools receive comprehensive and on-going anti-racism and implicit bias training.
Remain steadfast in our support for the Brigham decision mandating an equitable statewide education funding system.
Reject school privatization and the defunding of public education.

COMMUNITY

Support local decision-making, giving voice to communities.
Ensure wages and benefits for educators are fully funded, including meeting the state’s responsibilities for school staff pension funds.
Ensure safe working conditions for all educators.
Move to an income-based tax funding system to lessen the financial burden placed on Vermonters.
Encourage communities to adopt a community schools model (public schools that provide services and support to fit the needs of each community), based on the pilot program established in the 2020 legislative session.
Provide school-based family and school staff mental health services to address issues such as childhood trauma, substance use disorders, stresses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and other adverse childhood experiences.
Establish universal connectivity and provide affordable high-speed broadband access across the state to both schools and homes.
Encourage school districts to revise curricular offerings to reflect more accurately our nation’s diverse and complex history and to reinforce the importance of civic engagement, including voting.
Reaffirm the profound importance of freedom of information and access to diverse ideas in our schools and public libraries.

CHILD CARE AND EARLY EDUCATION

Continue significant investments in Vermont’s childcare systems to ensure that a variety of quality and affordable childcare opportunities are available for all Vermonters.
Ensure childcare workers receive a fair and livable wage, compensated in relation to their colleagues with similar credentials in K-3 schools.
Improve and expand quality early education programs, including special education.
Encourage and support opportunities for communities to provide full day, full year childcare for Vermont children within their public-school facilities.

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

Continue to address the educator shortage exacerbated by the Covid pandemic, helping schools to fill vacancies.
Ensure that all students have access to appropriate, relevant, and up-to-date technology.
Increase 21st-century curricular offerings at high school technical centers statewide.
Expand arts curricula across all grades, PreK to 16, and broaden access to arts and cultural programming for all.
Improve delivery of special education programs and require that schools receiving public funds fully serve all students with special needs.
Meet workforce needs with a focus on trade education, providing Vermont with well-resourced CTEs (Career and Technical Education Centers) that forge a path to good paying jobs.

POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION

Enhance lifelong learning opportunities, including robust support and funding for Vermont state colleges and trade schools.
Support more funding, grants, and borrower-friendly no- or low-interest loans for the higher education system to make colleges affordable and accessible for all.
Offer recent college graduates loan forgiveness if they remain and work in Vermont for at least two years.
Encourage the state college system to expand and diversify its income by attracting small businesses, federal programs, day care, and other higher education opportunities to its campuses.