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Earlier this month, Republican Gov. Phil Scott reappointed Rebecca Holcombe to the post of secretary of education. Holcombe, of Norwich, was previously appointed to the position by Scott’s predecessor, Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, in 2014.
Scott explained his choice as a way to maintain consistent leadership while many aspects of the state’s education system are in flux, from details such as the configuration of school districts to the development of personalized learning plans for every student.
“We’re right in the middle of an Act 46 transition (and) I thought it was valuable to have her continue from a continuity standpoint,” Scott said in a phone interview last week. “She certainly has a lot of experience and passion for improving the education system.”
Shumlin signed Act 46 — which pushes school districts to merge into units of at least 900 students each, with one budget overseen by one school board — into law in 2015.
Act 46 mergers are just one set of changes that Holcombe is overseeing in Vermont’s education system at present. In addition to consolidation talks going on around the state, Vermont school officials are also working to comply with universal preschool, which went into effect this school year, and with flexible pathways, which enable students to craft personalized learning plans.
“We put a lot of planes in the air. It’d be nice to bring them back down to the airport.” Holcombe said, in an interview at the Valley News last week.
Holcombe’s qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in history from Brown University, a master’s in business administration from the Simmons School of Management, and a master’s and a doctorate in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She also completed coursework for her principal certification at Lyndon State College and did her teacher training at the Upper Valley Educators Institute. Shumlin hired her away from Dartmouth College, where she directed the Teacher Education Program.
Now 50, Holcombe’s previous work includes time spent as an administrator, working to bring together the Rivendell district, which comprises Orford, Fairlee, West Fairlee and Vershire.
She’s had that experience to draw on as more communities around the state, spurred by Act 46, are having discussions about how to combine resources in the face of declining enrollment and a statewide average per pupil cost of approximately $19,000 annually, among the highest in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Holcombe said that she wants to continue leading the agency to avoid distracting attention from these discussions.
“People are very resistant when they start, but when they start to find some common ground we’ve seen some pretty pragmatic solutions resulting in better opportunities for kids and also a little more affordable price,” she said. “We’re sort of turning a tanker here, it’s going to take a while.”
Maintaining a familiar face at the agency’s helm will “sort of keep the momentum and the pressure on that hard conversation about how we rethink our delivery system to achieve goals, but at a more affordable price,” she said.
Stephan Morse, chairman of the State Board of Education, lauded the governor’s decision to reappoint Holcombe.
“It’s wonderful news for the Vermont educational community,” he said in a phone interview last week.
Act 46 was also at the top of Morse’s mind, and he directed part of the credit for the law’s success to Holcombe for supporting the legislation and encouraging communities in their discussions.
“Rebecca is very heavily involved,” he said.
By 2019, there will be new, larger school districts around the state and, as a result, “students will be better served,” he said. The law requires that changes in school district structures be in place by July 1, 2019.
Vermont Sen. Joe Benning, a Republican from Lyndonville, said in a phone interview last week that Holcombe is a logical pick for the position, but he would like to see a change in the way the state’s secretary of education is appointed.
“She knows the system; she knows all the players,” said Benning, who sits on the Senate Education Committee and represents several Bradford-area towns. “She can adapt her attitude to the Scott administration. She’s perfectly competent to fit the role.”
Benning is a co-sponsor of a bill, S.24, that would allow the governor to skirt the required step of getting a slate of at least three names from the State Board of Education before selecting a secretary, a process that is unique to the post.
(The names of the other two candidates the board forwarded to Scott have not been made public. When asked for them, Scott said he didn’t have them in front of him. In a subsequent email, Rebecca Kelley, Scott’s communications director, wrote, “In the interest of the candidates’ privacy — as they may not want current employers to know they were seeking other employment — we are not disclosing those names.” Morse also declined to release the names, citing privacy concerns.)
“If I had my druthers, it would be more of a political appointee,” Benning said. “It concerns a lot of people that an unelected board gets to make a lot of decisions.”
In Vermont, the governor appoints the 11 members of the State Board of Education.
The bill has not yet been taken up by the committee, but Scott will have a chance to replace two members of the board, including Morse, next month.
While much of Holcombe’s job will be to maintain the course she charted under the previous administration, Scott chose her from the state board’s list because she supports his education priorities, he said.
Scott’s goals for education include expanding learning opportunities from birth through higher education, in part by providing additional support for babies and toddlers and for college and technical training after high school. To do so, he has proposed shrinking the amount of money currently spent to support the state’s K-12 schools.
Though it seems unlikely the Legislature will take Scott up on his suggestions for squeezing the budget for K-12 schools to accommodate expansion elsewhere — Benning described the proposal as “a noble goal, but not possible at this point in time” — Scott said it was important that Holcombe “shares my vision of that cradle to career approach.”
That’s “how we could work together,” he said.
Holcombe said Scott’s plans to make child care more readily accessible for families is both an education initiative, to help ensure children are socially and emotionally prepared to enter kindergarten, and a workforce development tool, to allow parents to go to work knowing their children are safe and engaged in age-appropriate activities.
Such support is especially necessary in light of the opiate epidemic, both Scott and Holcombe said. Addiction has taken a toll on families, meaning some children are less prepared to enter school than they would be otherwise.
“I firmly believe bringing more investment in early child care and learning will reap tremendous benefits,” Scott said.
Similarly, expanding Vermonters’ access to learning opportunities after high school would help them become active participants in improving the state’s economy, he said.
There are “opportunities for well-paid jobs in the future for those who are interested,” Scott said.
In spite of the challenges, financial and otherwise, facing the state, Holcombe remains, in her own words a “hopeless idealist.” She firmly believes that public education is “the single greatest equalizing tool,” offering all students, including those who start out at a disadvantage, the best possible chance of future success.
“We don’t chose when we’re born, where we’re born, to whom we’re born, but (education) ensures that every child has an opportunity to live a good life and participate in democracy,” she said. “That’s why I do this work.”
Holcombe said she does not expect the change in administration at the federal level to have a significant effect on education policy in Vermont.
“Vermont has always been very autonomous,” she said.
For example, the state refused to tie student test scores to teacher evaluations, in part because class sizes are too small for test scores to provide reliable information about a teacher’s effectiveness, and also because Vermonters have a broader understanding of what a quality education ought to include.
“They believe that kids have to know how to read, write and do math, but that’s not all they want them to be able to do,” she said.
Vermonters’ goals for education are detailed in the state’s draft plan for complying with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, the 2015 law that replaced the No Child Left Behind Act and re-authorized the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
In crafting the state’s plan, Holcombe said officials adhered closely to the law, not to rules promulgated by the Obama administration, because officials knew the rules could change under a new administration. As a result, officials will not need to change the state’s plan significantly now, she said.
“(We) have to change the format, (but) won’t have to change the substance,” she said. “I think we’re actually in a really good place.”
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
