Vermont Governor Phil Scott began his weekly briefing today discussing his education reform proposal. And he answered a number of questions about the potential impacts of tariffs.
Most school budget passed on Town Meeting Day and the Republican governor thanked school boards for their work to be disciplined in drafting new budgets.
“Even with a majority of school budgets passing, which is good news, we can’t declare victory. We have to follow through on making our education system more affordable and sustainable while producing greater opportunities for our kids. Many school boards have done their part to keep spending from growing more than we can afford. And my team has presented a plan to make structural changes to improve outcomes for our students and make property taxes more predictable and create more equitable opportunities for students. We also need the legislature to do their part and address education transformation this session, because we can’t afford to wait," Scott said.
Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders outlined the history of the proposed education reform plan and its current status.
“First, I will walk through how we got here. The proposal is a result of a comprehensive look at data and feedback over the past decade to improve equity and opportunity. Second, I will describe how the governor’s plan focuses on quality. Third, I will address some of the common misconceptions about this plan," Saunders listed. "I am relieved that most school budgets passed. We know that education leaders had to make difficult decisions to get to yes with their communities. There’s also an additional urgency to act given the uncertainties around federal funding and state economic pressures in order to futureproof our system.”
While the initial presentations focused on the education reform proposal, most questions targeted the potential impacts of tariffs. Scott noted it’s a fluid situation.
“It’s been difficult to keep up because it seems to change on a daily basis. I think it just changed in the last few hours,” noted Scott.
Agency of Commerce and Community Development Secretary Lindsay Kurrle confirmed that some tariff changes had been made by President Trump earlier in the day.
“Within the last hour President Trump has delayed the tariffs on Mexico. The U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnick has mentioned that the president is likely to also announce that there would be a delay on Canada as well," reported Kurrle. "So, just to tell you how fluid this all is and we’re trying to not have a knee jerk reaction here. But what our tariff team is doing is we’re trying to understand the impacts and so give Vermonters some predictability in what they can expect.”
Officials noted that if tariffs are imposed on energy, consumers would see gas prices increase first followed by heating fuels and then electricity. But there are questions over whether Vermont’s largest contract for electricity, from Hydro-Quebec, is applicable to tariffs.
