Vermont School Board Members Call on Congress to
“Get
it Right”
Kalee
Roberts, Hyde Park Elementary and Lamoille Union High School Board member, and
Winton Goodrich, associate director of the Vermont School Board Association
(VSBA), joined 950 school board and association leaders from 50 states to
advocate with Congressional delegates for passage of effective public education
laws this year. School Board members
marched on Capitol Hill to take part in the National School Boards Associations
(NSBA) 35 Annual Federal Relations Network (FRN) Conference, February 3-5, in
Washington D.C.
Roberts and
Goodrich, representing the VSBA as members of the Federal Relations Network, a
national grassroots advocacy network, met with the Vermont Congress delegation
to urge increased federal funding for public schools and make improvements to
the No Child Left Behind, Title I, and Medicaid laws. School readiness, extended-day learning
opportunities, technology infrastructure, and Green school initiatives were
also addressed in meetings at
the offices of Representative Welch,
Senator Sanders, and Senator Leahy.
“We informed
our Congressmen that under-funding of No Child Left Behind, Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, Title I, and Medicaid reimbursement cost each
Vermont household on average more than $600.00 per year in increased property
taxes,” Kalee Roberts said. “We also asked each member of Congress to
reauthorize the No Child Left Behind law with reasonable corrections to
assessment measures, remove excessive sanctions, and increase compliance
flexibility.
“Local school
board members are on the front lines every day and understand, firsthand, what
our public schoolchildren need to succeed,” said Norman Wooten, NSBA president
and school board member in Alaska. “They are the best advocates in telling
their own stories to Congress.”
The FRN event
was preceded by the NSBA Leadership Conference.
Peter Herman, VSBA Board president, and John Nelson, executive director
of the VSBA, were joined by Kalee Roberts in participating in the high powered
leadership development event.
The NSBA is a
federation of state school board associations that represent 95,000 public
school board members from throughout the United States. School boards oversee the education of more
than 50 million public school students.