Key Issue: Kids

Clean Water and Air in Schools

• Lead Testing and Remediation – The Scott Administration worked with schools and child care providers to test 15,000 taps used for drinking and cooking for lead in nearly all schools and centers across the state. Removal or remediation of contaminated taps in response to this study is completed or underway, and as a result, levels of lead in school and child care drinking water have been reduced well below the federal action level.

• PCB Testing and Remediation – The Scott Administration and Legislature have allocated nearly $40 million to test Vermont schools for PCBs, and the Administration is implementing a plan to conduct this extensive testing program. In 2021 (FY22), the state also provided $3.5 million in funding to Burlington High School to help it respond to the contamination that resulted in closing the school.  

• School Indoor Air Quality – The State allocated $15 million of federal pandemic recovery funds to a grant program to help schools make improvements to HVAC systems to address indoor air quality. 

Providing Mental Health Supports

• Implementing Mobile Response Services – Proposed, passed and implemented a mobile response pilot program in Rutland (FY22), which will be expanded with additional funding in FY23. This initiative takes services directly to children experiencing a mental health crisis, in real time, providing critical care to families in need and reducing pressure on emergency rooms. 

• Implementing a value-based incentive for screening children and adolescents – Beginning on January 1, 2023, all Vermont Designated Agencies will be able to earn a value-based incentive payment for providing screenings to children and adolescents (aged 12 and up) for depression and substance use. Screenings will improve our ability to engage in early intervention activities with youths experiencing mental health and substance use challenges. 

• Implemented a Child Psychiatry Access Program, offering a consultation line for pediatricians statewide to help them access immediate psychiatric consultation to better care for child, youth and family mental health concerns during office visits. This program is providing training on mental health topics for PCPs and community providers, and trauma-responsive care trainings for emergency departments statewide to better support children, youth and adults waiting in EDs with mental health concerns.

• Secured federal resources and ongoing programming to strengthen prevention and intervention services related to youth suicide.
   

Encouraging Strong, Independent Families

• Pursuing a Voluntary Family & Medical Leave program that would allow employers and individuals to opt-in to a family and medical leave insurance plan. The program would be designed to achieve more affordable rates for employers and individuals by using state employees as the base. The Administration is awaiting the result of an Request for Proposals (RFP) process to identify a vendor for this service. 

• Introduced and enacted legislation that made strategic changes to the Vermont Reach Up program to move parents towards sustainable employment and self-sufficiency by using goal-oriented approaches and expanding the definitions of workforce training and employment opportunities. 

• Proposed and signed legislation establishing a prudent parent standard for foster parents, aimed at allowing children in foster care to have the same opportunities to participate in activities similar to their peers, including social activities such as sports and field trips.

• Reinforced ongoing work to support children and youth in foster care with safety, permanency, and well-being. Expanded efforts to ensure children and youth in out-of-home care experience childhood and adolescence in ways like their peers not in foster care.

• Proposed and passed investment of 5% increase in foster family payments and increased respite time for foster parents. 

• Expanded intensive case management and service coordination to homeless families with children to now serve 10 of 12 AHS districts. Funding and technical assistance for the Family Supportive Housing program has supported providers to add staff, from 10 Service Coordinators to 19 Service Coordinators statewide.

• Expanded support for Native American children by including the new Indigenous People’s liaison, the Indian Child Welfare Act Coordinator. The new position will build collaborative relationships with native tribes, including the Abenaki, and will prioritize kinship care, advancing racial equity work and commitments, repairing harm, preventing future harm, and prioritizing our families’ heritage and culture. 

• Supporting the expansion of the Developmental Understanding and Legal Collaborations for Everyone (DULCE). DULCE is an innovative approach based in the pediatric care setting that proactively addresses social determinants of health, promotes the healthy development of infants, and provides support to their parents, all during the precious and critical first six months of life.

School Safety 

Vermont is currently one of the healthiest and safest states in America. We also have some of the best and safest schools in the country. Yet Vermont is not immune to the risk of extreme violence in our schools or communities, so the state has taken the following steps to bolster safety in our schools: 

• In February of 2018, the Governor issued a memo to lawmakers recommending a range of next steps to help make our communities healthier and our children safer. 

• In 2018, worked with lawmakers to pass historic, commonsense gun safety reforms aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them. These initiatives included implementing universal background checks, raising the age of purchase to 21 (with some exemptions), allowing Extreme Risk Protection Orders (a.k.a. Red Flag laws), strengthening law enforcement's tools to remove weapons in situations involving domestic violence, and banning bump stocks and high capacity magazines. In 2022, enacted legislation to extend the length of time for the background check process before a default approval is rendered. 

• Proposed and secured $5 million in funding for school security grants, which will help schools improve safety and security infrastructure. Secured an additional $1.5 million in FY20 for school safety grants for schools who weren’t able to receive grants in the original round of funding.

• Launched a statewide comprehensive security assessment of all Vermont schools, to help schools further strengthen their safety and security procedures, best practices and infrastructure.

• Created, by Executive Order, a Violence Prevention Task Force.

• Advocated for and signed into law Act 135 of 2018, a domestic terrorism law to criminalize the behavior of those who would plot a crime designed to maximize casualties, like a school shooting – closing a gap in our laws to ensure law enforcement can prevent a tragedy like this before it happens.

• Supported the creation of the Vermont School Crisis Planning Team, which includes collaboration of state staff and partners, including trainings on threat assessment to ensure state staff working with similar populations have the same knowledge. 

Modernizing State Law to Protect Kids

• Supported a legislative initiative to repeal the statute of limitations for civil actions based on childhood physical abuse, passed in Act 26 of 2021.

Supporting Children Impacted by the Opioid Crisis

• Proposed and passed investment of $500,000 for a child protection initiative within DCF, which supports parent-child contact and will help reduce the backlog of court cases involving children affected by the opioid epidemic.

• Proposed and passed increased investment in the guardian ad litem program, which supports children in the court system.

• Support the Perinatal Quality Collaborative to tie together statewide efforts and strengthen perinatal and family support systems in the community and clinical settings.

Encouraging Strong, Independent Families

• Secured funding to support the expansion of Strong Families Vermont, an evidence-based sustained home visiting program to help families with newborns.

• Introduced and enacted legislation that made strategic changes to the Vermont Reach Up program to move parents towards sustainable employment and self-sufficiency by using goal-oriented approaches and expanding the definitions of workforce training and employment opportunities. 

• Proposed and signed legislation establishing a prudent parent standard for foster parents, aimed at allowing children in foster care to have the same opportunities to participate in activities similar to their peers, including social activities such as sports and field trips.

• Reinforced ongoing work to support children and youth in foster care with safety, permanency, and well-being. Expanded efforts to ensure children and youth in out-of-home care experience childhood and adolescence in ways like their peers not in foster care.

• Proposed and passed investment of 5% increase in foster family payments and increased respite time for foster parents. 

• Expanded intensive case management and service coordination to homeless families with children to now serve 10 of 12 AHS districts. Funding and technical assistance for the Family Supportive Housing program has supported providers to add staff, from 10 Service Coordinators to 19 Service Coordinators statewide.

• Expanded support for Native American children by including the new Indigenous People’s liaison, the Indian Child Welfare Act Coordinator. The new position will build collaborative relationships with native tribes, including the Abenaki, and will prioritize kinship care, advancing racial equity work and commitments, repairing harm, preventing future harm, and prioritizing our families’ heritage and culture. 

Encouraging Strong, Empowered Youth

• Signed legislation to establish a Vermont Youth Council to advise the Governor and Legislature on issues affecting young people living in Vermont.
• Convened Interagency Afterschool Task Force to identify pathways to universal afterschool available for all Vermont children.
   

Investing in Early Care and Learning

• In FY23, Governor Scott again proposed to increase funding for the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP), raising the subsidy to cover more costs and give parents and providers more options to cover vacation days and other closures. 

• In his first two years in office, Governor Scott proposed and secured a 30% increase in funding for early care in learning since he took office. This included an additional $2.5 million to expand the CCFAP in the FY18 budget and an additional $7.4 million in the FY20 budget. Increased investment in this area makes childcare more affordable for working families and supports the early-developmental needs of our kids.

• In total, Governor Scott has increased the base (annual) funding for child care by nearly $18 million,  and made over $100 million in one time investments to support child care providers during the pandemic, cover transportation and other services, and more.  

• STILL NEED SUPPORT FROM THE LEGISLATURE – Governor Scott has repeatedly proposed permanent funding sources to make childcare more affordable, but the Legislature has not adopted these proposals. In 2019, Governor Scott proposed modernizing online sales tax and dedicating those revenues as a permanent funding source – which has grown annually – for the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP). The Legislature passed the modernization initiatives but did not dedicate the funds exclusively to childcare. In 2020, the Governor proposed allowing for Keno sports betting and to dedicate those funds to CCFAP. The Legislature did not pursue this initiative.

Supporting Pre-K - 12 Education

• Afterschool and Summer Programming – 
  • Dedicated $8.5 million in State ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds to expand afterschool and summer programs (FY22).
  • In 2019, Governor Scott proposed and worked with the Legislature to create a task force to recommend a framework to provide universal access to after school programming for kids. In 2021, the Governor created, by Executive Order, the Vermont Interagency Afterschool Youth Task Force to continue this planning work. 

• Student Recovery and Pandemic Relief and for Schools – Vermont schools received nearly $400 million in new federal funding to help them respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of this money went directly to schools to allocate at the local level, but the State had discretion over $44 million of this funding. The Scott Administration, working with the Legislature, focused state dollars on immediate pandemic response and recovery strategies, including:
  • Address social emotional learning and well being;
  • Strengthen student engagement;
  • Increase afterschool programs;
  • Provide tools to help reverse learning loss; and
  • Fund grants for indoor air quality improvements. 

• Funding approximately $2 billion for education annually – The State has increased support for our preK-12 school system annually by fully funding locally passed school budgets each year.

• Career Technical Education (CTE) – Governor Scott has championed CTE and trades training, highlighting the value of trades careers, critical need to grow this workforce, and investing in more opportunities, including:
  • $15 million to purchase delipidated homes, for high school and adult CTE students to rehab as part of their training. (FY23)
  • $500,000 to initiate a trial CTE program for electrical transportation (aviation and vehicle) sector training. (FY23)
  • $1.4 million in federal education aid for a CTE recruitment campaign, encouraging more students to seek this important training. (FY23)
  • Governor Scott proposed investing $45 million in Education Fund surplus to strengthen the CTE system. The Legislature did not support this initiative. 
  • Beginning the work to, and building support for, changes in the funding and governance systems for CTE to strengthen the experience for both high school students and CTE students, and to address the current competitive nature of funding CTE programs. 
  • $1.7 million to CTE centers to offset pandemic-related costs. (FY22)
  • Beginning the work to allow students to attend a state-designated virtual high school as their sending school for academics, which will give students more time for work-based learning and CTE courses. (FY23)
  • Invested $275,000 to expand apprenticeships, training and post-secondary career and technical education for Vermont workers. (FY20)
  • Proposed and passed a $400,000 investment to purchase training equipment, fit up new space and expand adult career and technical education training opportunities at centers across Vermont. (FY19)

Higher Education

• Governor Scott has proposed historic increases to the Vermont State Colleges system, with a focus on affordability for students and emphasis on retaining students for Vermont jobs. Since coming to office, the State has significantly increased its investment in VSC and in FY23 increased the base budget for the University of Vermont for the first time in years, adding $10 million to the University. 

• Governor Scott has repeatedly increased investment in the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) with a focus on helping adult learners gain skills for new careers that move them up the economic ladder. 

• For more career training and adult education initiatives, visit the Workers initiative page.