Candidates turn out for forum run by Harwood 7th graders
October 26, 2024 | By Cheryl Casey | Correspondent
House candidates running to represent the communities in the Harwood Union school district attend the candidate forum hosted by Harwood 7th graders. Students Camille Brown and Willow Powell-Corbett at the podium ask attendees to fill out their exit survey. Photo by Gordon Miller
Candidates running for the legislative districts that represent the towns in the Harwood Union school district recently participated in an election forum hosted by a group of future voters: seventh graders from Harwood Middle School.
Students Nora Foley and Leslie Rayburn in front of the candidates keep time and run the background slides. Photo by Gordon Miller
Held in the school’s auditorium, the forum was organized and facilitated by students in Meredith Vaughn’s English class and Sarah Ibson’s Social Studies class. All candidates but James Haddad, an Independent running for one of Washington-Chittenden’s two House seats, attended. The students were joined in the audience by about 50 adults, including parents, teachers, school administrators, and members of the public.
The Senate candidates were the first to answer questions generated through student research and interviews with voters -- parents, teachers, and other adults. Incumbent Washington district Sens. Ann Cummings, D-Montpelier, Andrew Perchlik, (D/P-Marshfield), and Anne Watson D/P-Montpelier, along with Republican challengers Michael Deering II of Barre City, Donald Koch of Barre Town, and Michael “Mike” Doyle of Montpelier, were given one minute each to respond. The six candidates are vying for three seats to represent Washington County’s 20 municipalities along with Orange and Braintree in Orange County and Stowe in Lamoille County.
Student moderators asked the candidates four questions covering their qualities that make them good candidates, issues of school funding and the cost of living in Vermont, and how they perceive of communities at their best. Two students seated on the floor in front of the stage monitored the timer.
Washington Senate district candidates enjoy a light moment during the forum. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
What makes a good Senate candidate?
All candidates pointed to previous experience to describe their qualifications. Going first, Cummings quipped, “I’m old, but I know a few things…. I do love my job,” in reference to her incumbency. She also said she believes her ability to listen to different perspectives respectfully is one of her most important skills.
Similarly, Perchlik drew on his past experience in the legislature to emphasize how his interest and curiosity strengthen his policy work. “I like to talk to my Republican colleagues and get ideas on how they’re thinking of things and how they came up with the positions they have,” he said.
Deering and Watson both emphasized their backgrounds in local government and schools. Deering currently serves as a Barre city counselor and works as a transportation sub coordinator for Barre City Elementary & Middle School. “Being involved in our community is really the reason that I’m involved in politics at all,” he said. He added that as a father of four, “the future of my community is important for my family to continue to live here.”
Watson noted that she was the mayor of Montpelier for almost five years, “but that was actually not the first thing I thought of,” she admitted. “The first thing I thought of was that I think I’m a pretty good listener,” Watson said. She currently is a high school physics and math teacher, union member, and mom. “Those identities are important to have represented in the legislature,” Watson concluded.
A political newcomer, Doyle spoke of his 10 years on a school board in Easton, Pennsylvania, and his tenure during 20 years working as a chauffeur for the late longtime Republican Sen. Bill Doyle. “The first thing I learned was civility,” he said. “If we are going to succeed in running our affairs with a political process, we have to be civil with each other.”
Koch also described Sen. Doyle’s influence from his studies at Johnson State College, where he took Doyle’s classes in legislative process. “I’ve been around politics all my life. My father was a Barre Town representative for 22 years,” Koch said. “It’s kind of in the blood,” he added, smiling. Koch also talked about how he developed his leadership skills as an Eagle Scout, business owner, “and truck driver by trade.”
Sens. Andrew Perchlik and Anne Watson listen as Harwood student Naomi Niewaidomski poses a question to the candidates. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Senate candidates on school funding and cost of living
The first issue students addressed was school funding, saying their research showed it was top of mind with many voters. All candidates agreed that the current funding model is deeply problematic, if not unsustainable.
Cummings, who chairs of the Senate Finance Committee, explained some of the ideas being explored by the Commission on the Future of Education, of which she is also a member. “I think before we’re finished we’re going to be looking at perhaps other revenue sources [besides property taxes] and we’re going to be looking at our small schools, if they are in fact able to provide the best education that kids need and deserve,” she said.
According to reports by Vermont Public, property taxes rose 13.8% on average, with homestead tax rates soaring as high as 38% over last year. According to the Education Data Initiative, “Vermont K-12 students receive the second-most expensive education.”
Cummings’ Democratic colleagues stated that the current reliance on property taxes is unsustainable.
“We can’t continue to have that kind of property tax increase and expect the property taxpayers to keep supporting our schools the way they have,” Perchlik said during his turn to answer. The solution will require some “hard decisions,” he added, especially around small elementary schools. “I’m all for trying to switch to the income-based system,” said Perchlik, cautioning that it could disproportionately affect renters.
For Watson, “One of the things we need to keep in mind as a north star in this whole thing is what’s best for kids” as the guiding principle. She said she wasn’t opposed to considering an income-based tax for education. Revenue also could come from increasing the tax rate on second homes and looking to Medicaid to pay for mental health services for students, she suggested.
Republicans Deering and Koch emphasized that the current funding model is unsustainable. “Education funding is crazy and out of control right now,” Deering said. “People just don’t understand how it works, and we need to get more people involved so they understand how it operates.” Deering also said he favors an income-based education tax.
“Forty-nine other states fund their schools in a different way than we do and largely they have better results than we do,” Koch responded. “That is truly sad.” He called for a full examination of the system and more affordable approaches that respect local control. “We have 14 counties, perhaps we should have 14 school districts, less administrations…increas[ed] class sizes,” Koch proposed.
Doyle’s answer was more measured, suggesting prioritizing reforming the current system. “Before we make any conclusions about how we’re going to fund the system, we should take a look at economizing in the system,” he argued, claiming that Vermont is paying hundreds of millions of dollars more than necessary to fund schools according to recent research.
Candidates also were asked to address the cost of living in Vermont—the root causes of soaring costs and potential solutions to making Vermont a more affordable place to live.
Koch suggested growing the economy by attracting businesses to the state as the route to affordability. “The way things have been working the last several years under Democratic control, all our problems, they just want to throw money at it,” he said, warning that the newly added payroll tax, alleged future taxes on home heating and transportation fuels, and the cost of socio-environmental policies will soon be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”
Doyle took up the thread of fuel costs, stating that only by decreasing those costs will the state effectively fight inflation and make Vermont more affordable. “All other prices are measured by these [transportation and heating fuel]. If you are able to lower these prices there will be more money for more people and more people will be able to afford things more readily,” argued Doyle.
Deering pointed to the housing shortage as the root cause of the affordability problem. “We need to build more housing, so that way we can have more people live in those houses,” he stated. Deering proposed graduated tax increases on property owners building new construction to ease the considerable upfront costs of building. He referenced Gov. Scott’s five-year plan to stabilize property taxes and close the education funding gap by freezing state tax rates for a five-year period. First presented to the legislature in May 2018, the plan was deeply unpopular with Democrats in both the House and Senate; Democratic lawmakers were still pushing back against the plan as recently as this summer’s special legislative session, citing “holes and unintended consequences,” along with shaky math.
As Senate Finance Chair, Cummings heads one of the legislature’s two tax committees. She immediately set the record straight about possible new taxes. “We have not even discussed putting a tax on fuel, especially home heating fuel, so I don’t know where that’s coming from,” she said, as Deering, sitting immediately to her left, shook his head. Cummings acknowledged that “housing is probably at the base of all of our issues,” but noted that it’s a national problem “to build a house that the average worker can afford. We need to find a way to subsidize that and grow our tax base” through taxes and fees, she argued.
Perchlik likewise cited the housing shortage as a root cause of Vermont’s affordability challenges. “The housing shortage is causing prices to go up, whether you’re a renter or a homeowner, causing all these other problems that cascade through society that affect affordability,” he said. Perchlik suggested that a 10-year plan is needed to build more and different kinds of housing. A one-time investment next year “isn’t going to do it,” he maintained. Perchlik also argued that the state should help small towns with infrastructure costs.
Watson acknowledged property taxes and inflation as key drivers of unaffordability, but chose to focus on the cost of health care. “Medical expenses are something that a lot of families avoid, and if they do get an influx of cash often they spend it on otherwise deferred health maintenance,” she said.
‘Communities at their best’
When asked what “communities at their best” look like in their district, candidates spoke about attending to the diverse and unique needs of each community while also addressing common ties.
“I think one of the keys is being able to hear well the needs of the different communities and be able to address them,” said Watson. She also pointed to adequate housing as a foundation for thriving communities.
“These communities at their best have their own self-governance and self-control,” said Perchlik. “I highly value local control.”
Perchlik and Koch both commented that flood resilience is an issue that ties communities in the district together. Perchlik said that “towns have not had the support they need.” Koch described the varied industries supporting life in different communities across the district, from mining and manufacturing to maple syrup and tourism, but noted that “what ties us all together is the Winooski Valley, the Mad River Valley, and we all know recently what’s happened with flooding and how we need to work on flood resilience.” Acknowledging that some places have been flooded several times in recent years, Koch insisted, “We just can’t continue to live that way.”
Doyle’s vision of communities at their best called for “remov[ing] as many cumbersome regulations as possible.” The tax-and-spend philosophy of government has gone on too long in Vermont and is holding communities back from being at their best, he added.
Deering argued that communities achieve their best “when they’re thriving, when they’re growing, and we’re coming together as Vermonters.” His take was to ensure better access to mental health and substance abuse resources. “When people aren’t doing well, they rely on substances to get themselves through instead of better coping mechanisms,” he said. “It boils down to quality of life and affordability.”
Cummings wrapped up this part of the discussion by emphasizing the state Senate’s function as deliberative by design to help communities achieve their best. “We have to take into consideration what’s best for all of those different constituencies. It forces us to really think through a problem,” she explained, noting that state senators don’t just represent their own town, but in the case of the Washington district, 23 different communities, from cities like Montpelier to small farming towns like Marshfield.
Student Narumi Anderson listens as Tom Stevens gives a response. Photo by Gordon Miller
Washington-Chittenden candidates split on housing solutions
The candidates for Washington-Chittenden’s two House seats and the two seats in the Washington-2 district faced similar questions about their qualifications and their positions on school funding. The students shifted gears for the other two questions, however, focusing specifically on housing and flood resiliency. The one-minute response rule remained.
In the Washington-Chittenden district race, incumbent Reps. Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood, both Democrats from Waterbury, face challengers Jonathan Griffin, a Republican from Waterbury, and James Haddad, an Independant from Huntington. Haddad could not attend the forum for personal reasons. The district covers Waterbury, Huntington, Buels Gore, and Bolton.
When asked about what qualities they have to hold public office, the candidates spoke about their genuine care for people and their commitment to solving problems.
Griffin described himself as “a kind person” who “want[s] what’s best for as many people as possible.” He cited his background in civil engineering as contributing to his interest in affordable housing, “which is a driving cause for why I’m running,” he explained.
Stevens and Wood both pointed to their efforts in problem-solving, consensus-building, and records of community service prior to and during their time in the legislature. “The qualities of what I bring to the table are seen through the work I’ve been able to get done in the State House with my peers,” said Stevens.
Another key quality Wood offered: “You need to have a sense of humor when you’re solving difficult problems,” she said.
On the question of school funding, the candidates echoed their colleagues in the Senate race in acknowledging that the current system falls far short in all respects and cannot meet the challenges of rising costs and declining numbers of students. Both Stevens and Wood underscored what’s at stake as the state looks to make changes. “Funding schools is a constitutional requirement,” Stevens pointed out. Wood added that “a solid, well-funded, well-provided public education is the foundation of our democracy.”
Griffin proposed a problem-solving approach that asks people to describe their ideal statewide education system. “Let’s start with our best product to deliver high quality education and then work from that,” he said. “Maybe it means starting from scratch. Maybe it means creating new school districts” to optimize student density, Griffin suggested. Then looked to the students seated up front in the audience and suggested that they “probably have the best look day in and day out where efficiencies could be made in your education system -- so speak up.”
Wood pointed to the challenge of balancing local control over school budgets with a statewide focus on consistent opportuities and quality. “There’s a very significant divide and disconnect between the education funding formula and the people who vote on the budgets and pay for it,” she said. The 1997 Vermont Supreme Court decision in Brigham v. State deemed the state’s educational funding system in violation of Vermonters’ right to equal education opportunities. Wood lamented that the promise of that decision has not fully played out in practice.
Stevens called for a holistic examination of the funding system but recognized how difficult some of the decisions will ultimately be such as closing smaller elementary schools. Education “is an intensely human industry,” he said. “The teachers deserve to be treated with respect and not as something to be economized. Students should be treated with respect, and the outcomes that we’re looking for should not simply be economized.”
The issue of flood mitigation elicited agreement about the need for resiliency. “We’re not going to pick up and move whole communities away from the rivers on which they were built,” Wood stated. She argued that improving floodways and other “things that we can do in terms of mitigation that the state quite frankly has not focused on.”
Stevens agreed. “The state has not taken on a more serious and ingrained way of dealing with resiliency,” he said, adding, “and resiliency to me is simply the ability to bounce back.” He called for the state to do better not only with funding resiliency plans but “in creating a world where we have professionals who are working to help make it [resiliency] so.”
Griffin explained how his job as a civil engineer with the state Agency of Transportation has given him a close-up look at flood damage across the state, from Tropical Storm Irene to this summer’s flooding. “It’s complex,” he said. “There’s a myriad of different ways to tackle this problem and not any one solution is the answer. We have to employ all of them.” He argued that both private money and public money will be necessary to fund solutions. For example, to address the cost of flood insurance, “if there was a revolving loan fund that allowed people to basically apply for a 0% interest loan, lift their home, and then pay back that loan with their flood insurance savings…that’s something we could do,” Griffin proposed.
The final question students posed to the House candidates was, “What is your vision for how to confront [the] housing crisis?”
This evoked the widest range of positions from candidates.
Wood and Stevens threw their support behind the 10-year plan passed by the House last spring but which subsequently stalled in the Senate. The plan appropriated some $900 million from the General Fund to invest in long-term housing solutions. Stevens, who chairs the House General and Housing Committee, sponsored the bill in the House. Measures to relax local zoning regulations have recently passed, noted Stevens, with the aim to make it easier to build more housing. Stevens suggested that the housing proposal isn’t dead. “We will continue to fight for this 10-year plan,” he insisted, with Wood concurring.
Griffin, on the other hand, called the housing crisis “the most solvable problem” if only the state would “get out of the way.” He proposed letting “the municipalities and the private investors to handle it. This is what they do and they do it better than the state can.” If housing costs come down, Griffin argued, all other metrics would follow suit. “Increasing supply, lowering costs—we know that works,” he concluded.
Three of the four Washington-Chittenden candidates participated: Republican Jonathan Griffin and incumbent Democrats Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood. Photo by Gordon Miller
Washington-2 contenders’ solutions run the gamut
In the equally crowded field of contenders for the two Washington-2 House seats, Democratic Rep. Dara Torre of Moretown is the sole incumbent. Waitsfield Democrat Candice White, Morwtown Independent John Burns, and Warren resident Gene Bifano, running under the Common Sense Party label round out the field. The district covers Duxbury, Moretown, Waitsfield, Fayston and Warren.
Bifano, Burns, and White all described their qualities as problem-solvers and leaders.
Bifano referenced his 38 years as a volunteer firefighter and EMT and his career in the Marine Corps as the key influences on his leadership and problem-solving approaches. Burns also spoke about his experience in the military, where as an Army officer and staff advocate, it was his duty to be “the one to say wait a minute, stop, what are we doing, slow down…before people get hurt and things get broken.” Burns acknowledged that being an outside voice is an uncomfortable role but necessary, and a role he feels comfortable filling.
White noted her decades of experience as a leader in the business sector as well as with nonprofits as key to her problem-solving skills. She also touted her attitude of respect for others. “It’s important to share different ideas, but to do it in a respectful and positive way... to really try to solve problems and make things better,” she said.
Torre focused on passion. “I have a really strong passion for our public institutions, like our schools,” she said. With a background in history and government as well as several decades of experience working with different populations, Torre admitted that the “big reason I wanted to serve was to bring my passion for climate transition and resilience-building in our community into the statehouse because I feel like we’re not doing enough to secure our futures.” Torre in her first term served on the House Environment and Energy Committee.
This candidate groups also agreed that Vermont’s education funding system is in dire need of reform.
“The whole funding system is broken, and it hasn’t fundamentally changed since it was established in 1790,” Bifano offered. He called for cutting spending as “the only solution,” arguing that “we really have to think about how we’re going to reorganize the school system so there’s this economy of scale that would work.”
Burns criticized the legislature for avoiding tackling the issue for too long since the Brigham decision 27 years ago. He suggested the “possibility of just starting over. Laws can be repealed,” he said. “The idea of local control is kind of a myth. That can be removed, adjusted,” Burns added.
White shared the willingness to start over with an education funding model. “There is a way to re-envision how we’re funding schools that even helps improve the outcome,” she said, describing how the funding model “needs to be blown up and redone,” with a keen examination of revenue sources and spending.
Torre’s approach was more measured. “I don’t want to make rash decisions that are going to hurt students and teachers and communities,” she said, but admitted the system was not functioning well. “As we are becoming an older society and we have fewer children in our state, we do need to do some changes in how many schools we have and the configuration of our schools, but the important thing is how the changes are made.”
On the question of flood mitigation, White said that the work being done by the Mad River Planning District makes her feel hopeful. She described their process of documenting flood damage and studying the effectiveness of steps taken to mitigate against such damage in the future. “It’s really important that we learn from these flood events, share our information, make changes, and keep doing that.” White also gave a nod to Waterbury’s flood resiliency efforts, adding, “We should be sharing information together.”
With her background in local and regional planning, Torre argued that resilience is grounded in good planning at the watershed level, paired with “a durable source of funding.” She expressed interest in Griffin’s suggestion of combining private and public funding, as well as White’s call for working together across towns. “We know this will happen again,” Torre said.
Burns criticized the state for focusing too much on the big environmental picture “like global warming solutions and a clean heat standard,” at the expense of “immediate, right-here-at-home flood mitigation measures.” He called for an intense focus on helping Vermont be better prepared. “New Orleans has found ways to hold the ocean back…if they get another catastrophic event. There are things we can do,” he said.
Bifano said he generally agreed with his fellow candidates. He focused his criticism on the legislature. “We need to bring in people who are going to have fresh ideas…to solve these problems,” he said. Bifano lambasted the legislature’s efforts to support flood mitigation to date saying it’s allocated insufficient funds. “Does that sound familiar?” he asked. “We don’t have money for school. We don’t have money for flooding. We don’t have money for mental health,” he ticked off on his fingers. “I would take every cent allocated to a global warming [initiative] and reinvest it into where we need it today.”
When asked about housing, Burns addressed the students in the audience, saying that it might be impossible for them to be able to buy a house in the future if the issue isn’t adequately addressed. “I think the adults have failed this generation coming up that’s just trying to…establish themselves,” he said. Burns criticized what he termed the “Act 250-mindset, [which] has preserved Vermont and kept it beautiful and green but there’s nowhere to live.”
Act 250 governs Vermont’s land use and development. Passed in 1970, its function is to ensure a public process for reviewing and managing the environmental, social, and fiscal consequences of major developments.
Torre said that “a lot of initiative can happen at the local level because we do know our communities best.” She said she favors an approach that will “empower local developers to be able to work in their communities” and address regulations so that it will be “easier to build, and less expensive.” Torre said a goal should be to focus on the types and size of new housing development. “Our households are getting smaller and we don’t have enough of those smaller types of properties,” she said. “We don’t have enough housing for people as they get older.”
Bifano proposed working with developers and understanding, with a nod to Torre’s remarks, “what kind of houses we are going to build…and then go for it,” he said. Bifano emphasized that “the government doesn’t have money. We have the money.” When it comes to housing, he argued, “we want developers to spend their money, not our collective money.”
White called for an “all-hands-on-deck” approach, to recruit developers, regional development corporations, and nonprofit groups. By pooling knowledge and resources, housing projects will more easily connect with architects, builders, and landowners “to really make some change” in the housing situation, she said.
Mad River Valley Television recorded the Oct. 17 forum at Harwood. Find that video on its YouTube channel here. Read about the Harwood student project behind the forum here.