[A] proposal by Gov. Peter Shumlin would cut $1.7 million from the Community High School of Vermont’s budget next year by closing a number of the field offices that support the high school completion program offered within the Department of Corrections.
According to the governor’s office, the number of total diplomas issued by the Community High School of Vermont last year declined to 41 in a system with 45 teachers, according to a fact sheet issued by the Department of Corrections.
“The numbers speak for themselves. Last year, the CHVT issued 41 diplomas yet had 45 teachers,” the governor’s office said in an email statement. “That is clearly not an efficient use of state resources. We believe the proposal we’ve laid out is a responsible one that maintains access to this vital program but achieves savings that the state desperately needs. This is a tough budget year that requires difficult decisions. If people have other ideas that will save equal amounts of money, we’re all ears.”
The number of diplomas granted has been dropping, mirroring fewer young inmates incarcerated in Vermont’s correctional institutions, according to the department. In Fiscal Year 2013, 78 diplomas were awarded compared with 148 in 2007.
The department is mandated to provide education for offenders in custody who are under the age of 23 and have not yet earned a high school diploma. The Community High School of Vermont is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges as an independent high school.
“To adjust to these steeply declining numbers, we are proposing the reduction of all community field sites as well as select facility locations,” the governor’s proposal states. “The Community High School will be able to provide the mandated services at the reduced locations and these services will continue to be provided in at least one male and one female facility.”
Plans call for continuing to provide services at prisons in South Burlington, Newport, St. Albans and Springfield.
Services will be discontinued at correctional centers in Rutland, St. Johnsbury and Windsor, and at all community field sites.
Troy McAllister, assistant director of corrections education for the Community High School of Vermont, said in an email: “The Governor’s proposal would eliminate 25 positions from Community High School of Vermont. The school currently has 51 full-time employees; 43 teachers and central office staff of eight, which includes an education technology specialist, administrators and support staff.”
McAllister said Wednesday that he was still evaluating the effect of the proposed cuts.
“As an administrative team, we are collecting information and collating data to share with legislators, other policy-makers and the public to inform those who will make the final decisions,” he said.
Staff within the Community High School of Vermont system were included in an internal memo before Gov. Peter Shumlin’s budget address to the Legislature, in which he announced the planned cuts.
In that memo, Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito said that in order to meet fiscal projections, the DOC budget contained several cost reductions, in part possible because “our incarcerated population is dropping.”
“In recognition of these falling numbers, this budget contains a retraction of the CHSVT to include the elimination of CHSVT field sites and all but three facility based programs,” Pallito told staff. “This does, however, mean the elimination of 25 CHSVT positions. This item will lead to much angst for the affected employees.”
The state’s Department of Human Resources has been asked to “help these employees through this process and identify any available options,” Pallito said.
