Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
Under a new bill, Vermont school boards would give votes to those who know the schools the best.
The experts in question? Teenagers.
Students and representatives alike took to the statehouse Jan. 30 to discuss H.640, a bill created by high schoolers to have student representation on school boards.
The bill was first envisioned at last summer’s Global Issues & Youth Action Institute, part of the long-running Governor’s Institutes of Vermont program.
At the institute, students formed committees to create mock bills. The faux education committee identified the issue of students’ voices not being heard on school boards and created a bill to change that.
Rep. Leanne Harple, D-Orleans-4, liked the idea and worked with the students to propose H.640 to the actual House Education Committee months later.
The bill would give four high school students, one from each grade, seats on each school board across the state. These students would have voting power and act like any other member of the board.
Isabel Harrington is a junior at South Burlington High School and was part of the team of students who came up with the proposal.
She cited equality and the need for students to have a voice in their own education as reasons why the bill is so important.
“It’s a disservice to (students) and to our communities not to be looking to them as capable members of society for guidance on what our priorities need to be for education,” Harringtion told the Education Committee. “They are the ones experiencing the everyday effects that the decisions around education create. No one knows better what the student body needs than those who are a part of it.”
Harrington said that while most schools do have student government opportunities, these extracurriculars aren’t making large-scale changes. Many student councils are treated as “glorified party-planning committees” and aren’t taken seriously, she said.
“For several years now, actions that the student council aims to take are quickly shot down by our administrators without real dialogue between the two groups,” Harrington said. “These student groups are, at their core, an illusion of power.”
Harrington, along with many other students across the state, said that high school students have a lot to say and deserve a platform to be heard.
“Within every community, there are students who are capable and passionate and determined enough to take on a responsibility like this — representing the larger body at the decision making table,” she said. “At times, I have been frustrated that my voice does not hold the same weight as many adults in the room.”
Sue Ceglowski, executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association, took to the statehouse Feb. 12 to share her support for H.640.
Ceglowski said the association highly values student voices, citing a 2001 resolution from the Vermont School Boards Association, which encouraged local boards to add students to their ranks.
Since then, Ceglowski said the association has created a guide to help students get involved and are now supporting H.640, which would push student involvement even further by giving them voting powers.
“As the people most directly impacted by board decisions, students bring insight, creativity and honesty that can strengthen decision-making and school climate,” Ceglowski told lawmakers. “More Vermont school boards are recognizing that when students are meaningfully included, boards benefit from fresh thinking, clearer connections to school communities and stronger trust.”
Flor Diaz Smith, president of the association’s board of directors, spoke alongside Ceglowski. While also in support of the bill, she raised potential concerns about student members being under the legal voting age.
“Allowing voting student board members may raise complex, legal, constitutional and liability issues, so it would be important to have advice from your legislative counsel on those areas,” she said.
However, Diaz Smith said she thinks these potential legal issues are not enough of a reason to halt what members of the association believe to be the next big step in improving schools around Vermont.
“When students speak, the floor listens,” she said.