Lt. Governor Zuckerman Calls for Funding State Colleges
PRESS RELEASE: August 20, 2020
Lt. Governor Zuckerman Calls for Funding State Colleges
BURLINGTON: Today, in response to the Governor’s proposed budget, which does not include adequate funding for Vermont State Colleges, the Lt. Governor released the following statement:
“Our state colleges are major economic drivers in rural areas across our state. They provide our small Vermont businesses with interns, employees, and customers. They provide employment opportunities for our rural communities. They also provide invaluable educational opportunities and are a beacon of hope for thousands of Vermont students looking for a future here in Vermont.
In April, tens of thousands of our state college students, faculty, staff, and citizens in our rural communities across the state stood up and asked for a concrete future for their schools. I stand with those communities, in support of funding for these vital institutions. The current budget leaves them underfunded by over $23 million and puts them, once again, at severe risk of shutting down in November. This would leave all of the students, faculty, staff, and many businesses in our rural communities in a severe predicament.
We must adequately fund our state colleges because the economic benefits of that funding will have far-reaching positive impacts, especially when so many industries in our state have been harmed by the current pandemic-created recession. We cannot let our important focus on the present blind us to what will be best for the future of our state.”
- Lt. Governor David Zuckerman
The Zuckerman for VT campaign also released the following quote from Vermont Representative Robert Helm’s August 18th statement to the House Committee on Appropriations in reaction to the lack of adequate funding for the state colleges. This exemplifies the fact that funding the Vermont State College System is not a partisan issue, but one that all Vermonters should support.
“I worry because as we progress further and further beyond the beginning of COVID-19 and as it becomes a little bit rested from what it was back in March, I’m hearing terms like “if available” and “if the money is available” and things like that. I hear that in conversations here and there and it’s telling me: “watch out there’s a shift here in the air that might not be the best thing for Vermont State Colleges.” We know - I think - how financially strapped they are. What I think we don’t know, and what I’m going to assume, is that colleges are not going to be the same as they were ever again. They are going to go back and they are going to go back heavily online - and it’s my opinion but, I believe it will start a change that will change the whole way the colleges function. And they are going to need dollars to deal with this, because they are on a national stage, as you know. I just want to put that on record as being said: it frightens me that - we are going to get crunched down in the next two or three years - and as we do, we are going to backpedal our first statements [about the colleges].”
- Rep. Robert Helm
Campaign Manager Megan Polyte, pointed to the disconnect in Governor Scott’s messaging and actions: “Governor Scott says he wants to protect the most vulnerable, yet he presents a budget where adequate funding of the Vermont State Colleges is absent. It is irresponsible for the Governor and his administration to put forward this budget. It reveals his lack of understanding of the drastic and negative impact that the closure of these schools would have on thousands of Vermonters and business owners in these rural communities and of the Vermont students currently attending who may find their campus closed before the end of this semester.”
The Zuckerman for VT campaign announced that this statement, in reaction to the $23.8 million deficit for our state colleges, is part of a larger investigation into the Governor’s budget and that it will continue to explore the budget and will continue to provide commentary and statements when appropriate.
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