Setting the Strategy
for Vermont’s Public Policy and Funding in Support of Higher Education November 2021
Data in partnership with Public Assets Institute
A case for articulating a strategic priority for higher education policy in Vermont and investing state funding in a way that advances that strategy In April 2021, the Commission on the Future of Public Higher Education, created by Act 120 of 2020 to assist the State of Vermont in addressing the urgent needs of the Vermont State Colleges and develop a vision and plan for a high-quality, affordable, and workforceconnected future for public higher education in the State, released its final report. The report finds that the
Vermont legislature has long been “notably silent on what it expects out of its investments in the broader postsecondary education enterprise.” In its second recommendation, it calls on the legislature to “articulate a clear set of statewide strategic objectives for public postsecondary education […], place these in statute, and use them to direct state investments.”
At the McClure Foundation, after nearly 15 years of exclusive investment in more equitable and resilient college and career training pathways, we see an urgent opportunity and responsibility for the Vermont legislature to address that finding and to elevate the conversation to the State’s strategic objective for all aspects of postsecondary education policy and funding. Here’s why: