Inaugural address  of  Howard B. Dean  As it appears in the  Journal  of the  JOINT ASSEMBLY  BIENNIAL SESSION  1995   Thursday, January 5, 1995. Inaugural Address “Thank  you.    Thank  you  very  much.    Thank  you  very  much.  Madame  President,  Mr. Speaker,  Mr.  Chief  Justice,  Members  of  the  General  Assembly,  honored  guests  and  fellow Vermonters: “First,  I want  to welcome  you  back  here  to  another  legislative  session  and  thank  you  for  the commitment that you’ve made to serve Vermont. "I think we’ve all heard very clearly the message from the 1994 election campaigns. We need to  do  our  work  in  a  nonpartisan  way  and  then  go  home.  Education  reform  is  at  the  top  of  the agenda. Our property tax system is unfair. There is tremendous disparity between town tax rates. In  Barre  City,  for  example,  education  taxes  on  a  house  worth  $150,000  are  $2,235  a  year.  A resident in Stratton will pay $30 a year for the same house. “Three  Vermont  school  districts  still  have  not  been  able  to  pass  a  budget:  Benson,  West Rutland  and  Winooski.  The  high  cost  of  education  and  property  taxes  hurts  retired  people  and everyone else on a fixed income. “Quality  of  education  is  also  an  issue.  The  people  of  Vermont  don’t  believe  that  they’re getting  their  money’s  worth  from  our  schools.  We  are  6th  in  the  nation  in  per-pupil  spending. We spend more on education than 44 other states. “The SAT score is the only measure we have to compare ourselves to other states because we don’t  participate  in  the  National  Assessment  of  Education  Progress.  While  a  very  high percentage  of  Vermont  students  do  take  the  SAT,  which  tends  to  lower  our  scores,  we  are nonetheless  38th  in  the  nation  in math  scores  and  35th  in  the  nation  in  verbal  scores. Again, we are 6th in the nation in per-pupil spending. “About  one  in  five Vermonters who  enter  high  school  drop  out  before  graduation. We  teach to mediocrity  in our  schools. One night  last year  as  I was putting my daughter  to bed  --  she was in  the  fourth  grade  at  the  time  --  she  began  to  cry.  I  asked  her what was wrong. She was  crying quite  a  lot.  I  thought  she  was  having  some  significant  problems,  maybe  in  school,  that  I  didn’t know about. I said, what is it that’s wrong, Sweetie? She looked at me and said, “It is school. I’m bored. I’m bored in school.” “We  must  reform  our  education  system.  She  had  a  good  teacher  in  school.  It  was  a  good public school that we like in Burlington. We must reform our education system now. “We will have differences  in details,  and  they must be  resolved now. They must be  resolved before we go home in May. “This is my plan which I’m very proud to say is going to be sponsored by respected members of  both  parties  in  this House. We will  keep  the  sales  tax  at  its  current  rate,  use  the  fifth  cent  for education  funding  and  in  the  second  year  this will  add  an  additional  $37 million  to  the  state  aid formula. We will  adjust  this  by  increasing  the  income  factor  sensitivity  so  that  towns will  get  a better  deal  out  of  the  formula.  We  are  proposing  a  minimum  education  tax  to  deal  with  the incredible discrepancies of paying $2,200 a year in Barre and $30 in Stratton for the same house. “This  is not a  statewide property  tax. 228  towns  in Vermont will continue  to collect  taxes as they do today and distribute them in their own towns, but 23 Vermont towns with extraordinarily low taxes will be asked to share about $10 million of that revenue with the other communities. “Current Use  and  teachers’  retirement  programs will  be  sent  back  to  the  local  levels  but  the state’s  contribution  to  these  programs,  $26  million,  will  be  distributed  to  the  school  districts through  the formula. This  is also an equalizing piece of  this formula. A  total of over $70 million in additional funding will go into the State aid formula. “In  addition,  we  are  proposing  in  conjunction  with  the  Department  of  Education  to  fix  the wards of the state problem which will minimize bureaucracy at the local level. “The  bill  will  increase  payment  in  lieu  of  taxes  dramatically,  our  so-called  PILOT  funding, for  towns  that  host  state  offices  and  other  state  property  which  does  not  contribute  to  local property taxes. “We must  -  and  this  is  one  of  the most  critical  pieces  of  this  bill  - we must  cap  increases  in local  spending  on  education  based  on  the  consumer  price  index.  Education  costs  for  the  last  20 years have  risen at at  least  twice  the  rate of  inflation. We are 6th  in  the nation  in what we  spend on education. I didn’t hear myself or any of you campaigning that we were going to be 3rd in the nation  by  the  time we  get  finished with  this  session.  I  heard  us  all  talk  about  lowering  property taxes. And  in  the 1980’s  I and many of you supported doubling state aid  to education  in a  three-year period, and today we have a worse problem with our property taxes than we did seven years ago when that doubling was finished. “If we  are  to  fix  the  property  tax  system,  if we  are  to  change  the  amount  of money  the  state puts  into  property  taxes,  we  must  make  sure  this  is  a  permanent  fix,  not  a  temporary  fix.  We must control not just state spending, we must control local spending. I will work with you to find a mechanism that you might like if you don’t like our mechanism. This is an essential part of the bill,  and  this  will  not  be  property  tax  reform  unless  caps  on  local  spending  are  included  in  the bill. “We  also  propose  cutting  the  state  income  tax  from  25%  to  24%.  I  will  show  you  how  this can  be  done  and  talk  more  about  that  in  my  Budget  Address  next  week.  That  is  in  there principally  because  we  believe  it  will  lead  to  better  economy  and  more  jobs  in  Vermont.  It’s  a straightforward  plan,  it’s  predictable,  it’s  affordable  and  I  think  it  can  pass  the  House  and  the Senate in 1995. “But that’s not enough because educational quality is also a very important piece of this. “We  must  convince  Vermonters  that  if  we’re  going  to  remain  one  of  the  most  expensive states in the nation in terms of education, that Vermonters are getting their money’s worth. I will call  for  more  than  $1  million  in  the  Capital  Bill  appropriation  to  provide  Vermont’s  76  high schools,  5  regional  libraries  and  every  elementary  school  in  the  state  access  to  all  the  same computer  services  that  the  state  has  through  its  own  electronic  network,  GovNet.  This  includes access  to  a  worldwide  information  system  known  as  the  Internet.  An  unlimited  number  of Vermont students will be able to be logged onto the Internet simultaneously at the cost of a local telephone call. “In addition, we will provide money in the Capital Bill to provide satellite downlinks to 20 of Vermont’s  most  rural  high  schools  so  that  they  may  receive  advanced  placement  courses  from the University of Vermont which has agreed to offer these courses for free. We are pleased that a local  private  sector  company  has  agreed  to  link  Montpelier,  Burlington,  Rutland  and Winooski schools  with  Interactive  Television.  This  includes  high  schools,  middle  schools  and  elementary schools. “All kids need to be allowed to learn on their own as well as in the classroom setting because the best  education ought  to be  available  to  all kids, urban or  rural,  low  abilities or high  abilities. No child should be bored in school. Let me repeat: No child should be bored in school. “It  is  not  enough  to  restructure  schools. We  also  have  to  restructure  the way  the  state works with  schools.  We  must  continue  to  support  the  Department  of  Education  innovations,  like  the Green  Mountain  Challenge,  and  particularly  the  Portfolio  Assessment  program  that  has  been developed over the last seven years. “They also have developed a public report card system comparing the success and failures of every  school  district  in  the  state  and  I’m  urging  that  to  be  public  as  soon  as  possible  so  that Vermonters  can  see  district  by  district who  they believe  is getting  their money’s worth  and who is not. “But we must also reorganize the administration and delivery of education. “Vermont  employers  report  that  far  too many  high  school  graduates  are  not  prepared  to  join today’s  competitive  job  market.  Three-and-a-half  years  ago  Commissioner  Richard  Mills  and  I went  to  visit  the  Secretary  of  Education.  We  knew  the  federal  government  didn’t  have  any money,  so  we  agreed  in  advance  that  we  wouldn’t  ask  him  for  any.  At  that  time  every  special education  teacher  in  the  state  had  to  fill  out  40  forms,  40  pieces  of  paper  from  each  child  in special  education  every  year,  40.  So  we  said,  “Mr.  Secretary,  we  know  you  can’t  give  us  any money. Could you reduce the number of forms that our teachers have to fill out?” “He said, “Oh, yes, yes, yes, we’ll be sure to do that. Send me a proposal.”   “We  sent a proposal and nothing ever happened.  I  said  to  the Commissioner,  look, we ought to  clean up our own house. Twenty  forms  are  the  federal government’s  and 20  are ours.  I  asked him  to do  that. They said, “Oh, yes, yes.” Two-and-a-half years  later,  two-and-a-half years  later, the state board finally came to me with a four-page form. I think that’s a problem, and I think we need  to  have  accountability,  direct  accountability  of  the  Department  of  Education  to  the Governor  and  to  the Legislature  so  it  doesn’t  take  two-and-a-half  years.  It  should  be  two-and-a-half months. “Vocational  education.  I  started  out  on  the  Education Committee  in  this  very  body  12  years ago. Vocational  education was  treated  as  a  second-class  citizen  then  and  it  continues  to  be  now although  there  have  been  significant  and  important  improvements  -  particularly  the  notion  of Certificate of Mastery. “I  believe  that  we  ought  to  merge  the  Departments  of  Education  and  Employment  and Training under one Secretary of Education and Workforce Training appointed by the Governor. I believe education will then be accountable both to the Legislature and the Governor, but we must also make sure that we preserve education’s insulation from politics. “Workforce  training  programs  have  to  be  integrated  between  vocational  education,  high school, adult basic education and workforce training through the Department of Employment and Training. “Job  training and education are going  to be  the way  that states build strong economies  in  the future.  We  are  now  competing  in  a  world  economy.  We  are  competing  with  Taiwan  and Singapore  in  the  same  way  that  we  used  to  compete  with  New  Hampshire  and  North  Carolina. Smaller  companies  cannot  afford  extensive  job  training  programs,  yet  most  of  our  job  growth comes  from  existing  smaller  businesses.  80%  of  Vermont’s  businesses  employ  20  or  fewer people. “The  Agency  of  Development  and  Community  Affairs  is  reorganizing  itself  to  work  more like  an  Agency  of  Commerce.  We  particularly  need  to  focus  on  making  capital  available  for small  businesses  and  on  controlling  energy  costs.  I  continue  to  believe  in  downtown development  with  a  strong  component  of  local  planning  as  the  best  way  to  have  good  jobs  and preserve Vermont’s  quality  of  life. Let me make  this  very  clear,  it  is  not  necessary  to  lower  our environmental  standards  in  order  to  produce  better  jobs.  I  believe  our  quality  of  life  in Vermont is  responsible  for  the  fact  that Vermont did better  than any other Northeastern state  in  the  recent recession. Our quality of life, our environmental standards attract jobs. “I’ll  talk  further  about  environmental  issues  and  land  conservation  issues  in  the  Budget Address next week, but I will not be advancing major environmental legislation this year for two reasons. First, the Environmental Board, under the direction of the new chairman, John Ewing, is pursuing  rule  changes  that  should  significantly,  and  I might  add  at  long  last,  streamline  the Act 250 permit process. “The  Agency  of  Natural  Resources  has  efforts  underway  to  simplify  the  permit  process  by computerizing aspects of permitting and assigning case managers  to all significant projects. And I  think we should wait  for a year  to give  these changes an opportunity  to make  the process more efficient. “Infrastructure  in  the  transportation area as well as  the  telecommunications area  is extremely important  to  job  creation.  This  year  we  will  have  a  record  70  bridges  under  construction  at  the cost of $18 million. A  record $30 million will be spent paving 200 miles of  roadway  throughout Vermont. “The  most  significant  opportunities  and  the  most  serious  threats  to  our  economy  and  to  our people  come  this  year  not  from  inside  Vermont  but  from Washington,  D.C.  Let  me  talk  to  you about some of these proposals that will have a tremendous impact on Vermonters. “In  the  next  few months  I  intend  to  use my  position  as  the  chair  of  the National Governors’ Association  to  help mold major  changes  coming  out  of  Congress  so  they  benefit  Vermont  or  at least do not harm us. “The first proposal that will be acted on very quickly is a balanced budget amendment. While this  is  a  tool  for  controlling  the  federal  deficit,  and  there’s  no  question  that  at  the  national  level the national deficit probably in the long range is the most significant problem we have, the fact is unless  there  is  language  in  the  budget  amendment  that  protects  the  states  from  unfunded mandates,  we  are  simply  in  Vermont  and  every  other  state  in  this  country  being  passed  a  very large tax increase and very significant cuts for all the programs for the people that we believe we have an obligation to be the safety net for. “No  state  legislature  in  their  right  mind  will  vote  to  ratify  a  federal  balanced  budget amendment  unless  inside  that  amendment  is  contained  language  protecting  us  against  further federal unfunded mandates. “A  plan  for  the  federal  government  to  switch  responsibilities  with  the  states  is  also  in  the works.  One  plan,  for  example,  is  to  let  the  states  run  their  own  welfare  programs  while  the federal  government  runs  Medicaid.  This  would  give  Vermont  the  opportunity  to  deal  with  the welfare  system,  but  that  is  a  task  that  was  largely  taken  care  of  by  this  General  Assembly  in 1994. This program swap would also create an enormous federal bureaucracy responsible for the health care of 40% of our citizens. “One  option  that  I  think  should  be  explored  is  letting  the  federal  government  take  care  of long-term  care  while  states  take  responsibility  for  the  medical  care  of  the  rest  of  the  Medicaid program. “There’s  a  plan  to  institute  block  grants  to  states,  and  this  will  almost  certainly  be  in legislation. Vermont and the rest of the 49 states would get a certain amount of money with very few  rules.  There  are  more  than  600  categorical  programs  that  could  fall  under  this  setup.  This would  help Vermont  be more  creative  and  efficient  in  terms  of  helping  people  but  is  also  likely to  mean  significant  reductions  in  the  amount  of  funding  that  we  get  for  these  programs.  For example,  there  is a proposal  to block grant nutrition programs and  like  the other proposals,  there is  both  good  and  bad  in  this.  Food  Stamps  is  a  program  which  needs  overhaul.  There  is  waste, there’s  fraud  in  other  states,  there  are  significant  administrative  problems.  But  school  breakfast and  school  lunches  are  one  of  the  most  successful  nutrition  programs  we  have.  We  put tremendous effort in this state into making sure that every child who cannot eat properly at home can get  significant nutrition  in  school, and we ought  to  fight  to  the death  to make  sure  that  there are no cuts in that program and that this program stays exactly the way it is today. “There are also proposals  to block grant heating assistance funding. I don’t have  to  tell  those of you who are veteran legislators how difficult that is because that will almost certainly result in huge  reductions  for Vermont  and  other  northern  states.  I  think,  again, we must  fight  vigorously in  Washington  to  make  sure  the  poor  and  elderly  people  do  not  freeze  because  of  cuts  in  the block grants. “Last  year  my  State-of-the-State  message  focused  on  children’s  issues.  As  chairman  of  the National  Governors’  Association,  I’ve  created  a  national  Governor’s  Campaign  for  Children  to last for one year. This is why. “Yesterday  I  spoke  with  Erin  Watkins,  a  26-year-old  mother  of  three  who  lives  in Springfield.  Erin,  who  is  dealing  with  raising  her  infant  and  two  young  children  alone,  told  me that  Success-by-Six  was  her  lifeline.  She  took  parenting  classes  at  the  Springfield  Parent  Child Center  when  she  was  feeling  alone  and  feeling  bad  about  herself.  Success-by-Six  gave  her  the needed support and she told me the tools she needs to raise her kids. She talked about the lending library that gives her kids a chance to play with educational toys that she could never afford. “This  is  a program  that was  funded by  this Legislature  two years  ago,  and Erin Watkins  is  a better  parent  because  she  chose  to  seek  education  and  support  services  which  were  available  in her  community.  Erin  and  thousands  of  Vermonters  like  her  are  the  reason  we  created  Success-by-Six. Communities  and  state governments  can work  together  to help  families  raise  children  in healthy environments. “Vermont  is  a  national  model  for  what  we’re  trying  to  accomplish  through  the  National Governors’  Association.  Our  goals  for  America  as  a  whole  are  to  increase  public  awareness  of the needs of young  children  and  families  and once  again  focus  the  attention of  the nation on  the needs  of  children  and  their  families  rather  than  on  the  needs  of  government  agencies  and programs. In December I convened a national hearing at which we heard from several children’s programs  in  Vermont  and  five  other  states.  We  heard  about  the  Addison  and  Franklin  County Head  Start  models  that  combine  children’s  health  and  education  services  to  take  better  care  of kids. The programs up and running in those communities reflect the communities’ needs. “Collaboration  between  state  and  local  programs  is  the  best  way  to  reach  parents  like  Erin Watkins.  Now  I’m  going  to  make  sure  there  is  financial  support  available  in  Congress  and among  private  foundations  to  help  these  programs  all  over  America  grow,  particularly  those started not by government but by community activists  in neighborhoods where families need  the most  support  of  all.  If  we  really  believe  that  many  of  Americans’  problems  are  due  to  the crumbling  of  America’s  families,  then  we  had  better  be  prepared  to  change  the  way  that  we support families. “We  will  hold  a  national  summit  on  children  in  Annapolis, Maryland,  on  June  6th  and  7th, with  governors,  the  Congress  and  the  President.  Finally,  we  will  conclude  the  Governor’s Campaign  for  Children  at  the  86th  meeting  of  the  National  Governors’  Association  meeting  in Burlington in July. “Despite  last  year’s  failure  to  adopt  comprehensive  health  care  reform,  I  think  we  all understand  from  our  time  on  the  campaign  trail  that Vermonters  very much want  that  system  to change. We still have 62,000 uninsured working people. We have health care costs that continue to  rise  at  twice  the  rate  of  inflation.  We  have  families  who  can’t  afford  coverage.  We  have businesses choosing between offering health care benefits or wage increases. “My  long-term  goal  continues  to  be  universal  access  for  every  Vermonter.  We  cannot  get there  in  one  year,  particularly  in  a  year where  I’ve  asked  you  to  redefine  education  and  the way we finance it, but we cannot do nothing.  “I  will  ask  you  to  pass  a  20-cent  increase  in  the  cigarette  tax  to  provide  health  insurance  to about  15,000  working  Vermonters  who  have  none.  These  are  people  who  work  for  businesses that do not offer health insurance benefits. “We’ve  been  working  with  interested  legislators  to  help  us  design  the  necessary  Medicaid waiver  that  will  be  submitted  very  shortly  to  the  federal  government.  I  deeply  appreciate  your support, and I deeply want to tell you that we are going to continue to keep you involved and we want your help in getting this done. Our proposed waiver will allow us to expand coverage to all Vermonters up to 100% of the federal poverty level for the first year. That’s an annual income of $14,800 for a family of four, and we hope and intend to do more in the second year. “This  is  for  the  family  wondering  how  to  pay  for  their  father’s  emergency  appendectomy. This  is  for  the  office worker who  goes  to  bed  hoping  that  her  cough  and  fever will  disappear  in the morning because a visit to the doctor does not fit into her budget. “Raising the cigarette tax to pay for health care makes sense. No single factor in this country costs the country more in health care dollars than cigarette smoking, and Vermont’s cigarette tax is  substantially  lower  than  every other  cigarette  tax  in New England or  the northeast. We  are 36 cents a pack lower than New York. “The  Health  Care  Authority  has  made  great  strides  in  bridging  relationships  between hospitals,  consumer  groups  and  insurance  companies.  The  new  chair,  Theresa  Alberghini,  and her  staff  have  a  great  deal  of  important  work  ahead  of  them  because  we  also  have  to  control spending  on  health  care. The Health Care Authority will  continue  to  gather  data  and  implement an  information-sharing  agreement  between  the  state Medicaid  program,  Blue  Cross/Blue  Shield of  Vermont  and  the  Community  Health  Plan,  and  this  will  allow  us  to  track  90%  of  Vermont’s health  care  expenditures. This will be  the  first  time  in  the nation  a public/private  agreement  like this has been reached, and it will finally allow us to find out what the expenditures are so that we can adequately control them. “This agenda is about children and it’s about families. It’s about an educational system that’s funded more fairly and that challenges every Vermont child. “This  agenda  is  about  jobs  to  support  those  families.  Our  agenda  is  about  the  environment and a quality of life that builds our economy. “Our agenda  is about making sure working people have  the same opportunity  to see a doctor no matter where they work. “Our  agenda  is  about  your  families.  Our  agenda  is  about  my  family.  Our  agenda  is  about Vermont’s families. Our agenda is about America’s families. “Let’s get to work.”