So there is a movement afoot in the state of Vermont that has me very concerned about the future of small towns
Okay girls, hang on. Here you go, there's your food. Enjoy. All the weird chickens are happy. Don't try to sneak out of this door. All the snow and ice is melting, so I've been leaving it way more ajar than I should. I got to fix that this morning.
And so I figured I would take a few minutes to talk to you about it today while I do my chores, because well, this is definitely a problem in Vermont. I actually don't think it's just a problem in Vermont, and in fact, like the impression I'm starting to get is this is a problem that's happening all across the United States. And I'm pretty sure the dogs agree with me, isn't that right, you guys? Okay, they clearly give two poops for it, but it's really important to me, so you're going to have to bear with me for a second.
Good morning, Birds! How's everybody doing today? Everybody looks ready to go, vibrant and full of energy. A quick check of the thermometer actually reveals it's 31° Fahrenheit outside. The hoop coop, it's about almost 50, 48° inside of here. It's definitely feeling the moisture and the steam in here, so I think it's about time to release the quacken. My previous door repair didn't stick because it's just a plywood door, and so I'm going to have to put together a better solution, but I think I'm better off waiting until all this ice melts. Happy Dog, what did you have right there? Oh, piece of charcoal, huh? Well, if you really want to chew on that piece of charcoal, I'll let you chew on that piece of charcoal, you weirdo.
So the other week here in Vermont, it was Town Meeting Day, which is kind of like a New England tradition, but here in Vermont, it's like a hardcore Vermont tradition for sure, where the first Monday of March every year, the whole town, like whatever town you live in, you all get together and you meet on voting for like School budgets and like Road budgets and property taxes and all like the ordinances and things that you might have, or if you're electing a select board, like all those things happen on town meeting day where everybody gets together in like some sort of Meeting House, whether it be a school or a church or an auditorium or whatever, and they have this session. Take it easy, you Vultures, I'll feed you, I'll feed you, hang on. And I've done videos on this topic before. The structure of the American Constitution and government imply the existence among the whole people of a fraternal goodwill, an Earnest Spirit of cooperation for the common good, a mutual dependence of all upon each and of each upon all. The government is not enthroned above the people, but is of, by, and through the people. And I think nowhere is that Spirit more in evidence than at town meeting. And even before I officially lived here, I would attend because it's just such an incredible magic experience that really brings to life the idea of what it's like to live in a small community, as well as what does democracy and governance actually look like in a small community. And when done well, is kind of magical, and I think a huge part of what makes Vermont Vermont.
Are there any birds with flu in here? Hopefully, we don't have any birds with flu in here. Yes, we are still remaining exceptionally Vigilant. Yet really, the time we got to watch out for is next month when a lot of the bird migration really starts to pick up speed, and that's when you got to be very, very careful. No eggs yet this morning because based on geography and geology, Vermont has always been built around sparsely populated, tightly knit Villages and towns, and that's just how we've worked pretty much ever since European settlement took over in this area. You know, I made a whole one-hour documentary that I put out on my second YouTube channel uh last month that actually even dives into this idea of you can't get there for me here and why that actually took shape. The Statewide system is broken. Why on Earth are we talking about dramatically harming My Town? Miller just had their way with us. Is that fair that we're having to go through this process? So is that a no? So it's a it's a yes and but if that is taken away from the voters to me that's a big problem. They didn't merge they'd be isolated. And really fun fact, you know, Vermont actually has the highest ratio of paved roads to dirt roads where there's like 8,000 and something dirt roads and 7,000 and something paved roads and that is like the highest ratio the most dirt that you're going to find anywhere in the United States of America and that fact is based on VR data. Come on dogs, let's go. Oh no no Abby I didn't want you to jump that fence. Don't do what Donnie don't does do what Toby dog does. Good morning boys, how's it going Lauren? How's it going Baracus? How's it going Telemachus? Hang on hang on don't go nowhere. Come on boys I got fresh tap for you come on come with me digg in di in Abby don't try to play with the goats just stay right there be a good girl. Yeah, that's right Laren is always the first to the hay and Laren doesn't like to share.
And because Vermont was so geographically spread out, and it really is for the most part that way today, that's why when you look at our schools, we actually have some of the highest teacher to student ratios in the country, and you know, actually some of the smallest School populations in the country because, you know, if you wanted to go to school in a town say Two Towns away, that could actually mean like an extra two, two and a half hours of bus time every day for a kid. And while that might be okay for like a 14-year-old, that just seems insane for a seven-year-old. And that's one of the reasons why property taxes and other taxes in Vermont are so high, and that is unquestionably a real problem for the people and state of Vermont. Governor Phil Scott wants to take it further, and he recently proposed five massive Regional School Districts for Vermont, and with that change, the fate of dozens of small schools across the state State could hang in the balance. With the children heading to Melia, she's worried about the long bus ride and what the loss of the school will mean to the community. This is really the heart of the community, and it's what's built our connections with the whole with the whole town.
But the way that they're going about trying to solve that problem is like completely backwards to me because you don't make Vermont more affordable for middle class Folks by closing down schools in small towns. Like those are two opposing actions from one another. And in fact, academic study after academic study has shown that that is exactly not the case. Like if you talk to most experts around the state, and at this point I have, what you're going to find is everybody says that essentially Vermont's problem is caused by the fact that we don't have enough people living here, and in particular, we don't have enough young children living here in our student populations have dropped significantly over the last 20 or 30 years. It's becoming rather sparse. Um, we've seen a decrease from about 115,000 kids to about 83,000 kids. The numbers of kids in our schools are different, the numbers of kids in our classrooms is different than it was 20 years ago. Um, and we have um a very expensive system. It I think I think as of this year I think we may be almost near the most expensive system. And I 100% agree with them, our state's problem is based on the fact that we don't have enough people living and working in Vermont, particularly in the prime of their careers. And yeah, more and more of the state's population is being made up by retirees, and a lot of the housing stock is starting to get taken up more and more by second homeowners and like short-term rentals like Airbnb. But it seems absolutely insane to me that the solution to that problem would be to try to increase the number of towns that don't have elementary schools because when you talk to young families or people expecting to have kids, what you're going to always hear is the first thing they look at at a town when they're considering moving is what does the school system look like? What's the school look like? How far away is the school from us? And the data is pretty clear that if that town doesn't have a school, they're unlikely to pick it. In fact, I was actually just looking at some data, and if you look at Vermont's population decline, what you're going to find is that the towns that have an elementary school were shrinking slower, more than half the raid than the towns that did have an elementary school. And so when you look at something like this, it's baffling to say why would anybody try to close our small town schools. But with the new proposal from the governor and Secretary of Education, that's exactly what they're doing. And even coming from a person like me who has no children and who has no plans to have children, I am deeply concerned for the future of our tiny little town. If we lose our tiny little Elementary School, like if the proposed class minimum of 24 students is implemented across the state, that would pretty much make it impossible to run a k through six school that has like 58 students, I think in it, which is what we have here in Peacham Vermont right now. And it really creates a future for our town that's basically built on retirees and second homeowners, and I don't think that that's the kind of future that anybody wants.
You know, the truth of the matter is Vermont's problem is a problem affecting the United States across the board in terms of the fact that real societal Necessities like health care and education and housing are becoming more and more unaffordable, and that's most definitely true. But you don't cut your way to growth. Like when you look back on the Great Depression, which was one of the worst times for our country's economy ever, what you find is the only way that we got out of that was with programs like the New Deal. And yes, the manufacturing demands of World War II helped as well, but economic growth requires that economic stimulus, but it really was a program like the New Deal that sustained us through most of the 1930s. And when you look at Vermont's biggest problems, whether it is the housing crisis or the healthcare crisis or the education crisis or just the general unaffordability crisis, like all of those things are simply symptoms of a much larger problem. You know, if you look back on Vermont's history, what you're going to find is originally this was a place that was founded upon subsistence farming and then the Sheep boom and then extracting natural resources like logging or you know quaries and Mining like that was a part of Vermont's Heritage. But then at times like in the late 19th century when Barnes like ours were born, that's when the dairy boom really supported our economy and it really served as a tent pole for community and it was really significant for our state. And our farm, which spent a lot of its history as a dairy farm, is part of a trend where dairy farms here in Vermont are no longer financially viable, and there really hasn't ever been an industry to step up and replace it. Like yes, we've had things like tourism, and recently it was reported that tourism is a $4 billion doll industry, but at the same time, most of the jobs that that industry is attracting are just not as competitive and they just don't support a healthy middle class existence. And at the very same time, there's always going to be a healthy market for housing in a place like this where it's really only a three-hour drive to Boston and it's only a three-hour drive to Hartford and it's about a 5H hour drive to New York. And so you have a lot of options for people who want second homes or for going on vacation. And so yes, our housing Supply remains exceptionally constrained despite the fact that our population as a state is either shrinking or staying stable depending on how you're looking at it. And so while I think our governor Bill Scott actually has good intentions like at the bottom of his actions, I feel like I just want to like shake the guy and say it's the economy stupid.
And so yeah, all of this really hit home for me the other week when I was at our towns toown meeting and a lot of my fellow residents were hearing for the first time that our elementary school could very well be closed in the next couple of years and there's probably nothing that we as a people can do about it except contact our local legislators. So if you're not contacting a local legislator and actually trying to talk to them on the phone or in person, you're missing an opportunity. And for so many of those folks, that was just a terrifying premise. And you know, I even think about like you guys know my buddy Alfred, right? My buddy Alfred, well the other day I was actually talking to Alfred about this topic and I don't know for him it's a very emotional subject you know this uh kind of connection to this landscape is very much part of my identity as much as being a father or being a stonemason and I'm very much from peachum you know grew up in peachum but my family has roots going back 10 generations to the uh the founding of pichum you know one of my ancesters bought one of the original Lots I have uh three kids in the elementary school one in each classroom and the profound impact that this is going to have on small communities like peachum is too big of a decision to make without a trip to The Ballot Box because I mean the effects are going to be so just just so devastating I can't State enough how important the school is to the sense of community you know like this intergenerational shared experience was so fundamental to the you know the closeness of the residents of this town and I mean how would you define Community other than closeness of the residents of a town if they close the elementary school and all the the students just blow away into different different schools like dandelion seeds into the wind it's not going to take long at all it's going to take five maybe 10 years and this place is going to be a veneer a pastoral veneer houses that are lived in by families today will be bought up for cash for second homeowners you know they're not all inherently bad but they're not contributing to the work that that's required to sustain a community iess I'm ninth generation my children are 10th Generation without a school in town like is my family going to see an 11th generation impeach them.
And so yeah, I don't know, I'm just really worried. And if anybody wants to help spread the word and support, there's a couple things you can do. You can contact Governor Phil Scott, you can contact your local legislator here in Vermont. Um, I also actually have made this little mini comic. I like wrote it and Drew it myself, so I'm like kind of overly proud of it. Inside this, it actually breaks down kind of the story and all of the facts on like how did things get so expensive and like why are things the way they are. And there's even like a QR code that you guys can scan if you want to download this yourself and print it out at home. You can like print it out and like stick it in your local library or town hall or wherever. And yes, I'm actually very sorry for the rant, but this is something that is really important to me personally, and I felt like if I wasn't using my platform to talk about it, like what the heck is wrong with me? And so yeah, if you want to download this, I'll leave a link right down there. And if you actually want to watch the full documentary I made, which goes into all the details and you know, I talk to everybody from local parents to our principal to the Secretary of Education, like that is probably the video you should watch. And thank you for watching us and supporting us as always. Have a great day.