SmartTranscript of House Education - 2025-02-07 - 1:00 PM

[Chris Taylor ]: Hi. You're live. [Peter Conlon ]: This is House Education on Friday, February seventh twenty twenty five. [Erin Brady ]: Gonna turn our attention to the Vermont Students Assistance Corporation as we continue [Peter Conlon ]: what I would call a higher ed Friday pair. Anyway, gonna really just turn [Erin Brady ]: it right over to you, Scott, if you [Peter Conlon ]: don't mind, introducing yourself and your coworker, and we will, dive right into the test tomorrow. [Scott Giles ]: Yeah. Thank you, mister chair. And my name is Scott Giles. I'm president and CEO of Longstreet Systems Corporation, and I'm joined by Patrick Baduc, our chief operating officer. Patrick has been with us for well over twenty years, but has not had the opportunity to kind of join me before the committee. So he'll be here to kinda help correct any mistakes that I might make in response to to questions that you want. I'm mindful of the fact that it is a Friday afternoon. I and I know that most of you are fairly familiar with VSAC and our programs. What I thought I would do is do just a very brief overview for reminder purposes and then as requested, jump right into our budget and highlight a couple of items, some of which are included within the governor's proposed budget and a few that we wanna highlight for you, which, are not at this point. So let me kind of start, with just a very, very high level, overview of VSAC, in our in our work together. We are celebrating our sixtieth anniversary this year. We were graded in nineteen sixty five. And if you were to ask governor Hough and the members of the legislature that were actively engaged in our creation, They envisioned VSAC largely as a college access organization that would be that was created in order to make sure that all Vermont students, regardless of their circumstances, had access to the education that they would need. And what did that mean back in nineteen sixty five? Largely, people were thinking about additional degrees, you know, two and four year degrees. And so when we were created, we were created to administer the state grant program, which, you know, remains, our largest state funded program. But through the years, we learned that just making financial aid available to students wasn't enough, particularly first generation and income students, but that you really needed to provide them with the the current educational counseling and supports to be able to help them navigate what is a complicated path. And so starting in the seventies, we added those current education counseling programs. Those are almost entirely funded by federal grants. Patrick and I just came back from DC having a conversation that I'm sure you all are actively engaged in right now across all of your programs. Those programs allow us to have counselors working in nearly every middle school and high school across the state. And we have a program funded by the government as well that provides the same services to adults. That adult could be eighteen or they could be seventy, depending on their circumstances and needs. Importantly, our counselors live in the communities that they serve, so they live all across the state, making VSAC truly a a a statewide entity. We have evolved over time to be more than just a college access organization. And starting in the eighties, we had a a state grant called the advancement grant that was a non degree grant that is a grant targeted just for adults who are looking for a non degree certificate or credential. It's become one of our fastest growing programs. And then during the pandemic, with the support of this committee and others, we really expanded, the support that we were able to provide to individuals that were interested in pursuing more career specific or career focused training opportunities. We can touch on that, but the trades forgivable loan program is something that we work with you all on during that program during that period of time. We're doing a lot in nursing. I'll spend more time on this, but we work with this committee particularly closely creating a forgivable loan program for teachers, which is gonna be [Erin Brady ]: the kind of heart [Scott Giles ]: of one of our request at this point. We administer the eight zero two opportunity grant, which is a program that allows student from any Vermont family within seventy five thousand dollars or less go to CCV tuition and fee free. I know that I think you've heard something about that this morning. I'll I'll just give you advance notice that the governor's request includes funding in our base that would allow us to increase that income threshold to a thousand dollars, which would then allow roughly seventy percent of all of those some to be eligible. [Peter Conlon ]: And we just have UVM. I mean, [Erin Brady ]: I just need to get these [Scott Giles ]: air push free threshold down. I think that's the direction that we are all, you know, trying to to move in. And with UVM, I'll say one of the really powerful things about AU2 Opportunity is that CCV is the largest source of transfer students for the University of Vermont. So many students will use this program in order to get their basics general education requirements done and then transfer to UDM or to the state colleges to kinda complete their education. We also administer about a hundred and forty private scholarship programs. These are programs that range in size from your local rotary club. They have raised money to, support a scholarship program in your community, to, one of the major foundations in this state, that is looking to support students. We work very, very closely with Lippur. The Curtis Fund, which some of you are familiar with, has been a partner for a long time. I think on an annual basis, we're able to award almost a million dollars to students, which ones that they provide. And then, of course, we offer a supplemental state student loan program. And it is the revenue from that student loan program. We are allowed to keep two percent of the interest that we earn on that program. One of the things that differentiates us from a a for profit or a commercial lender. But those resources that we earn, we are allowed to use those both for servicing the loan itself, but we can also use that in order to support all of the programs that you have entrusted us with. And as a result of that, a hundred percent of the money that you are sending to VSAC is actually ending up in the hands of students. We have the authority to charge an administrative fee, but we have not had to use that for the last fifteen or twenty eight years because of resources available. So what I thought I'd do is just jump right into our budget request and just describe really quickly a couple of core things. The document that I shared with you has a lot of supporting material, which I'm not planning on walking through, but it's available for you if you've got questions. And I would be, you know, happy to to turn the page that I have brought up before is it's slide two on my deck. I described as our core budget. And there, I I shared with you that the governor's proposed budget includes a three point six percent increase for us. This nine hundred and forty five thousand dollars will allow us to bring eight zero two opportunity up to a hundred thousand an income threshold of a hundred thousand dollars. With your support, we've had permission to use up to three hundred thousand dollars of our state funding for what we call the aspiration program. I can spend more time talking about that if you are interested in it, but, essentially, we take a look using our our research team will work at schools in counties across the state, identify those areas where the post secondary education continuation rate differential between first and second generation students is particularly wide. And then we are able to partner with schools that are interested in trying to close that gap, to be able to develop a program that is specific to their location and their particular needs that's designed to close that. So we just get language for that. Flexible pathway stipend, which is something that this committee has been actively involved in. This is a small stipend that is designed to help with work, transportation, expenditures. Sometimes it can be food or free and reduced lunch eligible students that are seeking to take advantage of dual enrollment. One of the early things that we discovered when the dual enrollment program was launched was that it was challenging for some of our students to access because, they didn't have access to transportation, there was a book cost, or they didn't have access to food services. And so the small stipend that we, provide them is designed to offset that. And then as I mentioned, we have the authority to charge up to seven percent of the appropriation that we received for our admin expenses. We retain that authority, year after year. It's now actually part of our statute, but we've not had to use that. We continue to be able to use the resources that we generate through other means, making this, I think, one of the most cost effective ways that we can deliver, aid to students. And I just touch really quickly on a couple of other administered programs just because members of the committee have asked about them in the past. Our largest forgivable loan program right now is the nurse forgivable loan program. We receive about three point three million dollars of global commitment dollars for that program. And it has served it's one of our older programs. It's grown dramatically during the pandemic. And, again, it's the model that our other workforce related programs were built off of. Students receive a scholarship at the in exchange for a commitment to work in Vermont for where we were each year that they were supported. It is a very, very high demand program. We have a smaller version for dental hygienists. [Peter Conlon ]: I'm gonna ask just well, the same question for dental hygienists. When we're talking about global commitment, we're talking about Medicaid dollars and stuff like that, and which ultimately well, are partially federal dollars. [Scott Giles ]: That's correct. And [Peter Conlon ]: and should there be a major shakeup in the federal government's commitment to global commitment that could therefore translate into a big shakeup in your world. Is that fair to say? [Scott Giles ]: That is correct. Yes. And I will note that these global commitment dollars go to the agency of go to health, and then we are we partner with them and administer the program on on their behalf. Dental hygienist is, obviously, an important program. Vermont teacher forgive them the loan program, I'm gonna jump over and come back to that. Vermont psychiatric mental nurse health nurse practitioner, We received some one time money. We're using carried in order to continue to be able to support that. We partner with UVM office of engagement in their kind of that Green Mountain grad retention program. We also partner with the National Guard. We administer their programs, you know, on their behalf. And then I'm gonna highlight one of these two programs on this page before jumping specifically into a conversation about teachers. Vermont mental health professional forgivable loan incentive program. This is a program that was funded two years ago in response to the health committee's concerns about the like, extraordinary challenges that we have with our our mental health counseling workforce. We received one point five million dollars. Those ones are now fully expended for this coming academic year. So we are highlighting that for the legislature because we think it's another critical program that we'll have to mention. It is particularly important in the context of the education conversation that we're doing given the fact that mental health teachers are one of the biggest challenges that our that our schools are facing. And then we are working with the higher education community on a nurse faculty to give them a new program. It's a small program. One of the choke points in being able to produce more nurses within our nursing programs is the shortage of nurse faculty. And so this is a program that has designed it to help the Vermont schools retain and well, actually, develop in their nursing nurse faculty. So jumping into our our budget request, I mentioned that the the governor has included a three point six percent increase in our base. That would take it to twenty seven twenty seven million dollars. The core of that increase is dedicated to the expansion of eight zero two Opportunity. We are also, in partnership with the Vermont State Colleges, have put in a proposal for a the creation of a program modeled after eight zero two opportunity for the Vermont State Colleges. So this would be a program that would allow any student coming from a family earning in this particular case, we picked seventy five thousand dollars. We're gonna be trying to work with them and others to develop pilot. But one thing that I will say that I think was particularly powerful about a two opportunity, you may have had a chance to hear about it. But one of the things that we didn't expect to see so fast, we expect to see it have an impact on enrollment. And we can come back and talk about this, but that program had a pretty dramatic impact on retention, graduation rates, and transfer rates for your institutions, coming from the most challenging population that CCV supports. And it wasn't entirely expected that we would see this as we did. Once we start to see these numbers this year, we work with the chancellor, with David Berg, the president of Vermont State University, to begin the process of saying, since this is working so well in this particular context and given the challenges that the Vermont State University has as well as the workforce needs that Vermont has. Why don't we see if we can design a a for that? The Vermont teacher forgivable loan program Do [Erin Brady ]: you if you'd go back just to the Freedom of Unity scholarship proposal. [Peter Conlon ]: This is a this is strictly a VSAC proposal. It's not it was not included in what you just heard, and it's not meant to supplant any of the funding they are requesting. [Scott Giles ]: Is correct. That that is correct. Yeah. It is it would be additional, and it reflects the partnership between the two of us, but it is part of our request not there. Pam just wanted me to make sure that everyone understood that this was something we were very, very strongly. Three point nine for the Vermont teacher forgivable loan program. Let me just jump over, and we had a chance to talk a little bit about this when I testified last time before the before the joint committee meeting. But Vermont has ten percent fewer teachers than it did before the pandemic. There are some numbers we're seeing that that may be may be higher. The reduction was amongst the highest in the nation. And as a result of that, we've got very high proportions of teachers on emergency and provisional licenses, and particularly in rural communities where recruiting has been the, you know, biggest challenge. I think that this committee showed tremendous amount of foresight in wanting to find a way to try and tackle some of these issues even before they became as a parent, you know, as they did. And we created that Vermont teacher forgiving the loan program. Just for reminders, students can receive tuition for their program up to UVM's in state tuition rate. You agree to work in Vermont for a year for each year scholarship. Awards can be used at any eligible school. And these students sign a a promissory note, almost like a loan, that obligates them to pay that money back if they fail to fulfill their kind of full full their other work obligation. We've shared just some information here from the kind of first two years of funding regarding the, you know, the breakdown of the schools that students are are kind of using these these funds at. One thing, if you remember, students Vermont students may use these funds to attend an out of state institution, and they are doing that in exchange for a commitment to come back to Vermont once they have graduated and and and got teaching Vermont. I made an observation at our kind of at the last time I testified that one of the things that was particularly powerful about this book was that we believe it's opening the doors for the professionals and students who otherwise might not consider it, and we wanted to share some data. And representative Brady had asked for some specific, information. One of the things I wanna say is that this program, unlike the state grant program, is not a need based aid program. So this is not a program where we are looking and saying, in order to be eligible for this, you must be loaned. But, nonetheless, forty six percent of the recipients were Pell Grant eligible. And what does that mean? The Pell Grant is the core federal student financial aid grant that is targeted towards low income students. And for a student to be eligible for a Pell Grant, you're gonna be coming from a family that is earning less than fifty thousand dollars a year. And I think thirty six percent of the recipients were what we call O Pell eligible, which means that their family income and assets were so low that they were actually eligible for a hundred percent, which puts them kind of below two hundred percent of the poverty level for your, you know, Interestingly, twenty four percent of these recipients identify as being male, you know, which is, you know, from a teaching workforce diversity perspective, something that is important. A quarter were between the ages of twenty and thirty. So some of these are students that are sitting in situations that may be in other professions or they are working in schools and interested in obtaining the licensing or the credentialing that they will need in order to be able to move into actual education roles. And then in I think a question that rep Brady asked last time, particularly with regard to the most recent round of funding, what percentage of them were students that were coming back for the second and what percentage were new applicants. Eighty percent of them were new applicants. And what we are seeing with the program is that now that the schools of education and the individuals that are counseling students within those programs are aware and understand the parameters around the program. They are talking very, very widely to all of their students. And as a result of that, we've seen a pretty big surge in interest in participating in the program. And I I think why don't I just pause here and see if there might be any other questions? [Peter Conlon ]: So you would say that the future forgiveness little program has been pretty much an unqualified success? [Scott Giles ]: Yes. Yeah. Kind of early on, I think we reported the first year. You know, we we were a little concerned that the uptake from the beginning was slow. We changed our strategy and started partnering. We we took advantage of the strong relationships we have with the higher education community to move beyond the traditional financial aid mechanism, met with the college presidents, and then through them, met with the leaders in the education programs. And it's not a surprise. This is actually a lesson that we've taken to our other workforce related programs. Once we were talking directly to the, you know, the educators that are educating the students that we're trying to reach, we had a direct platform for that community. And the the numbers, as you can see, if I jump back to that yeah. The earlier slide, you can see we doubled the number of the most students that we awarded and had an additional two hundred students that we were which is why we made the decision to come in for that full request. We asked our team, what would it have taken last year to fully fund it, the eligible group, taking into account a Christian and other things? And that's the source of that treatment value. [Peter Conlon ]: That's I was looking back saying, well, these people would also qualify for the forgivable loan for just staying in the lock two years. But if demand is that high, you know, and there's a one point five available for that. That was important. Yeah. [Chris Taylor ]: I I think you and I talked about this, but just to clarify, because we're still in the early part of this, we don't have data yet about where they're gonna teach hang on, staying in Vermont, but, presumably, we will in Oh. Later years. [Scott Giles ]: That's correct. We're we're early in this program. We have lots of experience with the nursing program, which is kind of the older version of this program that we've been running. But we're gonna be building the tracking systems that will allow us to be able to look back. You know, how how many of them are teaching in Vermont. The nursing program historically, we've seen ninety percent of the participants fulfill their obligation to work. We'll be able to provide you that information, and we should be able to provide you information on where it is they're working. [Peter Conlon ]: So just so everybody understands, this was originally funded as some of these other programs were with ARPA dollars, onetime dollars that we have available. We don't have those. Right? And that's so that's our big challenge. [Erin Brady ]: Good. [Scott Giles ]: I could, you know, I think, kind of jump in and kind of share some I I mentioned the success of Aetna two opportunity. Here, there's a chart that I have have shown and and just to describe what it is that we are seeing with that program. This chart is a little confusing, but we, VSAC, administer two career and education outreach programs that are called TRIO programs. These are federally funded programs designed to provide career and education counseling and other support to first generation low income students. And there are some trio related programs that are offered by schools to allow them to colleges to allow them to be able to offer supplemental supports to students. Because of the paucity of funding, [Peter Conlon ]: even [Scott Giles ]: with our grant, we estimate that we're only able to serve about twenty percent of the eligible population, but that doesn't mean we don't pay attention and we don't track them. And one of the things that CCB saw that started to that caught their attention with the program, they were just looking at the success of trio eligible students in their program, and then they decided to disaggregate it and look at those trio eligible students that were eligible for radio to opportunity opportunity and then broke it down to compare, trio eligible students that were getting trio supports and those that were not. And what they were seeing amongst that community of trio eligible students were not getting support was dramatic increases in retention and graduation and transfer rates if they were receiving a new opportunity. So this is a low income population that's got children that for infrastructure reasons we're not able to serve. But just simply that program itself is increasing their success rates by anywhere from six to nine percent, which within our world are are big High school graduation rate in a a swing of between six and we're seeing that with their success at at CCV, and that is a big part of why it is that we it was something. So I could talk about our other programs, but I'm mindful that it's Friday. Right. And we'd be happy to echo any questions that you might have. I have flipped the screen to our trades program, which is one that I think we're particularly proud of and excited about. And would hap be happy to talk about any of our other workforce programs that there's desire. [Peter Conlon ]: Let me see if there are other questions. Yes. Representative Brady. [Chris Taylor ]: We just had UVM and the state colleges now talking a bit about just post secondary rates, you know, the rates at which our [Scott Giles ]: high school students do not go on [Chris Taylor ]: to secondary. Certainly part of our challenges within our k twelve system. I know there's sounds like there's some increased collaboration between UVM and the state Vermont State University around addressing that, considering that, hopefully breaking down silos a little bit between higher ed and k twelve. Is VSAC involved in those that conversation or collaboration piece at all? [Scott Giles ]: Yes. Yes. And if I could just take a moment here, this is where I think research was important. And it leans into why we initially proposed data to opportunity. One thing that I did not mention that I should have for for let me do that. We have a small research team that does because we as an organization have access to all of the kind of federal program related data associated with college access. And, also, our research team does what's called the senior survey every two years. This is we go out and we attempt to survey virtually every business in the state. About half of the survey is about their education journey, at least from their perspective, which the schools the high schools find particularly powerful tool for them for their own school improvement activities. The other half are is designed to provide us with insights into what students are thinking, why they're making their decisions, who's influencing them, and then we follow-up to determine what they actually did. And when you look at Vermont's post secondary college going rate, part of this is a New England phenomena, but it's particularly acute in Vermont. Our four year college going rate is actually a little bit. Our two year college going rate is running was running right about half of the national average, and that's partially a a New England phenomenon, but ours was even more dramatic than our New England counterparts. And that was that it was that research piece that was the reason we came to the committee with the proposal for aid to opportunity. So we're gonna be interested to look at whether that program is actually starting to move those, you know, those numbers. We are also you know, we partner with these institutions, CCV, Vermont State University, and UVM in the delivery of what we call statewide services and partner with the design of nature. [Chris Taylor ]: That senior survey, [Erin Brady ]: are there sort of results that [Chris Taylor ]: can be shared publicly or could be shared with the committee of sort of, you know, some high level numbers or themes, particularly in their last couple of years? [Scott Giles ]: Absolutely. So we actually produce reports that are available on our website. We do county data sheets, which you may be interested in as well, that provide you some information about your your particular county. And then we do do individual school reports that are less descriptive than they are just showing for the educators, you know, what it is that students are saying about their experience. Importantly, as a sidebar, this is a nice segue. The the aspirations initiative if they can read it. [Erin Brady ]: No. No. No. No problem. That's good. [Scott Giles ]: Good. We're on the same page here. This is So the the aspirations initiative is is the reason that we ask for the permission to do aspirations is because our federal grants have such strict requirements, and you have to deliver exactly what it is that federal government wants and that you promise to. It's not a place where you can experiment very much and try and develop, you know, new key things. And we weren't able to serve every school. So the aspiration schools I mentioned before, these are these are high schools where the college going rate between first and second generation students is wide, and the school leadership has an interest in trying to do something to change that. And so I think Next slide. Is it the next slide? Go. Other way. Right now, we're working with kind of Harwood, Nesysco, and Brownsville. And one of the really exciting things that we started doing is bringing these teams together and sitting down with those high their high school reports. So I you know, that we will almost lead a day long seminar with our research team will do a little bit of a presentation, but these are the school leadership teams within these schools. So it's usually the principal, superintendent may be involved, and then the other kind of leaders within the school, analyze their data, understand what it means, and use that as a foundation for developing strategies. And then we're able to use some of the resource that's available that we have available through that carve out that you have allowed us to utilize to help provide kind of a small amount of money to seed some of those activities with a goal that at the end of a three to four year period, it will be a a a something that they own, and then we can then move on to the next. Yeah. [Erin Brady ]: The the goal really of the aspirations project is sustainability of those new ideas and that new approach. Many of our federal grants allows us to work with students directly and help them in their path. These programs help us help the entire school move forward. That which is why we rotate into a school for three or four years, and then go find some other school, what are your challenges, what are your strengths, let's customize the program to help you be stronger. [Peter Conlon ]: Great. Thank you very much. [Scott Giles ]: Thank you very much for having [Erin Brady ]: us. Thanks, Frank. [Peter Conlon ]: Yeah. Thank you. And [Chris Taylor ]: thank you [Scott Giles ]: for the support. You you all have been incredibly supportive of our work over the course of the of of the years, and and we're grateful for that. Obviously, if you've got other questions, don't hesitate to reach out directly to us. I'm happy to come back after this as well at any point. And what I will do is I will share with you the link to the research. And then if you've got questions about that, we'd be more than happy to come back in either individually or. [Peter Conlon ]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So just so the committee understands the the the process here, the Appropriations Committee is now starting to be considered the governor's budget proposal, And then they work on it, and it becomes our budget. So based on the priorities of the legislature. [Erin Brady ]: Yes. [Chris Taylor ]: So does that mean we can add in universal meals? [Scott Giles ]: So, you know, [Peter Conlon ]: it'd be it'll all go through the well, it's there all day. [Chris Taylor ]: Yeah. Or that we can like, it comes to our table, and we can say, sorry. We're not letting you cut that. [Peter Conlon ]: Alright. So that's So Yeah. Do you wanna explain? [Chris Taylor ]: Okay. Sorry. No. Yeah. No. [Tom Chaney ]: Come on. We don't What [Peter Conlon ]: we do is we make recommendations to the implementations. Right. And in a way, our job is easy because if we wanna support a three point nine million dollar ad to do a very successful teacher retention program, sure. The Appropriations Committee to decide what what room there is available to pump these things. [Scott Giles ]: So we can advise that we don't have it. [Erin Brady ]: We don't have that. [Peter Conlon ]: We can prioritize to final decision making. Okay. We can we can have we can have a very strong voice that we choose. [Chris Taylor ]: That was just an example. Yes. [Erin Brady ]: Yep. [Chris Taylor ]: Of course. [15 seconds of silence] [Erin Brady ]: Yeah. More stuff to follow, Scott, Patrick. [Chris Taylor ]: I'm a [Peter Conlon ]: fair position to be here. [Tom Chaney ]: I've been dealing a lot of time and and I know. [Peter Conlon ]: Alright, everybody. And we're gonna learn a little bit about Advance Vermont. Advance Vermont kind [Erin Brady ]: of straddles a number of different [Peter Conlon ]: areas in terms of labor and education and funding and workforce. So, Tom, I'm gonna turn it over to [Erin Brady ]: you to introduce yourself and kind of walk us through your presentation. Good. Andy, what do you think? Should I present up here? Yeah. If yeah. Yeah. Great. I did, I think, try to get in. So I'm waiting for you, I think. [Chris Taylor ]: I will do exactly the invite. [Erin Brady ]: Okay. Sounds good. Okay. If it doesn't work out, that's fine. It's good at all. I was trying to get ahead of the curve here. No. We appreciate that. I like this room. It's just been about a week you've been here? [Scott Giles ]: Yeah. Just this week? [Erin Brady ]: Just this week. Was it just [Scott Giles ]: Day four. [Tom Chaney ]: I know. It [Chris Taylor ]: feels like it feels like it's longer. It feels like home. Look. [Erin Brady ]: Remember being in the space when it was obvious. Yeah. For sure. I'm actually being jealous of the the person at the corner office here. K. So I think I'm coming in. I should be able to share my screen quickly. Great. For the record, I'm Tom Chaney. I'm the executive director of Advanced Vermont. Great to see some familiar faces and a whole bunch [Peter Conlon ]: of new ones. So, great to [Erin Brady ]: see you. So what I was thinking about doing, and I appreciate the introduction, mister chair, is to give a little bit of an overview of the work that we do, and then step taking a step back and talking about, a little bit about the reason why we do the work, but also why so many other folks do it too. One of the roles we serve is about, you know, trying to, grapple with the data and and figure out what it's telling us and and why we should be, you know, making the investments and and pay the attention that we ought to to post secondary education workforce development. And then finally, we'll talk about, specifically, what we're doing about it at an entity. So for starters, we're a little nonprofit founded in twenty seventeen, two full time staff and and one really great part time staffer. And we've been funded through philanthropic grants, state appropriations, a contract with HireAbility, Vermont actually, and, some congressionally directed spending that's coming online now. VSAC has been a core partner and a fiscal, agent, of ours since the the beginning, but we've actually are transitioning to be our own five zero one c three. So we do have a five zero one c three or sorry. We do have a nonprofit entity now waiting for five zero one c three status, but in the coming months. But, really, you know, our vision is around just this vision that a highly educated and financially secure citizenry supports a prosperous state and engaged communities. And we're focused on just making sure that everyone has is able to see and pursue a current education pathway that helps them meet their goals. Lots of similarities with VSAC, and we'll explain some of the differences as we go along as well. Oh, what we believe is that everyone has the right to pursue the career that they want. Someone's background shouldn't be a limiting factor in their career trajectory. Education training behind high school is critical for the individuals. It you know, credentials lead to higher earning potential, better job security, improved career opportunities, all those kinds of things. And posting an education is a public good, and we have to be mindful about that it is inclusive of all productive types. So not just degree, but so many other pieces of paper that we'll talk about as we go along. Equity is essential. We really have to be mindful that our challenges in in a lot of the areas where we're we're losing ground in post secondary education is around populations that are underserved. So we have to be really mindful about prioritizing them. And then access to information, build social cap. So you'll, you know, hear more about our work around really making sure people have the information and making informed decisions about their post secondary step or their post high school steps. That information doesn't always come to people. It doesn't just land on your table. Right? So we have to make sure that we're mindful, about that it helps to build that social capital and helps folks move forward. And we're stronger together. All the work that we do as an organization really truly is focused on partnerships with folks across the state. And then without that, we're not doing good work. So, we believe that meaningful career and education navigation is critical. As it sounds like maybe you heard this morning, I wasn't able to tune in. There's a real sharp decline in aspirations to post secondary education. We'll get into that a little bit. And and we have to make sure that career navigation is put center so that our youth and our adults have the information, the supports, the confidence they need to figure out and chart their course forward. So what we try to do is we ensure that current education seekers in the state and those who support them have the information that and tools they need to make informed choices. We also are an entity that's that's really focused on the nondegree options. So those other options beyond college, we have a lot of great players in the college space. We also just are here to say college is crucially different, but there's other options out there. So we try to elevate that for the monitors as well. So we'll talk about our work as we go forward. One thing since we did follow VSAC is that we don't provide direct services. We were that we've put out there as well as trainings that we provide to the folks we call navigators, so those who support current education centers. So our work really has consented around this goal that by this year, seventy percent of Vermonters will have a credential value. We'll see what that is, obviously, really fresh data in just a couple slides. And this is an an a goal that really came out of a long conversation that the state had with itself about, you know, what level of education do we need to make sure that we're not just meeting our workforce goals, but also the individual and community goals that folks have across the state. So this goal of seventy percent was was settled on in in in this legislature adopted twenty nineteen. So when I say credentials, and this is maybe an important definitional thing, particularly for a new committee, is I talk I'm talking about all those pieces of paper that you see at the bottom of the slide. So an apprenticeship, certificate, certification, licensure, degree, of course. And these are pieces of paper that have value in the labor market. They're accredited or somehow authorized by a third party and are transferable from one entity to another. And this is a working and there's a working goal actually that the state has that defines what a credential value is. But, really, when I say credential, I'm meaning everything under the sun. So in that legislation, there were three or sorry, four, policy priorities, and this is really where we focused a lot of our work is in these four areas. It's around promoting awareness of career pathways, around expanding access, completion, and then thinking about the partnerships that you need to make it happen. So this is actually fresh fresh, a one week old data. And I haven't been able to dig into great detail yet, but we actually are losing ground. Last year, we were at, I think it was it was, fifty nine point two percent, attainment. We're now fifty eight point nine. So we go through a couple more slides. You'll see why, I think, is that we have made some success in recent years when I started this work in twenty seventeen. It's around forty seven percent attainment in the state. So forty seven percent of our runners had some sort of piece of paper after high school. That has grown significantly, which is great. Part of that was aging demographic, which made it easy. We had folks who didn't have credentials, who were aging out of the workforce, because working age for minors when you measure this number. Some of this was in migration from COVID. So there were some things that worked to our advantage. What worked to our is working to our disadvantage is that our expirations and continuation rates for our youth are really bad. There's just no other way to put it right now. They're they're going the wrong direction. I should say really bad. Maybe that's they're they're they're not trending in the right direction. The trend line is bad. That's just to clarify. [Scott Giles ]: I was not being a verbal. I it's too bad [Peter Conlon ]: we didn't ask this question of our previous round. Yes. But what do you attribute that? [Erin Brady ]: Yeah. It you know, it's there's a few factors, I think. And I you know, I'm not gonna say I have a magic answer and others will have a slightly different take. But my sense is that and I know all of you are educators, so I'm really curious your sense of this too. But is that for a long time, we've had this perception, really the last, I don't know, thirty, forty years, and this push that college is the only answer. And it was a little bit around this knowledge of climate that, you know, we're competing with these other countries, and we are gonna compete on our knowledge. And in a lot of ways, it's been really helpful for us. It's also left [Peter Conlon ]: a lot of people behind. [Erin Brady ]: And we've forgotten, I think, that that isn't necessarily what drives them to make their next step decision. Ken, Cotto, you may know, who wrote the book, Gatherings, Oxbow, Union High School. I heard him speaking recently, and he was talking about how the students he teach really wanna be contributors. And I think that there's a mind shift and kind of a a tonal shift we need to have, which is around more more education, more knowledge, and around, hey. How would you like to contribute? Like, what's your what's your secret sauce? What is gonna help you to have to make a contribution that would be meaningful to you and help you have the life that you and if we kind of shift the narrative in that with the conversation we're having with youth in particular, I think that is gonna make a big difference. So that's part of it is I think we have we've kind of said this is the one pathway and forgotten that really what ask the question, what drives people to make these choices? And then they make sure that they have the information, they they need to make those informed choices, and we're lacking on that too. We'll talk about how we're trying to answer that and and make up for that challenge, but there's a lot of work to do. The other thing is that all of our teachers have bachelor's degrees or master's degrees. And you know what? They probably should. They get a good education in those places. We we need that. But they don't know how to talk about a or certificate or some other option. They also aren't given the time in the day to have those conversations in the way for the this that even just the information, but how do what those options are, and then how how do you have this kind of conversation where we're talking about contribution rather than than pure knowledge? So I to me, that's some of those answers. We know that the price of college is is you know, that's just an easy one. But I think if we hid behind that and didn't look at the systemic challenges I think that we have, you know, that that would be a mistake. [Peter Conlon ]: Sort of tracks a statistic that was presented that when [Erin Brady ]: it comes to going to four year colleges, we are above the [Peter Conlon ]: national average of the university. We're going to two year colleges. We're well organized for national average, which I think supports the idea that for a long time, we said there's only one path. [Erin Brady ]: Yeah. And four year in particular. And while other states, I think, also were pushing college, I do think that there's been this sense of a two year is much better. You know, it's an okay option too. Yeah. And for whatever reason, the bachelor degree had been the default. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, these are all things we know, but a couple, you know, interesting stats. Right? There's two two point seven jobs for every Vermonter looking for work. There's some new data out of the MacBoot Foundation Department of Labor. They every two years have this most promising jobs brochure, and they highlight the top jobs in the state. Mhmm. And so seventy eight percent of, the the recent list require some sort of piece of paper at high school. And my recollection is all or or very, very close require some sort of training and Mhmm. Right. We know all the values of credentials here on the right. I don't have to get through to those, but but there's many. So this is is actually yanking from one of those reports you were talking about with Scott just a minute ago. This is a graphic they've created in their most recent report around high school seniors and and what they're thinking. And you can just see what's important here, I think, to to note is that there's huge disparities across our populations, and this is just one to look at. But it's first those who are first in the family to continue on education after high school or or second or more. And you can look at the top as females. Generally, we should we should know that females are having greater much greater success post secondary than males are, but also this divide between first generation and second generation. Look at that line at the bottom. Forty five percent. This is not continuing on. This is forty five percent of high school seniors say who are first generation males say, yeah. I think I'm gonna continue my education after high school. That's unacceptable because it's it's we know that they're going to have harder times because they won't have access to the education that they need to get that career that's gonna give them financial security. [Chris Taylor ]: Are you counting in those sorry. Can I ask [Erin Brady ]: a question? [Chris Taylor ]: Are you counting in those statistics the students that get their certificates in high school from a program? Because, like, one of the things I'm looking at wondering this is that in the Huntsville I work at, students used to go on to, like, Vermont Tech or something, but now they're actually doing the work and getting their certificate at the end of twelfth grade, and they're done. They're entering the workforce, and so is that affecting these statistics? [Erin Brady ]: You know, I that's a good question. I don't have the answer to that. But but you're I mean, I think yeah. This is saying continue your education after high school. So I think it's fair to say that that, you know, there may be some some people on this who say, no. I'm not gonna continue because I did get that that credential. That's a relatively small, you know, part of the population, but I think that's a good good question. I don't know that it would change the dynamics of this chart much, but it but I think that's a good it's a good question. So looking at our counterparts, and and this is a lot of numbers, but, basically, we can see that Vermont is lowest in terms of its so college, we we don't have information on all the other credentials. We just don't have that data infrastructure. So college really is the barometer that we do have. So college enrollment is you know, you could see that we are trailing rather significantly in terms of continuation from seniors to high school in the fall, our counterparts in New England. And in this is what twenty twenty two number here. The twenty twenty three number is actually in Vermont. I don't have it for the rest of the state the rest of New England, so I didn't add it. But it's about forty one percent actually continued on college. So we're really trending in the wrong direction. And all states did trend down during the pandemic. Yeah. It's pretty dramatic. Does. Yeah. And and I think I'll stat here. The difference between male and female is rather significant. It's a sixteen point spread. And so it's thirty seven percent. Seeing this for years too. Yeah. Yep. [Peter Conlon ]: The and that you know, even if you're looking at colleges in the male, female population, it's it's starting to skew maybe a dozen years ago, fifteen years ago. [Erin Brady ]: And there's really great work that's starting to bubble up that the Tarrant Foundation has started with the Community Foundation, and they brought in actually this national expert called named Richard Reeves, who who just is right on this issue with boys and men. And and one of the stats that really stuck with me from his presentation in April or May was that and it was in nineteen seventy one when title nine was passed, and the thought was that that was gonna help get more into cars, get those levels. It was about forty one percent women and, you know, the rest were males. It's not a change. Yeah. A hundred percent. Okay. Yeah. So there's a real red alert here. Just to give you a sense of what attainment looks like across the state One four. You can see some big differences across the state. Virginia County obviously has relatively high attainment, still below our goal that we're looking for, but it is it is pretty strong. And then you'll see, you know, a lot of variation, particularly in Northeast Kingdom where we have a lot of challenges. Right. So as the chair mentioned before, so you so it sounds like the committee is familiar with this type of stat, but we do have, you know, a pretty large saturation of bachelor's degrees and and and look at graduate as well, and then really small chunks of certifications, certificates, and associate degrees. And then a rather large, you know, portion of Vermonters, just have a high school or GED. And then eleven percent have some college, which we know, they probably have debt, which is a challenge that we have to address. So now starting to almost pivot into the work that we do, this this stat, or these stats are kind of important is I think, you know, when you ask why is it that we're seeing the the struggle, this is another part of the answer with our youth is that you can see really low levels of students participated in internships. When you're seeing that, you know, about let's call it half of students researched education education and training they needed to do the work they wanna do. Half just researched. You know, that that should be a hundred percent. That's an easy one to get to. So these are seniors saying, I participated in an internship where I researched what I need to do for my next step. Or when we're seeing sixty to to seventy percent talk to adults about careers, that should also be a hundred percent. So these are just three steps that I that I took from from VSAC's report that we're exploring. Okay. What are the types of steps that students are taking in high school, that they're identifying that they're taking in high school, and how, you know, these numbers should be, you know, closer to a hundred percent and and I think could be David that focus. And I highlight this because I know your committee is thinking about, you know, the the pre k to twelve system. And to me, one of the core outcomes is preparing them for the next step after high school, and and we can see that the system's currently not meeting that charge overall. And and parents, this is a national survey here, but I thought this was striking. Only twenty six percent of parents thought that their kids were very prepared, for their post high school tradition. Forty two percent said, well, somewhat prepared. But, again, very prepared should be something that every parent should feel confident in saying, you know, about their their students' preparation. [Chris Taylor ]: Let's get Chris. The data from the slide just before this, Tom Yep. [Erin Brady ]: The ex clerk career ahead of Yep. [Chris Taylor ]: Is that VSAC? [Erin Brady ]: This is VSAC. Yeah. I I meant to put a put a source thing. [Peter Conlon ]: It looks [Erin Brady ]: like they're colors. [Chris Taylor ]: They're they're sending survey data. [Erin Brady ]: They're nice colors. It it's just fantastic data. Yeah. Yeah. And this one have much tracking what happens after it gets graduated. So he's. It's it's really great data to dig into. And and I haven't seen these questions before Yeah. This report. And there there were other indicators than just these three on this one. I copied and pasted. You can if you look closely, you know, picking and choosing. But, yeah, this this is, I think, really insightful. So, you know, at Advanced Vermont, we think that the way to make progress is a little bit of a three legged stool approach. And, the first is we just gotta make sure that we have really great offerings. And kudos to the legislature over the numb last number of years for solidifying the state colleges, helping them, innovate in a really meaningful way. Have seen a lot more non degree options out there, and and that's been really strong. So we have great options in the state of Vermont right now for education. Our CTE system is is excellent. Right? Not to say there aren't challenges there either, but they provide great things for students. And then, you know, strong financial aid and support services. So, you know, following VSAC, clearly, we're doing well there, and there's been tremendous amount of money invested in financial aid in the last number of years since the pandemic that have really bolstered this leg of the stool. But we're tipping in a major way because of the kind of inspiration aspiration component. Right? We have to make sure that folks see themselves in a career and education pathway that meets their goals. And that that is where we're failing, and that's where our work really has where we've really, really dug into this work. So now I'm gonna just talk about our work quickly. I don't know what the time is here, so feel free to tell me to go quicker. But wanna start by saying, so what we do is we've introduced a number of years ago My FutureVT. So this is an online resource for current education seekers. They can go explore careers, find education and training programs, and then get get connected to the supports they need because we know a website is critically important. We we've found that it's number two for folks when they're trying to get information about their next steps. They are turning to sites like MyFutureVT. But humans are all the other touch points. And so we have to make sure that we do get them that support connected to those that support that we need. So My FutureVT, this is the home page. Just give you a little bit of a flavor as I talk about it. We've we've worked people, through this kind of interactive module, which you see over these buttons, to the information that's most pertinent to them. So it may be exploring what well, actually, in I think. Oh, I'm not too burned. No. I won't. So it may be, you know, exploring what the careers are. So we have a database that I'll show you in a minute of the top five hundred careers in the state from that most promising jobs list. It includes that list. We have, you know, how to write resume, how to do a job shadow. We have job boards. So people actually you know, not just saying, hey. Trust me. There's lots of good careers out there, but we actually link it to really great job boards across the state. And some other things on that section of the site. In education side, we actually have the state's only listing of post high school education and training programs. There is no other list, period. The state doesn't have one in the spreadsheet somewhere. This is the only list, and so we've made it publicly accessible so that Vermonters can actually see what their options are in an apples to apples way. I'll show you that too. But we also try to explain what an apprenticeship is versus a degree versus whatever else, have them equal and and really elevate them at the same exact level so that folks really do understand that they all have value, real value to them. This, as you scroll down, we have some blogs that are really great and then on our on our home page, and then we list some of the careers that cuts off. So this is, you know, again, a screenshot portion of this, but you can see that we have now that you know, it's five hundred fourteen, maybe it's more than that now, careers in the state. And you can dig into this with Vermont specific wage data, project openings, what what is this job, and then what are the education programs that are linked to it. You actually can link straight to those education programs from those pages. So you actually click deeper into these particular careers. Here's the six hundred fifty credential programs that we have listed, and we're still continuing to collect them from from providers across the state. It's an ongoing process. This is actually our compare tool. So we do have a compare tool where you can side by side put the information. So you might say, hey. I'm interested in a program from resource that leads to a certification. But you know what? I don't know. I'm still open with bachelor's degree. So you can this is in this instance, we're looking at through four of the construction options that people could consider. [Peter Conlon ]: How are you, sort of screening the credentials for credentials and value? [Erin Brady ]: Yeah. So we are following that that definition, that draft definition that the state of Vermont has created, and so kind of checking boxes to make sure that that each credential meets that. So we know that, you know, CTE programs all go through Perkins. They're all considered a credential value. There's a tier one, tier two two two list. I won't get into details about it. So we have a mechanism through that for CTE programs. All of our colleges, you know, are accredited, so that makes it easy. And then it's, you know, it's the one off programs like the the great programs that Resource do and others that get a little trickier because you have to assess do a little more assessment about what is that certificate and who's authorized it and and those kind of things. So it's a process. But yeah. And and all of our data is data that's been approved by that provider. So we don't just comb their website and and say, I think this is right and put their there's information out. We make sure that it's clean approved data because we don't wanna mislead anybody. And we update it regularly. [Peter Conlon ]: Credential engine still a thing? Yes. Okay. Yep. [Erin Brady ]: And, yeah, and we work with credential engine to do this work. Good memory, mister chair. Yeah. I wasn't gonna bore everybody with that, but credential engine leads this work on a national level, and we plug right into them. So, actually, all of this information also goes up to their national history so that folks outside of Vermont can see [Peter Conlon ]: the great programs we have too. Yeah. [Erin Brady ]: So the impact that My FutureVT is making a year ago, we concluded an evaluation of the site after, I guess, that part was two and a half years of it being in existence. And, you know, overall, the vast majority of folks say, hey. This thing looks good, feels good, has the information I need. And the next the next piece is gonna be it made a difference. It actually, I changed something because of it. So on the right hand column here, you'll see it may just be I've got a clear path now. You know, I've got better sense of the resources I need. I've been connected to inform to more resources and information, or I actually enrolled in a program or applied for a job. So so the the tool actually is making an impact in Vermonters' lives, which feels feels really good. We were we were really pleasantly surprised with the the strong results we saw in this. [Peter Conlon ]: Could you talk a little bit about what what a navigator is? Whatever? [Erin Brady ]: Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I kinda glossed over that earlier. So we call navigators anybody who supports folks in their career and education journey. So it could be a school counselor, a teacher, a parent. But in in this case, for this the purposes of this survey, it was parents and then, yeah, professional navigator, someone who is actually for the most part, it was a school counselor or department of labor counselor or a higher delivery counselor, People who do this work regularly. Yeah. Yeah. So that was my quick overview of my future VT. It's probably quicker than I've done it before for this committee. So if I'm missing things, let me know. [Chris Taylor ]: Yeah. How do how do teachers become aware of that resource? [Erin Brady ]: Yeah. So that's [Chris Taylor ]: Like, how is it that I don't know about that resource as a classroom teacher? Yeah. [Erin Brady ]: So two things, and we'll our budget ask will get to that a little bit too. But is we it's just we have a small budget, and we can't get out to everybody. So what we do is we get to every conference we can and present if we can certainly table. We make opportunities to go to students into schools and actually to career fairs and those kind of things and have those and and be you know, raise awareness of this tool. We try to get on listservs and that kind of stuff, but we don't have, like, a media budget, and we don't have an army of people we can send to schools to do trainings everywhere. So part of our budget ask this year is to say, that is really important. You know, we've been our been around for three and a half years, and, you know, I for a while, it was like, I could connect back how somebody knew about the site when I when I saw them. I can't anymore. So that's a good sign that it is getting out there, but we have a [Peter Conlon ]: lot of work to do to [Erin Brady ]: make sure that everybody can see it and has access to it. Yeah. So I can [Tom Chaney ]: following up on that. When you do get into schools, how do you [Peter Conlon ]: get there, and and what kind of what do you Usually car. But [Erin Brady ]: Besides that I couldn't help. [Tom Chaney ]: You just couldn't help. [Erin Brady ]: Could tackle [Scott Giles ]: my car. Couldn't work. [Erin Brady ]: But yeah. You know? So when we get there, there's a variety of entry points. So so, you know, increasingly and I shall talk about a program that we're launching now as part of some congressionally directed spending where we're actually gonna do the meetings for teachers in schools. So that's gonna be a huge opportunity for us to raise awareness about. But largely, we're there for a career fair or or an education fair and that that kind of thing. Sometimes we're, you know, tabling. Sometimes we're doing a presentation or a workshop. I did a keynote for a thing last year. So it's those kinds of opportunities. Yeah. [Tom Chaney ]: So that might really limit. I I I keep in my head going back to that map you had on here at the state of Vermont. My worry is you're not getting into those places necessarily that are the lowest numbers percentage wise because if that's I'm not this is no criticism of you or the work you're trying to do, but that's what we need to be targeting. [Peter Conlon ]: And in fact, even when we're talking about [Erin Brady ]: public debt here. Yeah. Well, I I agree with you. I mean, we have we are we're careful to do additional outreach to communities that need need that. So do a great program with USCO and every year where we're talking with with with kids of immigrants, and that's been a great thing that we've done. Was in the Northeast Kingdom last year for a great presentation, but I was invited. So Yeah. This new program that we'll launch that I'll tell you in a minute, it's called the graduate with a plan program. Maybe I'll just go to that now. Yeah. And this is this this was because, to to the points that have been made, that there wasn't necessarily demand for awareness of the resource because people aren't necessarily always thinking about having these conversations. And so we thought a great way to bolster the capacity within the school community, greater scrutiny, not just within the bounds of a school, but broader than that, is to actually go there. And so we're gonna prioritize schools where they need this, where their populations need this help and do two major things. One is provide training. We call it navigator training. Thanks for making it And this is to make sure that we're going in an in service day or some other opportunity to talk to a whole faculty or part of a faculty and staff, I think is important, and say, hey. Here's the one zero one on, you know, crew navigation. And here and and work with them to figure out what they want more specifically for trainings. And then second is we're gonna create a model curriculum. There's a lot of great work happening across the state. We Great curriculum here or a great training there. And what we wanna do is learn what's really working the best, pilot it somewhere, and then create a menu of options for schools to actually be able to go and and build this into their their day. So it might be a teacher advisory where, you know, you know, sometimes talks about teacher advisories. Unless they're looking for things to talk. And, well, let's let's give them a ten minute lesson that they can do twice a month or whatever it is. So that's what we're working to do too. And and this is hopefully the beginning of something bigger than this too, but really starting to say, we gotta make sure that every single body in a school, whether it's middle school or high school, knows how to have a conversation with with their students about their next steps. It's given the space to do so. And so that's what we're really trying to do, and that will, I hope, increase the demand for and awareness of my future VT. So it's kind of a, you know, mutually beneficial program setup. So that's pretty much it. The only other thing I was gonna talk about was the our work. It's called the we call it the Vermont Crenshaw Transparency Project, but, really, it's the work to create that inventory of all the education programs, let's say, that six hundred fifty that lives on my future PT. And I'll just note that that is a dataset that's really powerful, not just for career seekers and education seekers, but for employers so they can figure out what the heck's being offered for you all as policymakers because, like I said, there's no place to figure out, okay, if we wanna make a policy decision about maybe where we're throwing some money because we see that they're you know, we wanna identify whether there's a gap between the in demand professions and the education programs that we have, well, we're that. We're the only place where you can kind of see, okay, here's who's offering what and and and do a little bit of that analysis. And then education and training providers, we're, you know, we're trying to give them an opportunity to to showcase their their options as well. So that's the benefit of that work. My the last thing I'll say is that we do have a budget ask, and, the legislature has has been supportive of our work in the past. Two and a three hundred fifty thousand dollars twice and a hundred fifty thousand dollars another time. And, really, what we wanna do this year with the funds is to make sure that MyFuture PT can remain a free and accessible statewide resource. Expand its content, the functionality. It's gotta stay fresh and relevant to be to have the impact we want it to have. We have a lot of great ideas for how to do that. And then we wanna increase awareness and usage to to all your points. And so this work will fund not only the technical aspects of the site, content aspects of the site, but actually making sure we have bodies going and, you know, working in schools and and communities. You've never had base funds. Is that right? We've never had base funding. [Peter Conlon ]: You've had to come year after year with a budget request. Yeah. [Erin Brady ]: Do you get funding from the Department of Labor? There was something that we were trying to work out a couple years ago. We do not. I find it. We've had really great conversations with the Department of Labor in particular in the last year, six months to a year. And but there is no current funding. And and you contract with them? They pay you We do not contract with them, but we do contract with hireAbility. Though that contract is ending this year, and their funding stream is ceasing. So there's a lot of pressure on our budget for this coming fiscal year, like, a lot. [Peter Conlon ]: What what are your other funding streams? [Erin Brady ]: It's philanthropic funds. Yeah. I mean, nobody. And there's those are smaller. Yeah. Yeah. So so and and then I did say did mention that congressionally directed spending that does support that graduate with a plan program that I just talked about. Mhmm. So yeah. So this the appropriation this year is probably the most important ask we've made. It really you know, I there could be challenges if we don't get that funding this year to making sure that my future VT continues as it as it does today. But you'll have to [Peter Conlon ]: take the request obviously to the appropriations. They they may ask you for more, you know, breakdown of that. And if you'd like to send that along to Annie as well, that'd be great. Yeah. I have in [Erin Brady ]: my materials, there's there's a two pager. Yeah. And if you'd like any more information, happy for the team. Yeah. Thanks so much. This is a great conversation. I really appreciate it. [Peter Conlon ]: Thank you. It's great to hear from you. Other question? Kate, I would just say that your question about how come I'm a teacher, I don't know about this, has come up generally every time a presentation is made. I think what it really shows is there's a hunger Yes. Among educators to know about availability of this. Yep. [Chris Taylor ]: I can just like you were talking about the advisory or the homeroom or whatever, When you have ninth and tenth graders and you're given thirty minutes to spend with them and no real do this with them. [Peter Conlon ]: You can do this. [Chris Taylor ]: We play a lot of games, but you and and it doesn't seem like you need a ton of training. Certainly, I'd like a little training to just be able to, like, go through and see what's in there for myself. Yeah. But turning them loose with a website when you're they're in tenth grade is also just fine. You know, poke around in there for the next thirty minutes and then, you know, do just a little a little exit ticket or whatever. Like, what'd you get out of it? [Tom Chaney ]: Yeah. Well, I went into it [Peter Conlon ]: just while we were here, and I was starting to go into it. And I just [Scott Giles ]: pulled Like, maybe I need a new career. [Chris Taylor ]: What do I need to do to get out of there? I just play Tori there. You know what? I like it. [Erin Brady ]: I like it. That's the best compliment I I can get. That's the best compliment I can get. [Chris Taylor ]: I had to I had [Peter Conlon ]: to switch back because I [Tom Chaney ]: was going down too far. [Erin Brady ]: And You know, I wouldn't say that the work that we do is particularly novel or, like, you know, oh my good. It's like, why isn't this happening? Yeah. And and we try to bring those innovations to it as well. But it does feel like something that shouldn't feel like it's innovative or different. It should feels like it should just be there. The website as well as just making sure that our teachers know how to to have these conversations. And I don't think it requires tremendous training. I agree. [Tom Chaney ]: If I could just say one thing. I remember coming to me early on, maybe my freshman year or something, my freshman biennium, I don't know, and and telling me about this. You're starting this up and you're and and I remember being really excited about [Scott Giles ]: the future, and [Tom Chaney ]: I remember the the goal, you you know, the seventy. And while I'm disappointed that we hadn't that the goal hasn't been reached, and I'm even more disappointed that we're seeing a decline, this still excites me. And I'm really grateful that you're still working on this, Tom, and and putting focus on it because it's something that I believe is really needed to stay. And we shouldn't our numbers shouldn't look like notes. So thank you. [Erin Brady ]: Well, thanks. And this there's a lot of really great organizations doing really good work, and and we have morphed over time to find the place where we feel like we can have the biggest impact. [Peter Conlon ]: And that's what it means. [Erin Brady ]: Thanks. [Scott Giles ]: Thank you. Appreciate [Peter Conlon ]: it. Alright. Thanks.

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