Champlain Valley School District school busses in Hinesburg on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger A majority of Vermont’s students are “well below” math and English language arts proficiency goals, while the state’s public education system “is not yet consistently de livering strong and sustained outcomes for all students.” That’s according to the Vermont State Report Card, the Vermont Agency of Education’s annual assessment of student and school performance. Released on Thursday, the report found that a majority of Vermont’s students during the 2024-25 school year were “not yet meeting grade-level academic standards.” Meanwhile, more than half of Vermont schools fell below performance expectations too, and saw either stagnant or declining student performance, according to the report. Erin Davis, the Agency of Education’s chief academic officer, said in a press release that the results “are a clear signal that our current student outcomes are not where they need to be.” “It is our collective responsibility to confront these challenges head-on and ensure every Vermont student receives the high-quality education they deserve,” Davis said. The report comes as Gov. Phil Scott and the Legislature push for generational reform of the state’s public education system. Faced with widespread declining enrollment, lawmakers are working to consolidate the state’s 119 school districts before moving to a new education finance mechanism, a process set in motion by Act 73 last year. Shortly after the report’s release, Scott in a statement said the report “illustrates why education transformation is not optional, it’s essential.” “Vermonters know property taxes and education costs continue to grow at unsustainable rates and are making Vermont even more unaffordable,” he said. “But this report reaffirms why transformation is about more than bending the cost curve, it’s about closing the opportunity gap and delivering a more equitable education for our kids.” Scott’s statement spurred fresh accusations from education leaders in the state that his administration was “politicizing” the report to target local public schools. Don Tinney, the president of the Vermont-National Education Association, the statewide teachers’ union, said in a release that Scott and Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders were using the assessment results “in an effort to pit schools and communities against one another.” “Instead of debating how we can ensure that all schools deliver excellence every day, he continues to beat up on public schools and the educators that work in them,” Tinney said of Scott. “The governor’s ‘report card’ comes after he has been in office for nearly a decade, a decade spent bashing our public schools while failing to address important underlying demographic issues that impact our communities and schools.” Chelsea Myers, the Vermont Superintendents Association’s executive director, said in a statement that the report’s findings “demand our attention and continued action” but said her organization and its members were still reviewing the report to “understand the methodology, categorizations, and analysis reflected in this new snapshot.” She noted that “no single snapshot can fully capture the breadth” of student learning. She later said that current reform efforts have “veered off track and become distracted by singular political agendas rather than remaining squarely focused on what matters most for students.” “Data should serve as a tool for understanding and improvement. At a time when public education has become increasingly politicized, it is essential that we refocus on the voices of students themselves,” Myers wrote. ‘Raising alarm’ According to the education agency’s report, less than 60% of students in every grade level are considered proficient in English language arts, while less than 50% of students are considered proficient in math. In third grade specifically, fewer than half of students demonstrated proficiency in English language arts, “raising alarm given the well-documented importance of early reading skills for long-term academic success,” the report reads. Math proficiency “remains among the lowest of all tested areas, particularly in elementary grades,” according to the report. However, while proficiency levels remain below state targets, agency officials noted that an upward trend in math proficiency “suggests that students are beginning to make accelerated progress.” Toren Ballard, the Agency of Education’s director of policy and communications, said the state’s findings mirror longer-term declines seen in National Assessment of Educational Progress data — a national education assessment commonly known as the nation’s report card. Those metrics show reading and math scores in Vermont, and New England more broadly, declining over the last decade. Grade 4 math scores in states such as Mississippi and Louisiana have since surpassed New England states including Vermont and Maine. The Boston Globe in October reported that no state “fell as far in early reading over the last decade as Vermont.” Vermont’s report, meanwhile, showed a downward trend in graduation rates, with the four-year graduation rate falling from a peak of 89% in 2017 to 82% in 2025. The six-year graduation rate similarly fell from 91% to 85%. The Agency of Education, in its report, noted it was expanding support for schools identified as falling below state standards. Saunders, in a press release, said the report highlights the agency’s “commitment to transparency” and said the agency’s goal “is to ensure high quality support reaches the schools that need it most, so we can close equity gaps and deliver positive outcomes for every Vermont student.” Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont students are ‘well below’ proficiency goals in math and English, according to state report. ...read more read less