By C1 Staff
MONTPELIER — With an aging population, the Vermont Department of Corrections is considering cutting back on its high school education program.
The Rutland Herald reports that the state as a whole has lost 20,000 K-12 students in the past ten years.
The prison population has also been dropping – in 2014, it had gone down from 1,956 to 716. Under state law, inmates 23 years or younger who do not have a high school diploma are required to participate in the Community High School of Vermont program.
But the number of older inmates in the prison system has grown, from 178 in 2004 to 332 in 2014.
The DOC budget calls for a reduction of $1.7 million from the program’s annual budget of $4.5 million. The proposal would close 17 sites around the state where classes are taught to probationers and parolees. Those offenders would be redirected to enroll in adult basic education or technical education at their local high school or tech center.
Those still incarcerated and requiring high school services will be transferred to four correctional facilities.
Sen. Ann Cummings expressed skepticism about simply sending offenders through a few high school classes and expecting them to change their lives.
“Just sending them back to high school a few years older won’t work,” she said. “You need to learn to support yourself in a way other than what got you in trouble in the first place.”