NEWPORT, Vt. (AP) — Thousands of former inmates can claim the Community High School of Vermont as their alma mater, the place they received the education allowing them to become productive citizens upon their release from prison. But like any other school, the one run by the state’s Department of Corrections is facing the prospect of big budget cuts.
The state offers high school diplomas and job training — for careers in the construction trades, the food industry and other fields — at all seven state prisons and 10 other sites connected to probation and parole offices but would downsize the operation under a proposal from Gov. Peter Shumlin’s office.
By limiting the school to just four prisons — Newport, St. Albans, South Burlington and Springfield — Shumlin’s office says the state would save more than $2 million.
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Stephen Steurer, executive director of the Maryland-based Correctional Education Association, said such programs are “easy targets” for states looking for budget cuts because criminal offenders have very little political clout. He pointed to a 2014 Rand Corp. study saying states that spend on educating offenders save bigger amounts of money through reduced recidivism and higher employment of former inmates.
Cutting such programs is “financially idiotic,” Steurer said.
