Education=Opportunity (E=O)

Earlier this year the Education Working Group (EWG) spent some time reflecting on the need to refresh our messaging on the importance of investing in education. With 25 years of championing education behind us, several important policy reports under our belt, and unfinished business ahead of us, we felt it was time to fine-tune our elevator speech; to make it easier for members to articulate, and easier for the public to understand and to connect the dots.

A focus group of Roundtable members was held, facilitated by Tim Volk, to drill into top-of-mind beliefs and values. The EWG provided the nuanced tweaks and delivered the finished product to the board for its planning retreat last fall where the manifesto was approved. This is how we now talk about the need to invest in education.

The Vermont Business Roundtable believes that…

  • Education is the single most powerful catalyst for success in life.
  • Education begins at birth, continues through life, and never really ends.
  • Education is hard work, a marathon not a sprint.
  • For Vermonters to reach their full potential, we, the community of Vermont, need to invest in education early and often—for our kids, and their kids, and their kids.
  • Education leads to prosperity, both individual and community.
  • The continued enrichment of our state rests on an innovative, vibrant, ever-improving education continuum.
  • The world is our classroom and,
  • Education leads to better democracy.

That is why for 25 years the Vermont Business Roundtable has advocated for and supported innovation in education in its many forms.