Rebecca Holcombe

Rebecca Holcombe (born c. 1968) is an American educator and politician who served as the Vermont Secretary of Education from 2014 to 2018.[1]

Rebecca Holcombe
Vermont Secretary of Education
In office
2014–2018
GovernorPeter Shumlin
Phil Scott
Preceded byArmando Vilaseca
Succeeded byDaniel French
Personal details
Bornc.1968 (age 51–52)
Political partyDemocratic
EducationBrown University (BA)
Simmons University (MBA)
Harvard University (PhD)

On July 16, 2019, Holcombe announced her intention to run for Governor of Vermont in the 2020 election.[2]

Early life and education

The daughter of United Nations employees, Holcombe grew up in Fiji, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University, Master of Business Administration from Simmons University, and PhD from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.[3] She was the director of Dartmouth's Teacher Education program (2011–2014).[4][5]

Vermont Secretary of Education (2013–2018)

Appointment and confirmation

Peter Shumlin appointed Holcombe Secretary of Education in the fall of 2013. Holcombe was the second Vermont Secretary of Education after interim commissioner Armando Vilaseca who was designated the position after the state took control of the Agency of Education earlier in the year. Shumlin cited education philosophy similarities as the reason he appointed Holcombe, while Holcombe cited policy similarities in their shared support of an extended school year, support for early childhood education, and support for Personalized Learning Plans.[6]

Tenure under Shumlin

Holcombe was a driving force behind Act 46, a law that forced school district consolidation in order to save money on education spending.[7] While serving under Shumlin, Holcombe was credited with leading the effort to develop Personalized Learning Plans, early college programs for Vermont high-schoolers, and a restructuring of state guidelines for private schools.[8] Holcombe was also a strong supporter of proficiency based learning and defended its use in the state of Vermont.[9] During Holcombe's tenure under Shumlin, a federal analysis determined that Vermont spent 18% less in its poorest districts then in its richest, a statistic that Holcombe attributed to Vermont's irregular education finance system and the data set that the federal study used.[10] Holcombe also cited that an independent analysis done by the Department of Education in 2012 showed little to no correlation between spending and wealth.[10] In 2015, the Vermont Board of Education, which Holcombe was included in, released a statement to parents saying that the SBAC and PARCC standardized tests, programs funded by actions from the Obama administration, should not worry about that results because "their meaning is at best limited."[11]

Reappointment by Scott

After Phil Scott was sworn in as Governor of Vermont, he chose Holcombe as his Secretary of Education and reappointed her to the position. Holcombe was Scott's first Cabinet appointment upon taking office.[12] In Scott's administration, Holcombe met with school boards across the state that did not want to merge in accordance with Act 46 and was supposed to decide if those school districts could remain independent or not.[13] As Secretary of Education, Holcombe first received national attention for her response to the No Child Left Behind Act, which she named a “broken policy,” and which led Diane Ravitch to call her a “hero” of American Education. Holcombe and the Vermont Agency of Education received national recognition for their innovative work on School Quality Reviews and equity. Holcombe also led the development of best practices for supporting transgender students before these measures were promulgated by the Obama Administration.[14]

Resignation

Disagreements between Holcombe and the Scott administration began to rise over various issues such as the possibility of a statewide voucher system, which Scott supported and called a "vision" and Holcombe opposed.[15][16] On March 27, 2018, Phil Scott announced Holcombe's resignation from her role as Vermont Secretary of Education, effective April 1, 2018.[7][16] Holcombe did not give a specific reason for her resignation, but Scott had been opposing proposals that she had backed to change the way that education financing worked in the state.[7] However, Phil Scott cited "personal reasons" for Holcombe's resignation, not a difference in policy.[8] Holcombe later cited Scott's support for statewide voucher programs as the reason she resigned.[17] Several school boards were reportedly concerned with how Holcombe's resignation would affect the timeline of the implementation of Act 46 and the subsequent school mergers.[12][13] After Holcombe's resignation, some school boards reportedly asked the state to slow down work on the implementation of Act 46.[13] Deputy Secretary Heather Bouchey was appointed as interim Education Secretary on April 3, 2018.[18] While searching for a new Education Secretary, Scott said that school experience was not a strict criteria for his new Education Secretary.[19]

Criticism

Holcombe was a strong supporter of Vermont Act 46[20], which was highly controversial and resisted by almost 30 school boards across Vermont.[21] After many of these school districts refused to merge, they were forcefully merged by the Department of Education which was run by Holcombe.[21] Additionally, Holcombe refused to carry out a mandate in Act 46 that required a study to be conducted by the Department of Education to "examine how public school students are counted for the purposes of state aid to education".[22] Holcombe insisted that she was not executing the law due to a lack of staff, however, many lawmakers stated that they believed that the executive branch could not pick and choose which laws to execute.[22] State Senator Philip Baruth (D) and State Representative David Sharpe (D) wrote an email to Holcombe saying that the could not allow the executive branch to not execute passed laws due to "their own personal priorities"[22]

2020 gubernatorial campaign
Main article: 2020 Vermont gubernatorial election

On June 14, VTDigger reported that Holcombe was exploring a run for governor. Holcombe was quoted as saying, “I do believe the state needs a new direction, so I am giving serious consideration to a run”.[23] On July 16, 2019, Holcombe announced her intention to run for Governor of Vermont in the 2020 election.[2] Holcombe explained she was running because she, "joined Gov. Scott’s administration because I took him at his word that he was serious about working to make Vermont more affordable and more equitable [...] I resigned when I realized that was just talk.”[24] The other two candidates running in the Democratic Party primary are Lt. Governor David Zuckerman and Bennington attorney Patrick Winburn.[25]

Personal life

Holcombe lives in Norwich, Vermont.[24]

Electoral history
Democratic primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic David Zuckerman 48,572 50.8%
Democratic Rebecca Holcombe 38,101 39.8%
Democratic Patrick Winburn 7,730 8.1%
Democratic Ralph Corbo 1,281 1.3%
Total votes 95,684 100.0%
gollark: I've heard it said that multimonitor vs multiwindowing is just because people are mostly used to the terrible multi-window capabilities of common OSes.
gollark: Tronzoid: it's called "multi-window support".
gollark: You can pack a lot of data onto monitors, and process it without horrible difficulty.
gollark: Audiovisual stuff is quite high-bandwidth.
gollark: So is basically any internet-connected device.

References
  1. Heintz, Paul. "Former Ed Secretary Rebecca Holcombe to Run for Governor of Vermont". Seven Days. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  2. Heintz, Paul. "Former Ed Secretary Rebecca Holcombe to Run for Governor of Vermont". Seven Days. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  3. "Former Ed Secretary Rebecca Holcombe to Run for Governor of Vermont | Rebecca For Vermont". Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  4. "Q&A with Vermont gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Holcombe". The Dartmouth. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  5. "Scott re-appoints Holcombe as education secretary". Burlington Free Press. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  6. Sep 19, 2013September 23, Alicia Freese; Footnotes, 2013 | 5 Reader (September 19, 2013). "Vermont-N.H. educator Rebecca Holcombe named Secretary of Education". VTDigger. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  7. Dobbs, Taylor. "Vermont Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe Resigns". Seven Days. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  8. Mar 27, 2018April 27, Tiffany Danitz Pache; Footnotes, 2018 | No Reader (March 27, 2018). "UPDATED: Holcombe abruptly resigns as education secretary". VTDigger. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  9. Holcombe, Rebecca. "Opinion: Proficiency-Based Learning Beneficial for Students" (PDF). Vermont Department of Education.
  10. Brown, Emma (-500). "Vermont disputes federal data on state's funding of poor school districts". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 12, 2020. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. Strauss, Valerie (November 7, 2015). "Vermont to Parents: Don't Worry About Your Child's Common Core Test Scores, They Don't Mean Much". Washington Post.
  12. Carson, Derek; Banner, Bennington. "Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe to step down April 1". The Brattleboro Reformer. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  13. "Secretary of Education resigns amid Act 46 consolidations". The Seattle Times. March 31, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  14. https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/vermont-schools-implement-best-practices-for-transgender-equity/Content?oid=3720892
  15. Aug 22, 2019August 22, Press Release; Footnotes, 2019 | 2 Reader (August 22, 2019). "Rebecca Holcombe statement on school choice". VTDigger. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  16. DeSmet, Nicole Higgins. "Vermont education secretary Holcombe: 'Time to move on'". Burlington Free Press. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  17. Gaudiano, Nicole. "Democrats eye second DeVos aide in IG probe". POLITICO. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  18. WCAX. "Scott names interim Vt. education secretary". www.wcax.com. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  19. "Scott: School experience not a must for education secretary". The Seattle Times. April 2, 2018. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  20. Freese, Alicia. "Principled Stand? Why Vermont's Former Ed Chief Split With Scott". Seven Days. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  21. Weiss-Tisman, Howard. "After Months Of Fighting Act 46 Mergers, Towns Move Ahead With Board, Budget Votes". www.vpr.org. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  22. Hallenbeck, Terri. "Just Saying No: Vermont Education Secretary Defies Lawmakers". Seven Days. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  23. Duffort, Lola; Jun 14, 2019June 15, Colin Meyn; Footnotes, 2019 | 11 Reader (June 14, 2019). "Former education secretary Holcombe exploring a run for governor in 2020". VTDigger. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  24. Duffort, Lola (July 16, 2019). "Holcombe-announces-run-for-governor". Valley News. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  25. Cutler, Calvin. "Bennington lawyer joins Vermont gubernatorial race". www.wcax.com. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
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