In 1974, when I began my administrative career as assistant principal at Darby-Colwyn High, a 750-student school outside Philadelphia, the school’s mission was limited to academics. The descriptions of courses we offered students barely filled a three-page mimeograph booklet. Special Education did not exist. Two guidance counselors provided “student services,” which consisted mostly of helping college-bound students prepare their applications. A part-time school nurse came in three mornings a week. There were two sports per season and fewer than six clubs.

In the 50 years since then, public schools have taken on a multitude of new responsibilities. In 1975, the federal government passed PL 94-142, a law requiring public schools to provide a wide range of free and appropriate services to children with disabilities and special education needs. This now-familiar law widened the mission of schools and expanded the staff of every school in America, requiring them to hire teachers with specialized certifications, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists, and, in some cases, specialized health providers.

State legislators also widened the mission of public education over that time by expanding pre-K, mandating kindergarten, increasing graduation standards, and assigning schools a host of responsibilities in areas such as dental hygiene, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health, online bullying, computer literacy and personal finance.

These mandates, taken in isolation, seem reasonable. But to meet them within the limited time schools are in session, something had to give. Elementary schools often reduced the time spent in “specials” like art, music and PE and in some cases reduced lunch hours and recess time. Secondary schools reduced the number of elective courses, especially in fine and practical arts.

During this same time, public schools became increasingly entangled in policy debates on thorny issues like desegregation, gender equity and the education of immigrant children, and took on controversial health issues like HIV/AIDS, birth control and most recently COVID and vaccinations. And now, with the widespread use of technology by students, schools are tackling students’ use of cell phones, AI applications and data security. All of these resulted in stress for school board members, administrators and classroom teachers.

But the biggest challenge for public schools over the past 50 years is that these new mandates were not fully funded by either the federal or state governments. As a result, the additional costs associated with these mandates was passed on to communities, which saw their property taxes increase. In some cases, districts passed the costs on to parents in the form of fees for items that were formerly included in school budgets.

Despite these local tax increases resulting from the expanded mission of schools, recent surveys by Phi Delta Kappa, which studies prevailing attitudes toward public education, show that the public is looking for schools and/or the government to solve even more problems: 73% of Americans want to see public schools place more emphasis on mental health and 85% of voters want to see more federal funding for child care.

My consulting with several multi-town districts in Vermont confirmed this desire for schools to assume more responsibilities. I sensed an emerging consensus among teachers, administrators, school board members and members of the public that the children in their communities needed supervised child care before and after school, readily available health care and social services, and nutritious snacks and meals.

This trend is unsurprising given that 23% of the children in Vermont come from single-parent homes, 80% of children under 6 had both parents working, and 34.85% of Vermont students qualify for free or reduced lunch,

An October 2023 Hechinger Report illustrates one strategy schools across the nation are using to meet these new expectations. A Department of Education survey of more than 1,300 public schools indicated that 60% said they were partnering with community organizations to provide non-educational services, up from 45% a year earlier in 2022, which was the first time the department surveyed schools about their involvement in these services. The community services cited in the report include access to medical, dental and mental health providers as well as to social workers.

Vermont recently enacted legislation to forge such relationships, Act 67, which Gov. Phil Scott signed into law in 2021. With the help of a five-year $3.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Vermont launched the Catamount Community Schools Collaborative (CCSC) in five Vermont districts. The CCSC conceived of schools as “resource hubs that provide a broad range of well-coordinated supports and services for students, families, and the broader community.” The school districts participating in the CCSC identified common needs in student mental health, educator well-being, food access and security and school-based health centers, providing wrap-around support for community members. Given the challenges working parents face, I am confident they would welcome on-site child care before and after school and, if space permitted, full-day pre-K and kindergarten.

In my first draft of this article, written last week, I quoted from a University of Vermont monograph on the CCSC indicating that “Efforts to launch at least three new additional Community School communities will soon be underway, funded by a $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education with the support of a congressional direct spending request through Senator Sanders”. Given the recent executive orders from the president, it is unclear whether funding for this forward-looking, community centered initiative will be forthcoming.

The loss of federal funds notwithstanding, if the governor and Legislature are serious about transforming education, they might begin by looking more closely at this kind of model for public education, a model that is predicated on the recognition that the public expects more from schools today than ever, and that what they are looking for is different than what the public imagined a half-century ago. By revamping the governance of schools and the service delivery models for health and social services it might be possible to meet the children’s current needs.

Wayne Gersen is a retired public school administrator. He lives in Etna.