- Education. Vermont consistently ranks the highest among student achievement. I can vouch for this with my personal experience. As a teacher in CA I had about 32 students in each class and the only time another adult was in the room was to do an evaluation on me. In VT, there was a day where I realized that there were 5 adults available to work with 17 kindergarteners during their math block. I've seen for myself that students are prioritized and their individual needs met more in VT than in CA. In addition, we have a variety of educational options for our son, including more nature-based preschools.
- Health Care. Vermont is about to go single-payer. It could take as long as until 2017, but I hope not. Already VT has very progressive policies helping people to have health insurance. VT wants kids to be insured. Dawn will soon have a decent salary, but C will qualify to remain on state insurance because his condition is very expensive. He has received 4 $200,000 IVIG infusions. So while I call him my million dollar baby, it's actually closer to two million. Parents shouldn't go into foreclosure trying to pay their child's expensive deductibles and co-pays.
- Gay Rights. Vermont was the first state to have civil unions. As of this writing 16 states, plus D.C. recognize same-sex marriage. It will only be a few more years before it's the law of the land in all 50 states, but for now it's good to be sure that we have all the legal benefits available to us.
- Gay Visibility. I was thinking the other day about all of the gay organizations in town. And well, to tell the truth I can only think of one (besides softball and hockey). But that's because gay people are running everything else around here! From the Women's Freedom Center to local theater, schools, farms, and healthcare our LGBT peeps are everywhere.
- Quality of Life. In nearly every measure Vermont consistently ranks near the top for positive quality-of-life measures.
- Efficiency. VT's small size makes the government more efficient. When Dawn needed her VT nursing license she went to the Vermont Board of Nursing, where there were two old ladies working there, who got it done for her in a matter of minutes. When we needed new driver's licenses we both got it done in less than 20 minutes with a toddler wreaking havoc all over the place. Getting my VT teaching credential was relatively easy with a CA credential.
As you can see Vermont's social and economic policies make it difficult for me to imagine living anywhere else.
