Burlington School Commissioner runs on education for VT Senate

Martine Gulick — a longtime educator in Chittenden County — is running for state senate in a new district that includes Winooski, and her background in education plays a large role in her campaign.

Gulick is a three-term Burlington school commissioner, five-year Burlington School Board member, and a Vermont educator of 30 years. She believes the Vermont Senate needs more people like her.

“Being on a school board is very much kind of like boot camp for working in the legislature,” said Gulick, who is running as a Democrat in the five-person race.

She joins Vermont human rights commissioner Dawn Ellis as the two candidates running only as Democrats for the three-seat district. Incumbent Sen. Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden, Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Essex, and Erhard Mahnke, an affordable housing advocate, have been endorsed by the Progressive Party.

Ahead of the August primary, the Winooski News plans to introduce voters to each of the candidates running in the new Chittenden Central Senate District.

The new Chittenden Central district came about in April, when the state finished redrawing legislative maps, as it does every 10 years. It includes the New North End and Old North End in Burlington, parts of Colchester and Essex town and all of Essex Junction and Winooski. According to VTDigger, the district is a key battleground for Progressives jockeying with Democrats in the chamber.

Gulick’s experience as an educator makes her unique in the contest, and her work over this past year could have particular meaning for voters in Winooski. She worked with the Coalition for Vermont Student Equity to advocate for increased funding for school districts like Winooski’s that have many English language learners.

“A school district like Winooski — that does have a high percentage of English language learners, for example — really isn't getting the appropriate funding and the appropriate support and resources that they need to really properly educate their students to the best of their ability,” she said.

The coalition worked with legislators to pass an education funding bill, (S.287), that aims to increase money for schools with students from low-income or rural backgrounds and those who are learning English as a second language.

“In districts like Winooski with lots of English language learners, the same local tax rate would generate significantly more dollars for local schools” through the bill, according to VPR. There are around 300 multilingual learners in the Winooski school district.

Early investment in education, nutrition, and mental health are vital building blocks for a happy, successful human being, Gulick said. Her commitment to education traces back to her own schooling.

“Neither of my parents got to go to college, and we grew up very poor,” she said. “Going to a good public school and then being able to go to the University of Vermont before college prices were completely out of sight just changed my life.”

There is not much that seems to separate the Chittenden Central candidates on policies, according to VTDigger. But with the increased relevance of sex and gender in the recent news, Gulick said her sex is something that distinguishes her from her fellow candidates.

“I feel as though it's more important than ever to have women in our senate, and there's no one better to speak to bodily autonomy than actual women,” she said. “There's that piece that I feel sets me apart just by virtue of by my sex and my gender.”

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and thus the constitutional right to abortion, Gulick thinks it’s time for Vermont to do more to protect bodily autonomy. A way to do that, she said, is by passing Proposal Five.

Proposal Five is a proposed amendment to the Vermont Constitution that will protect an individual’s right to reproductive autonomy. If passed, Vermont will become the first state to protect reproductive liberty in its constitution, according to Planned Parenthood.

“I am in favor of a constitutional amendment to make this something that we hold as a fundamental right in Vermont that we need to put in writing and hold incredibly dear and at the heart of our governance and decision-making,” Gulick said.