Vermont state lawmakers heading to Cuba for pointers on education, environment

Vermont state lawmakers are heading to Cuba to glean insights from the communist country’s approaches to education, health care and the environment.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Cuba,” said state Rep. Mary Sullivan, D-Burlington. “It would be interesting to see the place and look at their educational system, agriculture and health care.”

Sullivan, the lawmaker organizing the delegation, invited every member of the Vermont General Assembly to make the 1,500-mile trek to Havana the week of Town Meeting Day in March. Lawmakers are on break during that week of the 2017 legislative session.

“It’s a learning experience, so we’d go down there to learn,” she said.

According to Sullivan’s itinerary, lawmakers will “learn about governance in a unique developing country that espouses socially based solutions and community centered ideals.”

The first half of the eight-day trip will involve cultural enjoyments including baseball, salsa dancing and a visit to the Ernest Hemingway Lookout Farm. Lawmakers will attend lectures on Cuban government and politics by University of Havana faculty and get briefed on Cuban history.

On day four, legislators will tour a neighborhood school to study Cuba’s education system “and the values it attempts to impart on its students.” They also will visit the Pedagogical Institute of Education — an ideological training center for teachers — to discuss education policy and “challenges regarding education in Vermont.”

The final leg of the tour will involve meeting elected delegates in their offices to explore challenges of governance “in a top-down model of government.” Legislators also will discuss the “cautious transformation” of Cuban government and economy and its impact on the U.S. embargo.

On policy, the itinerary lists an opportunity to learn “the Cuban approach to medical care which has resulted in health statistics that have been comparable to the richest nations in the world” and to visit the offices that formulate environmental and energy policy.