NPE Action Endorses Nikhil Goyal for Vermont State Senate
The Network for Public Education Action is proud to endorse Nikhil Goyal for the Vermont State Senate in the Chittenden-Central District. Nikhil is exactly the kind of candidate we need in state legislatures across the country. Nikhil is a scholar, a policymaker, and a lifelong champion of public education who has spent his career putting children and communities first.
Nikhil’s commitment to public schools is rooted in deep professional experience and a body of work few candidates can match. He began writing about education reform at age 17, when his first book, One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student’s Assessment of School, earned praise from education policy heavyweights including Howard Gardner and Diane Ravitch. His second book, Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice, built on that foundation with a bold critique of the test-and-punish model that has done so much damage to American public schools. And his most recent book, Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty — named a Best Book of 2023 by The New Yorker — chronicles the lives of children in Philadelphia navigating poverty, welfare reform, and an education system that too often fails the kids who need it most. Nikhil doesn’t just talk about the stakes of public education policy. He has spent his life documenting them.
As a senior policy advisor on education and children for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee under Senator Bernie Sanders, Nikhil worked at the highest levels of federal policymaking to advance investments in public education and protect students and families who depend on it. He knows how education funding works, where the pressure points are, and what it takes to fight for public schools when powerful interests push in the other direction. That expertise is rare, and Vermont’s children deserve to have it in their corner in Montpelier.
Nikhil has been a consistent and principled voice for keeping public dollars in public schools. In a political moment when voucher schemes and privatization efforts threaten to drain resources from the neighborhood schools that serve the vast majority of Vermont’s children, his commitment to this principle is essential. We were honored to have him join us as a speaker at our NPE National Conference in Philadelphia, where he brought both intellectual rigor and genuine passion to the conversation about the future of public education in America.
NPE Action urges voters in Burlington, Winooski, Essex, Essex Junction, and Colchester to support Nikhil Goyal in the August 11 Democratic and Progressive primary.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee. Authorized and paid for by Network for Public Education Action, PO Box 227. New York, NY 10156. 646-678-4477.