Vermont

Vermont’s Chief Data Officer, Josiah Raiche, leads the state’s integrated Data and AI team within the Agency of Digital Services. Under his leadership, Vermont has strengthened data governance, quality, and ethics, including launching the state’s first AI governance framework and enterprise metadata standards. He played a key role in creating ChatVT, a secure, internal AI assistant used by hundreds of state employees to improve content, analyze data, and increase efficiency, demonstrating practical, responsible innovation in government. Raiche also supports agency data stewards and collaborates across sectors to improve the quality and use of administrative data. His work ensures that Vermont’s public servants have the tools, standards, and oversight needed to make data-informed decisions. This leadership helps embed data as a strategic asset in service of better, more equitable outcomes for Vermonters.

In 2018, the Vermont Agency of Education adopted four tiers of evidence, based on the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), to inform the distribution of education funds, including federal education and state-funded grants (such as BEST/Act 230 in 2022 and the Community Schools Act in 2022; see sample statement of evidence). The guidance states: “applying the same requirement to both federal and state grants will allow for greater consistency in the review and approval of grant applications.” In 2019, the Agency built on this guidance, creating the Vermont School Wellness Policy Guidelines and Implementation guide. This resource created the Local Wellness Policy (LWP) that informs program creation for local education agencies (LEAs), including requiring the use of evidence-based strategies in determining the policy’s goals.

Vermont’s Chief Performance Officer (CPO) leads the state’s performance management system, established under Act 186 to assess how well government programs support population-level outcomes for Vermonters. The CPO oversees the annual Performance Report, which now integrates two previously separate efforts, the Programmatic Performance Measure Budget (PPMB) and the Annual Outcomes Report, into a unified tool that links program-level performance to statewide priorities. The report requires agencies to include all operational programs and identify performance measures that reflect quantity, quality, and results. It also asks programs, wherever practicable, to assess how services meet the needs of people experiencing unfavorable outcomes. Agency Performance Accountability Liaisons coordinate this work across government, with strategic support from the CPO. These efforts are reinforced by Vermont’s Program to Improve Outcomes Together (PIVOT), which combines performance measurement with continuous improvement practices to help agencies use data to make informed decisions, communicate impact, and strengthen results for Vermonters.

Vermont’s 2018-2023 Strategic Plan includes four statewide goals: the economy, affordability, vulnerability, and modernization. These priority areas were established by a 2017 Vermont executive order, which required all agencies “to establish the following cornerstones as their strategic and operational goals: growing the Vermont economy; making Vermont an affordable place to live, work, and do business; and protecting vulnerable Vermonters.” The State is currently in the process of developing a new strategic plan that is more data and outcome focused.