PCB Testing in Schools
The House Education Committee and the Senate Education Committee held a joint meeting on Tuesday to get an update from school officials on PCB testing.
Read moreSchool Spending Update - Feb 23, 2023
Brad James (Finance Manager, Agency of Education) shared with the House Ways & Means Committee on Tuesday that 93% of budgets are in and education spending is now projected at 7.8%. The December letter originally projected 8.5%. Burlington is still not in yet, and this has the potential to move the needle. Milton also out, their building manager has been out sick.
Read moreEliminating Independent School Choice (H.258) - Feb 22-23, 2023
On Wednesday, the House Education Committee took up the H.258, which would eliminate Independent school choice in Vermont. Andrew Jones (Assistant Superintendent, MMU) shared that he was also an education policy researcher at UVM and considers himself an expert on “school privatization.” As someone who strongly believes in the institution of public education, he voiced his support for the bill because he is “gravely concerned” about the 2022 Carson V. Makin ruling. He believes that allowing school vouchers to go religious schools undermines the public education system. He also argued that vouchers “effectively subsidize the wealthy” because research from other states with vouchering programs indicated that they were most often utilized by families who would have sent their kids to private schools regardless.
Read morePublic School Accreditation
Jay Nichols (Executive Director, Vermont Principals Association) joined the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. Chairman Campion said he had invited them to respond to the question: “Should we consider encouraging or requiring NEASC evaluation for public schools?”
Read morePublic School Choice for Elementary Students (H.209)
Representative Sibilia presented H.209 to the House Education Committee on Tuesday. The bill proposes to give elementary school students the choice to attend other elementary schools within the same Supervisory Union. The language models the public high school choice mechanism, which requires that both the sending and receiving schools would need to agree to the transfer.
Read moreMiscellaneous Education Bill (Senate)
The Senate Education Committee began working on the annual miscellaneous education bill on Friday. There are several things this bill does, including:
Read moreEliminating Independent School Choice (S.66)
Mary Newman (Head of School, Sharon Academy) introduced her school and the students that were with her to the Senate Education Committee on Thursday. Eighth grader Chloe Evans was the first student to testify. Chairman Campion asked what she likes about the school, what she doesn’t like, and what her message was to the Committee. Evans shared that she feels like there is a misconception that independent schools are just for rich kids and that has not been her experience. She was bullied and mistreated at her last public school because minorities were not widely accepted there. She has diagnosed trauma and would often fake sickness so she didn’t have to go to that school. She didn’t know a school couldn’t be so supportive until she was at Sharon Academy. She didn’t know there was a place she could feel at home before her current school.
Read moreIndependent Schools Bill - Feb 16
The House Education Committee came back to their draft bill on Thursday dealing with independent schools. Timothy Newbold (Head of School, Village School of North Bennington) introduce himself after Chairman Conlon prefaced by saying that they were interested in hearing from some of the smaller independent schools. Their school has now been in operation for 10 years as an independent school, but it was previously a public school. VSNB is accredited through NEASC and he called it a “very robust way for a school to go through self-reflection.” One of the advantages of this process is that it’s adaptable and different schools can get different things out of the process. This is particularly true in terms of the visiting team. Newbold shared that is students love being there and the love that people have for this community is palpable. He also pointed to the 2200 rule series as already covering the public accommodations act concerns and the harassment and bullying policies.
Read moreEliminating Independent School Choice (H.258)
Representative Graning introduced her bill, H.258, to the House Education Committee on Tuesday. She claims the bill is meant to support high quality public education. The bill effectively restricts public tuition to the four traditional academies, which essentially removes school choice for students that reside in districts that do not operate a school. She admitted that this bill was about stopping the “siphoning of money” away from public schools.
Read moreEducation Quality Standards
The Senate Education Committee revisited Education Quality Standards (EQSs) on Wednesday with Heather Bouchey (Deputy Secretary, Agency of Education).
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