On Tuesday, Representative Elder introduced his bill, H.179, to the House Education Committee. The bill would re-organize the State Board of Education (SBE).

Representative Elder also introduced H.181 to the House Education Committee. He sponsored the bill to explore creating a single statewide supervisory union (SU). Many of the services provided by SUs require an economy of scale in order to make this worthwhile.

Mathew Forest (Director of Special Services, Saint Johnsbury Academy) joined the Senate Education Committee on Friday. Chairman Campion asked specifically about testimony they had on Act 173; a proposal to postpone implementation is out there.

The House Education Committee met on Wednesday morning to discuss an outline of the potential committee bill around Vermont’s town tuitioning program.

Brad James (Director of Finance, Agency of Education) provided the House Ways & Means Committee with an update on school budgets. The December letter from the Tax Commissioner estimated an 8.52% increase in spending over FY2023. James has heard from about 20% of schools about their budgets (as passed by school boards) as of right now, budgets are coming back closer to 9%.

Meg Kenny (Associate Head, Burr and Burton Academy) and Dr. Mat Forest (Director of Special Services, St. Johnsbury Academy) provided testimony on Tuesday to the House Education Committee. Chairman Conlon introduced the guests and the current discussion about Approved Independent Schools. He requested witnesses to explain how the system works from their experience, explaining that the Committee was still learning about Act 173, so their input is valued.

On Friday, Drew Gradinger (President, Vermont Independent Schools Association) and CJ Spirito (Head of School, Rock Point School) joined the Senate Education Committee to talk about their organization. Spirito introduced himself and spoke about the needs and gifts of the students he serves. He spoke about the significant impact on lives, alumni and families from his small student body. 

Jennifer Samuelson (Chair, Vermont State Board of Education) joined the Senate Education Committee on Thursday. Chairman Campion explained the reason for having her in was to see what the Board needs and what would be helpful. He also wanted some feedback on a House bill intended to merge the State Board of Education (SBE) into the Agency of Education (AOE).

Claire Leheny from the Association of Independent Schools in New England (AISNE) joined the Committee to discuss their accreditation process. They have 265 schools across New England (17 in VT) that are members of their organization. However, currently only 79 of their schools are accredited through AISNE (none in VT yet). Members who are not accredited by them must be through NEASC as a condition of membership.

On Tuesday, the House Education Committee began putting together the elements they want to include in a bill around this topic. Off the bat, they want to codify the discrimination protections from the 2200 rule series into statute. There may also be some provisions around accreditation vs Agency of Education (AOE) review. There was a suggestion to do both because even though accreditation seems to be more rigorous, the accrediting agencies may not be looking at all the same things as AOE. The Agency has not yet weighed in on this topic.