Miscellaneous Education Changes (H.461) - May 11, 2023
The House Education Committee returned to H.461 on Thursday to review an amendment from Senator Hardy. A topic of conversation was the number of signatures required to get on the ballot for school board in some of these different districts. The Senate Government Operations Committee decided to replace the existing language with 60 signatures or 1% of the population of the district. This would lower the threshold in some of the smallest towns.
Read moreMiscellaneous Education Changes (H.461) - May 10, 2023
The House Education Committee returned Wednesday to review the Senate’s as-passed version of the bill with Legislative Counsel. Chairman Conlon acknowledged that the House did not yet have possession of the bill, but he wanted to start preliminary discussions.
Read moreMiscellaneous Education Changes (H.461) - May 9, 2023
Senate Floor
The Senate brought H.461 to the floor on Tuesday after skipping over it Monday. The bill makes a number of changes to education policy in the state. Senator Gulick presented the bill on behalf of the Education Committee, which had supported the bill unanimously.
Read moreMiscellaneous Education Changes (H.461) - May 5, 2023
The House Education Committee walked through the Senate Version of H.461 on Friday in preparation to receive it early next week.
Read moreMiscellaneous Education Changes (H.461) - May 4, 2023
Senator Gulick joined the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday for an overview of H.461 and the Education Committee’s version of the bill.
Read moreMiscellaneous Education Changes (H.461) - April 28, 2023
The Senate Education Committee returned to H.461 again on Friday, with Draft 3.1 of the bill in front of them. Rachel Seelig (Director, Disability Law Project) was asked to weigh in on the draft language and she provided a couple anecdotal stories of students she was aware of. Her main thesis was that the current standard set the bar too low and that actions should not need to be “severe or pervasive” in order to be considered harassment.
Read moreMiscellaneous Education Changes (H.461) - April 27, 2023
Bor Yang (Executive Director, Vermont Human Rights Commission) returned to testify to the Senate Education Committee on Thursday regarding the draft amendment. She wanted to respond to concerns that Gulick and perhaps Campion had surrounding “unintended consequences resulting in more suspensions and expulsions of kids.” She noted that peer-to-peer harassment is disproportionately aimed at disabled, BIPOC, LGBTQ students. Additionally, disciplinary actions tend to fall more on these groups. Why is that, she asked rhetorically.
Read moreMiscellaneous Education Changes (H.461) - April 25, 2023
On Tuesday, Jessica Barquist (Director of Policy and Organizing, Vermont Network Against Domestic & Sexual Violence) introduced a draft amendment for the Senate Education Committee to look at on bullying and harassment, which was opposed by major groups like NEA.
Read moreMiscellaneous Education Changes (H.461) - April 20, 2023
The Senate Education Committee came back to H.461 on Thursday to review a strike-all amendment that Legislative Counsel had prepared.
Read moreMiscellaneous Education Changes (H.461) - April 18, 2023
The Senate Education Committee reviewed H.461 on Tuesday with Legislative Counsel, specifically looking at the new language surrounding harassment.
Legislative Counsel reviewed the definition of bullying used in statute versus the new draft language. The statute currently requires proof that discriminatory behavior meets the “severe or pervasive standard,” while the new draft just requires proof that someone has been subject to discriminatory harassment.
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