On Tuesday, Chairman Campion brought up H.483 for the Senate Education Committee to see where members are at with the bill. He noted that the provisions related to discrimination were addressed in the 2200 rule series and “seemed to be working effectively.” He added that people had been asking about the moratorium on new schools receiving approval status. He thought it might make sense to move forward on that piece and then “assess” next year “how many [schools] are in the queue.”

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.

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.

The Senate Education Committee met on Tuesday to discuss civil rights violations in public schools. Chairman Campion introduced Emily Simmons (General Counsel, Agency of Education), saying that he had been reading a lot in the news about public school and that they were attempting to understand what happens when the federal government gets involved and settles agreements, etc. He was also interested in whether the Agency of Education (AOE) participated in investigating or adjudicating these.

On Tuesday, C.J. Spirito, Head of School at Rock Point School in Burlington joined the Senate Education Committee to talk about H.483.

Rock Point is a small independent school with students ranging from “high-flying, college-bound students to kids in the hospital because they can't function or are not getting to school.” They are not competing with public schools or larger schools for students, he noted.

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.

On Friday, Oliver Olsen (Former Chair, State Board of Education) joined the Senate Education Committee to speak on H.483 as a parent, former legislator, and community member from Southern Vermont. During his tenure, he oversaw the “significant effort” of updating the rules governing the approval of independent schools.

On Thursday, the Senate Education Committee heard from Heather Bouchey (Interim Secretary, Agency of Education) and Chris Kane (Interim State Director of Special Education, Agency of Education) on H.483. Bouchey stressed the nature of public process and 2200 rulemaking stakeholder engagement. She believed this needed to be “implemented and experienced” as independent schools engage with that newly developed process.

The Senate Education Committee came back to H.461 on Thursday to review a strike-all amendment that Legislative Counsel had prepared.

Chairman Campion welcomed Jay Badams (Superintendent, Norwich/Hanover Interstate School District ) to the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, saying they wanted to know about the “whether there is ever any admissions process in our public schools.” He described H.483 as asking for “a kind of open enrollment where public dollars follow kids to whatever school they want.” He added that he thinks that is happening now in a lot of schools.