Vermont home‑study advocates outline recordkeeping changes, early‑college access and driver‑education bills

Retta, founder of the Vermont Home Education Network, told the Vermont House Education Committee on Tuesday, May 13, that families who educate children through the state’s home‑study program must still keep records at home and meet a required minimum of 175 days of instruction even after a 2022/2023 law change that altered how families submit paperwork to the Agency of Education.

The discussion matters to roughly 3,500 students currently enrolled in home‑study programs in Vermont, Retta said, up from about 2,500 before the COVID‑19 pandemic. The committee heard questions about how the state’s early college program and a statutory personal learning plan — called a PLP in the statute — interact with home‑study enrollments.

Retta said the Agency of Education drafted the paperwork‑reduction bill that was introduced in 2023 and that the law moved some recordkeeping responsibility back to families. "They ultimately decided it would be better to just have the home study families maintain all the records themselves," she said.…