House Education Committee outlines upcoming agenda on redistricting, tuitioning, therapeutic schools and community schools

The House Education Committee on Tuesday, April 1, outlined a series of briefings and hearings for the coming weeks that will address legal redistricting issues, tuitioning rules under Title 16, school board roles, access to therapeutic schools and a status check of community schools funded with federal ESSER dollars.

Committee leadership said the first scheduled briefing will be an introduction to the legal issues of redistricting, including ward-drawing within districts, to help the committee estimate funding and time needs. The committee also scheduled a Title 16 presentation on tuitioning to clarify how tuition payments to public schools can push some districts over the excess spending threshold. Committee materials named the Agency of Education (AOE) deputy secretary and Gordon Aero of the AOE as presenters for that session.

The committee chair said the group will follow the tuitioning briefing with an afternoon session on roles and responsibilities of school boards to prepare for the creation of any new districts. The chair characterized these items as “baseline” briefings intended to build the committee’s shared understanding before any legislative drafting or policy moves.

Members spent significant time discussing therapeutic schools and access to those services for students with high needs. Several members described long waiting lists and widely varying tuition at therapeutic programs. Committee members said some districts that do not operate high school grades tuition students to neighboring public high schools and that, in some instances, the cost of tuitioning had contributed to districts crossing the statutory excess spending threshold. Members flagged a current moratorium on creating new therapeutic schools as part of the policy context the committee will examine.

Members also asked for testimony from the Vermont Superintendents Association and from school districts where tuitioning and out-of-district placements are active issues. One member said the committee should explore whether some therapeutic services could be provided within public schools, referencing Act 173 and its goal of serving students “where they reside.” Committee discussion noted teams must now follow tiers of intervention and progress monitoring before placing students on individualized education programs as part of the post–Act 173 regime.

The committee discussed community schools and a grant program seeded with about $10 million in ESSER funds passed four years earlier. Members asked for a status check on pilots funded by that money, including program examples where schools host dental or medical services and higher-education partnerships. The committee asked for lessons learned from the pilots and for testimony on whether community-school models should be expanded or standardized.

Several of the committee’s standing bills and topics on the wall were raised for potential action or further testimony. Members mentioned H.393 (a prohibition on requiring face masks in schools, identified by bill number in committee discussion), H.310 (an antisemitism-related measure), H.4504, and other items including proposals on cell-phone rules in preschool, hazing/harassment/bullying language, and restrictions on artificial food dyes. Members said some of those matters may be principally informational or belong in another jurisdictional committee, but they also asked for options to move items off the committee “wall” so they can be addressed.

Agency oversight topics included a request for a corrected AOE org chart after committee members noted apparent errors in printed versions that showed long-term employees marked as temporary. Members asked the AOE to clarify the org chart and to provide updated staff listings.

No formal votes or motions were recorded during this planning meeting. Committee members asked staff to assemble testimony and briefings for the items listed and to confirm presenters and schedules for the week of April 8 and subsequent meetings.

The meeting closed after members agreed on several follow-up items and on prioritizing briefings that will inform later policy decisions.