House Committee on Education pauses debate on strike‑all amendment altering State Board appointments and district tuition rules

Members of the Vermont House Committee on Education paused consideration of a strike‑all amendment that would change how the State Board of Education is appointed and would narrow when a school district may pay tuition, after lawmakers discussed appointment sequencing, a required board rule review and a 51% enrollment threshold for some approved independent schools.

Legislative counsel read portions of the draft amendment into the record and said multiple sections would take effect July 1, 2025, with a requirement that the State Board submit a report on its rules by Dec. 1, 2026. "The State Board of Education shall review each rule series the state board is responsible for and make a determination as to continuing need for, appropriateness of, or need for updating of said rules," legislative counsel Dustin James said while presenting the language. The draft also includes a $200,000 appropriation from the general fund in fiscal year 2026 to support that review.

The amendment keeps a 10‑member State Board of Education but changes the appointment process in the draft: eight board members would be appointed by the governor (including two student members), one member would be appointed by the speaker and one by the senate Committee on Committees. The draft provides a transition sequence for initial vacancies — the speaker would make a first appointment, the Committee on Committees a second, and the governor the third — and retains removal power with the governor while describing how subsequent appointments are made. Committee members said the sections governing appointments would take effect on July 1, 2025.

The draft would also restrict when a school district may pay tuition. Under the language read in committee, "The school district shall not pay the tuition of a student except to a public school located in Vermont," with enumerated exceptions that include an approved independent school meeting Education Quality Standards, a tutorial program approved by the State Board, an approved education program, a public school located in another state and a therapeutic approved independent school. The draft defines a "therapeutic approved independent school" as an approved independent school that limits enrollment of publicly funded Vermont students to those with an IEP, a Section 504 plan, enrolled pursuant to a written agreement with a local education agency, or placed by a court order.

The amendment includes a phased implementation for existing students: school districts that currently pay tuition would continue to do so for resident students who are enrolled for the current school year or already accepted for next year, subject to the version of section 828 in effect on June 30, 2025, until such students graduate from that school.

A contested provision in the draft would require an approved independent school located in Vermont and approved under section 166 on or before July 1, 2025, to have at least 51% of its student enrollment composed of students attending on a district‑funded tuition basis as of July 1, 2025, and to comply with the Education Quality Standards' minimum class size requirements and State Board rule. The draft allows an independent school unable to meet class‑size minimums because of geographic isolation, or that has an implementation plan, to request a waiver from the State Board; the State Board's decision on such a waiver would be final. The bill text also directs the State Board to amend its independent‑school rules (referenced in committee as the 2,200 series) to develop procedures for compliance and waivers and requires those rules to provide a substantially equal opportunity to come into compliance as public schools receive.

Committee members expressed differing views about the 51% enrollment threshold. One member, Beth, said she still had concerns and that the committee had not taken time to model how the provision might affect schools across the state. "I still have concerns about it. We never took any test money on exactly how that could impact schools in the state," Beth said. Another member said the majority‑enrollment criterion aligns with legal analyses the committee has considered regarding schools providing public education in geographically isolated areas, and that the 51% metric addresses that case law directly.

Lawmakers also asked the agency for updated enrollment figures; one member said they had asked the agency for newer numbers but had not yet received them. No formal vote on the amendment was recorded in the transcript excerpt. The committee paused to allow legislative counsel to edit the draft and agreed to reconvene at 3:30 p.m. for a roll call vote; committee staff said they would confirm that Roberto Tufus would be online for the reconvened session.

The committee's discussion covered appointment sequencing, the scope of exceptions to district tuition payments, a glide path to protect currently enrolled students, waiver authority for class‑size requirements, and a State Board rule review that must include recommendations and a cost/staffing plan. The draft appropriation and the rule‑review deadline — $200,000 in FY2026 and a Dec. 1, 2026 report — are included in the amendment text read during the meeting.