Senate negotiators revise education bill; independent schools warn funding changes could be "existential"

Senate staff and negotiators on June 11 reviewed a revised education bill that would change how Vermont addresses school closures, redraws school-district thresholds, exempt kindergarten from certain class‑size minimums and alter tuition rules for approved independent schools.

The discussion focused on the bill’s foundation-formula components and potential effects on rural Vermont and approved independent schools. Legislative counsel in the Saint James Office read the Senate language and emphasized that some provisions remain contingent on the foundation formula’s effective date and on further fiscal analysis.

The most immediate change flagged by staff would require the commission on the future of public education to recommend “a process for a community served by a school to have a voice in decisions regarding school closures,” and to detail what that process should entail, according to text read aloud by Legislative Counsel (Saint James Office). That differs from the House…