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Senate amendments to H.454 change sparsity test, add phased move to educational opportunity payment
Summary
Senate changes to H.454 move sparsity determinations from district to ZIP-code level, preserve base funding and weights, and set a five‑year phase‑in toward an educational opportunity payment with 20% annual adjustments; members discussed modeling, implementation and uncertainty ahead of a potential conference committee.
Members of the Ways & Means committee on the Senate side reviewed the Senate proposal to amend H.454, the bill that would restructure Vermont’s K‑12 education funding. The discussion covered the foundation formula base amount, changes to sparsity and small‑school support grants, and a five‑year phase‑in to an educational opportunity payment (EOP).
John Bray, Legislative Council staff, said the proposal preserves the base amount in the foundation formula and the core pupil weights. “The base amount is 15,033,” Bray said, and he described the EOP definition and the role of statutory weights for special education, English learners and career‑technical education.
The Senate amendment changes how sparsity is measured. Under existing law and the House‑passed bill, sparsity was assessed at the school‑district level. The Senate amendment assesses sparsity at the ZIP‑code level: a “sparse area” is a ZIP code whose…
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