State education officials warn special-education costs and outcomes require systemwide fixes

MONTPELIER, Vt. — State education officials told a joint hearing of the Vermont House and Senate education committees on May 9 that special education spending is rising and that systemwide changes are needed to improve outcomes and manage costs.

The Agency of Education’s report and presentation showed a substantial increase in students eligible for extraordinary-cost reimbursements and persistent achievement gaps: “the number of students requiring extraordinary cost reimbursements is rising, significantly,” Agency of Education Secretary Zoe Saunders said, and agency assessment data show that “students with IEPs consistently scored 30 to 40 percentage points lower” than their peers on statewide assessments.

The testimony matters because special-education spending is a major driver of education budgets and property tax impacts. Agency staff described a multiyear effort to strengthen monitoring, build a more coordinated system of supports and training, and analyze how recent funding changes interact with local budgets and service delivery.

Agency overview and federal monitoring

Zoe Saunders, secretary of education, framed the session and said the agency will pursue a “multiyear approach” to make services equitable and to “enhance accountability and training.” Meg Porcella, director of the student support services division, explained that Vermont remains in a federal “needs assistance” designation based on reporting to the Office of Special Education Programs and that the designation reflects lagged data; agency materials and witnesses noted the federal status traces to reporting for school years two years prior.

“Vermont has been out of compliance since 02/2018,” Saunders said during the hearing while explaining the state’s monitoring work and the lag in federal reporting. Agency staff described redesigning their monitoring system, creating an off-cycle “due diligence” review process, and reestablishing how local special-education determinations are scored. The agency expects to release an updated monitoring manual in July and has scheduled cross-agency trainings in August and a larger conference in October to align divisions and…