Agency of Education and consultant present enhanced evidence‑based school‑funding model; committee asks JFO for full modeling

On May 1, 2025, Secretary of Education Zoe Sonder and consultant Amanda Brown of Augenblick, Palaich and Associates presented an "enhanced evidence‑based" school‑funding model to the Education Committee, describing adjustments to base funding, student weights and transition financing intended to support a state move to a single foundation formula.

"What we're bringing forward today is an enhanced evidence‑based model," Secretary Zoe Sonder told the committee, framing the proposal as a refinement of an evidence‑based approach the agency has developed with outside consultants and field input. Amanda Brown said the evidence‑based approach builds on decades of national research and a general‑assembly commissioned study and that the enhanced model layers Vermont‑specific adjustments on top of that research.

Key elements presented included an enhanced per‑pupil base amount and stacked weights for student needs. The presentation said the enhanced evidence‑based base would be $14,683 per pupil and that, under the model and the assumptions used for this memo, the resulting foundation formula payment would total about $1.77 billion — roughly 6% less than the FY2025 education payment when measured in the presenter’s comparison. Brown described the model as "stacked weights" meaning students eligible for multiple weights (for example, economically disadvantaged…