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Senate panel debates limiting state tuition for Vermont students at out‑of‑state and independent schools
Summary
Lawmakers reviewed draft H.454 language that would narrow when Vermont will pay tuition to out‑of‑state and independent schools, discussed a 25‑mile/25% test, and heard an estimate that roughly 100 Vermont students attend independent out‑of‑state schools each year; committee members left the question open for targeted exceptions.
Members of the Vermont Senate Education Committee spent substantial time on draft language in H.454 that would narrow which independent and out‑of‑state schools may receive tuition paid with Vermont education dollars. The committee discussed options to restrict tuition payments by geography and by the share of a school’s enrollment that is publicly funded.
The draft under consideration would allow a district to pay tuition for a public or approved independent school located within 25 miles of the Vermont border only if that school meets other approval requirements; committee staff also discussed a companion test that an independent school would need at least 25% of its enrollment to be Vermont tuition students to qualify. The measure was discussed as a way to limit the flow of state education dollars to schools outside Vermont while preserving access for geographically isolated students.
Why it matters: committee members said the provision is intended to “bring dollars back” into Vermont public schools and to avoid using operating dollars to pay for out‑of‑state placements in cases where a reasonable Vermont option exists. At the same time, members and witnesses warned that a broad 25‑mile rule could unintentionally exclude border communities that have historically relied on nearby out‑of‑state schools and that the dollar amounts at stake are currently small but could grow.
The committee heard numbers from Oliver Olson, who testified for the Vermont Independent Schools Association. Olson said the association’s aggregated field data show 43 approved independent Vermont schools received at least one publicly funded student in the 2023‑24 school year and that, under the draft’s two‑part test (located in a fully operating supervisory union and the 25% threshold), about 14 schools would be ineligible because of location and an additional 12 would be ineligible because they fell under the 25% enrollment test, “for a total of 26 schools deemed ineligible,” leaving roughly 17 that would remain eligible under the proposed constraints. Olson also said roughly “approximately 100 students are being tuitioned to gen ed independent schools outside of Vermont” in a given year.
Committee members discussed options that would be narrower than a blanket 25‑mile rule: using county‑ or corridor‑specific language (for counties such as Essex or Caledonia), grandfathering students already enrolled, or creating a reciprocity carve‑out for specific longstanding interstate arrangements such as St. Johnsbury Academy and Thetford Academy. Multiple senators urged staff to draft targeted language for border cases rather than an unqualified 25‑mile perimeter.
No vote or final decision was taken. Committee counsel and stakeholders agreed to follow up with proposed drafting options that could preserve access for isolated students, create specific reciprocity exceptions where warranted, and supply clearer data on how many Vermont students would be affected by each option.
Ending: The committee left the policy question open and asked the Joint Fiscal Office and stakeholder groups for follow‑up data and narrower draft language to consider at the next meeting.
