Lawmaker introduces H.497 to extend student media protections to independent and private colleges

Representative Connor Casey introduced short-form bill H.497 on April 23, 2025, proposing to extend Vermont's statutory protections for student speech in school-sponsored media to approved independent (private) secondary schools and to postsecondary institutions operating in the state.

Legislative counsel St. James explained that H.497 is a short-form bill that contains only a statement of purpose and that the bill as introduced omits the statutory text required to change law. "Short form bills are just the statement of purpose," St. James said, and the committee would need to draft the specific statutory amendments if it chose to move forward.

The nut grafs: The proposal would add private, approved independent secondary schools and private postsecondary institutions to protections currently codified in statutes governing public schools and public postsecondary institutions (the statute sections cited in discussion were 16 V.S.A. a7a71623 and 16 V.S.A. a7a7180). Those statutes prohibit prior restraint on school-sponsored student media except where material is libelous, an unwarranted…