Senate Education Committee reviews draft 7.1 of H.480, advances several school policy changes

The Vermont Senate Committee on Education reviewed draft 7.1 of H.480 on an omnibus set of education changes, with staff from the Office of Legislative Council outlining amendments to school safety timelines, the Secretary of Education selection process, the Vermont National Guard tuition benefit, rules for awarding diplomas to students caught in a program transition and a new cardiac emergency response-plan requirement for schools.

Beth St. James, legislative counsel, Office of Legislative Council, told the committee the draft is "hot off the press" and highlighted changes from the earlier draft. On school safety, the bill would change the statutory timeline for behavioral threat assessment teams so districts and independent schools must identify and establish a team by July 1, 2025, and then take "all actions necessary to implement" those teams by Oct. 1, 2025. St. James said the distinction is between establishing teams (by July 1) and completing implementation steps (by Oct. 1).

The committee was shown language clarifying responsibilities: under current law the school board is responsible for policy and superintendents for procedures; draft 7.1 would make that allocation explicit and provide that a failure to adopt policy or procedures will be presumed to mean adoption of the most current model policy or procedures published by the Secretary of Education or the agency's model documents.

On the Secretary of Education appointment process, draft 7.1 would require the governor to send a letter to the chair of the State Board of Education no later than 30 days after public notice of a vacancy (or anticipated vacancy), stating the governor's preferred candidate qualifications and experience. The State Board would then be required to begin a national search no later than 60 days after receipt of that letter; the draft preserves existing language allowing the board to request funds for the search. Committee discussion clarified that the bill does not require the three candidates forwarded to the governor to match the governor's stated preferences.

The Guard tuition benefit program language in section 11 was reviewed as an "amalgamation" of prior changes discussed by members. The draft removes a prior requirement that graduate-degree recipients work in Vermont or seek employment in Vermont to be eligible for the graduate benefit. It also caps the total tuition benefit an individual may receive at an amount not to exceed twice the full‑time in‑state bachelor's tuition rate charged by the University of Vermont, thereby allowing multiple degrees or certificates so long as the aggregate benefit stays under that financial cap.

On workforce and credentialing, the draft retains the rule that out‑of‑state institutions may be eligible for the benefit only when a degree program is not available in Vermont. The Office of Legislative Council cited testimony from VSAC (Tom Little) about prior inconsistencies between eligibility and benefit language and said the revised draft aligns the sections.

Draft 7.1 also contains a temporary transition for students affected by last year's repeal of the high‑school completion program. The bill would allow a high school to award a diploma to any student who before July 1, 2024, was participating in the high‑school completion program and met the student's individual graduation plan and would have been eligible for a diploma under the old program. That transition provision would be repealed Aug. 30, 2025, limiting the remedy to students caught in the program change.

A substantial new addition in draft 7.1 is a cardiac emergency response-plan requirement. Tina Zook, government relations director, American Heart Association, explained the section would require each district and independent school to develop a plan addressing sudden cardiac arrest incidents on school grounds and, for schools with athletic programs, incidents during practice or events. The plan must include establishment of a response team, activation guidelines, AED (automated external defibrillator) placement and maintenance, staff training in CPR and AED use per American Heart Association guidelines, drills, coordination with local EMS and annual review. The draft sets the plans to be in place for the 2025–26 school year.

Committee members asked whether the bill mandates every school to acquire an AED. Zook said the draft requires a plan that addresses AED placement in accordance with AHA guidelines; it does not explicitly require an AED at every school. She and other witnesses referenced school safety grant programs and testimony noting roughly 211 school entities already have AEDs and that grants can be used for AED purchases. Committee staff said the draft contains no direct appropriation for AEDs in this bill; members also noted there are grant programs that can be used and referenced a $10,000‑per‑district school safety grant ceiling discussed in testimony.

Members generally moved through the remaining sections noting no changes to virtual learning provisions and some technical language edits (for example, renaming a statute phrase to "Foundation for Literacy"). Committee members asked staff to circulate a revised version that highlights any changes discussed for final review later in the week.

No formal motions or recorded roll-call votes were taken during the walkthrough; staff asked members informally to indicate sections they were comfortable "checking off" for readiness to advance and to review revised language before the next meeting.

The Office of Legislative Council indicated the draft draws effective dates from source bills where language traveled previously; many provisions would take effect on passage, with specific effective dates for some sections (for example, behavioral threat-assessment implementation and cardiac plan elements set to take effect July 1 or Oct. 1, 2025, and certain data collection elements set for July 1, 2027).