Senate committee hears testimony on S.37 to extend summer unemployment insurance to school support staff

The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee heard extended testimony March 6 on S.37, a bill that would allow K‑12 school support staff to collect unemployment insurance during the summer months.

Proponents told the committee the change would help retain staff and stabilize classroom supports while opponents and staff warned that the benefit would shift costs to school districts. Witnesses cited Minnesota’s short program as the primary evidence base and urged Vermont lawmakers to seek accurate state fiscal estimates before advancing the bill.

The Economic Policy Institute’s Dave Camper, who analyzed Minnesota’s program for EPI, told the committee that his office projected Minnesota’s first‑year cost at about $32.7 million and that the state’s actual first‑year cost was $38.6 million. Camper said, “school bus drivers were by far the most likely to use this,” and that recipients in Minnesota increased in year two, when the program’s net benefit to workers rose to about $56 million. He cautioned that Minnesota’s “recipiency rate” — the share of unemployed workers who actually collect UI — is higher than Vermont’s, and that Vermont’s lower recipiency (he cited about 32 percent in Vermont versus 56 percent in Minnesota) could…