Vermont State Board of Education asks House committee for funds for counsel, stipends and rule modernization

The Vermont State Board of Education asked the House Education Committee on Feb. 14 for additional funding to secure legal counsel for the remainder of fiscal year 2025, raise board member stipends, rejoin the National Association of State Boards of Education and fund a two‑phase project to modernize the board’s rules.

The request, presented by Jennifer Deck Samuelson, chair of the Vermont State Board of Education, and Tammy Colby, vice chair, came in three parts: $18,000 to cover immediate legal counsel needs in FY25; a FY26 budget to cover increased stipends, ongoing independent counsel and re‑establishment of the board’s National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) membership; and a one‑time appropriation to support a two‑phase rule modernization process.

“We’re looking at $18,000 to get us through this fiscal year, and then we’d like to roll that in going forward,” said Jennifer Deck Samuelson, Chair, Vermont State Board of Education. She told committee members the board previously relied on legal counsel provided through the Agency of Education but no longer receives that assistance and now must contract for outside counsel. “A contract takes a couple of months to get in place even if we fast track it,” she said, and contracted counsel is often limited to specific tasks such as rulemaking.

Board members said the FY26 request would increase stipends for board service, retain independent counsel, restore NASBE membership (which the board dropped in 2019 for budgetary reasons) and provide technical support for establishing and updating education standards. The board described the final request as funding for a two‑phase modernization: (1) a review with the Agency of Education to determine which rules should be revised, consolidated, shifted to agency procedures or eliminated; and (2) rule drafting and public engagement assisted by independent counsel before entering the formal Administrative Procedure Act public comment process.

Tammy Colby, Vice Chair, Vermont State Board of Education, said many rules are “out of date by decades” and identified a core group the board believes should remain under its oversight, citing rule numbers discussed at the hearing including rule 1200, rule 2000 (education quality standards), rules governing school programs, the special education rules (cited as rule 2360), the career and technical education rules (cited as rule 2370) and rule 2400. Colby said the board prefers to conduct extensive stakeholder engagement before opening formal APA proceedings so that public comment is informed by early deliberations.

The board also urged the committee to consider establishing an independent line‑item appropriation for the State Board of Education rather than keeping the board’s funding embedded in the Agency of Education budget. Board witnesses said the board’s allocation has been flat since fiscal year 2023 at $70,708 after a prior cut from about $93,000, which has limited the board’s ability to pay legal bills and meet in person during heavy rulemaking periods.

Committee members asked procedural questions about administration of any separate appropriation and about whether modest stipends could support more in‑person meetings and public engagement. One committee member noted the practical tradeoffs the board has made, including using remote meetings to save per diem and travel expenses and reallocating limited funds to pay for counsel during prior rule changes.

Board members framed the timing as urgent in light of federal policy uncertainty. “If there ever was a time to modernize our rules and take that big picture perspective…it is right now,” Colby said, referencing recent actions at the U.S. Department of Education and federal research changes the board said could shift more responsibility to states for protections and program standards.

There were no formal votes recorded during the hearing on the board’s request. Committee leadership closed the presentation and asked members to submit follow‑up questions to the committee chair, who will relay them to Deck Samuelson and Colby.

The board’s request and the committee’s follow‑up will inform deliberations as lawmakers develop budget recommendations for FY26 and consider whether to create a separate appropriation for the State Board of Education.

For timing and next steps, the committee asked members to forward any additional questions to staff to be sent to the board.