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Vermont committee reviews bill to allow school support staff to seek unemployment benefits
Summary
The House Commerce & Economic Development committee heard testimony on S.37, which would make school support staff eligible for unemployment insurance during school breaks; testifiers and the Department of Labor disagreed on legal fit and cost estimates, and the committee requested further information.
The House Committee on Commerce & Economic Development on Feb. 7 reviewed bill S.37, which would allow school support staff — including bus drivers, food service workers, administrative assistants and paraeducators — to apply for unemployment insurance during the summer interim when they are not paid.
The proposal, proponents said, distinguishes support staff from instructional staff and would extend unemployment eligibility to workers who regularly do not receive pay during school breaks. Advocates from the Vermont National Educators Association (VNEA) told the committee that many support staff are low-wage earners who rely on summer income: VNEA testimony cited an average hourly wage for support staff of less than $19 and said about 39% of paraeducators are the primary wage earners in their households.
The measure drew questions from the Department of Labor, which cautioned that federal unemployment rules limit eligibility for instructional staff and said paraeducators’ instructional duties could make federal conformity difficult. Department witnesses, including Commissioner Michael Harrington and General Counsel Robert Depper, warned the committee that the change could produce significant uptake and estimated an initial Vermont cost in the neighborhood of $16,000,000. VNEA countered with a Minnesota example and an Environmental Policy Institute analysis that placed expected cost there near $5,000,000.
Senators on the committee pressed both policy and fiscal implications — including whether support staff could meet federal "actively seeking work" requirements and whether local school budgets and taxpayers would face higher costs. The committee did not vote on S.37 during the meeting; members asked staff to gather additional materials from both VNEA and the Department of Labor to clarify federal-law interactions and refine cost estimates.
The committee’s request for further information leaves S.37 at an informational stage pending analysis of federal eligibility rules and updated fiscal figures. If lawmakers move ahead, the measure would require reconciliation with federal unemployment standards and further review of school and state budget impacts.
