Committee reviews bill to allow school support staff to seek unemployment benefits

The Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs on the floor discussed bill F37, which would remove a statutory exclusion and allow many school support staff to apply for state unemployment insurance during scheduled school breaks.

Proponents including Rebecca McBruill, general counsel for Vermont MBA, told the committee that support staff — paraprofessionals, bus drivers, food‑service workers, custodians and administrative assistants — are essential to daily school operations and earn substantially less than the statewide average. "Our schools genuinely would not function without them," McBruill said, adding that support staff make on average less than $19 an hour while the Vermont average wage is about $30.18, citing CPR (July 2024).

The Rutgers University 2018 study and more recent Economic Policy Institute analysis were cited by witnesses to describe the workforce: McBruill said support staff make up roughly 30 percent of the union’s 13,000 members and that many hold second jobs or work additional hours outside…