Lawmakers hear experts on costs, implementation gaps of Vermont’s Act 173 for special education

Megan Roy, a special‑education expert and former chair of the Census‑based Funding Advisory Group, briefed the Vermont House Committee on Education on Wednesday, Jan. 29, about the implementation and funding consequences of Act 173, the law that changed how Vermont funds special education.

Act 173 moved state funding from a reimbursement model to a census‑based grant calculated on overall enrollment rather than the number of students identified for special education, Roy told the committee. “Act 173 is a general education initiative,” she said, adding that “the financial end of Act 173 was a shift from a reimbursement model to a census based model.”

The shift means two districts of the same size receive the same special‑education census grant even if one identifies many more students for special education than the other. Roy noted that identification rates vary widely among districts and that the census grant does not adjust for those differences. She said the uniform base amount increases annually by a cost‑of‑living adjustment but that districts whose actual special‑education spending grows faster than the census grant must cover the difference from local general funds.

Roy described the law’s programmatic elements as focused on strengthening general…