Vermont State Board of Education warns of limited budget as major rule changes near implementation

Jennifer Jack Samuelson, chair of the Vermont State Board of Education, told the Senate Education Committee on Jan. 21 that the board lacks money and legal counsel needed to complete and implement major rule updates, including the Education Quality Standards that take effect July 1, 2025.

The board presented a status update on its role since Act 98 of 2012 realigned the state’s education governance, described recent rulemaking work on the Education Quality Standards (EQS) and independent-school rules (Series 22100), and asked the committee for a combination of one-time and ongoing funding to retain counsel and staff support to finish career-and-technical-education (CTE) rule updates and to implement curricular standards tied to Act 1.

The funding shortfall matters because the EQS amendments and follow-on curricular standards — including a proposed ethnic-studies framework (the IRIS framework) and CTE rule updates — change statewide expectations for PK–12 instruction, reporting and nondiscrimination requirements. Those rules set requirements districts, supervisory unions and approved independent schools must follow, and the board said limited resources threaten timely,…