Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Vermont schools report higher student mental‑health acuity and special‑education demand; AOE says costs cannot yet be quantified
Summary
Agency officials and regional participants described rising behavioral acuity among younger students, mismatched tiers of support, staffing shortages and long wait lists for therapeutic placements; the agency said coding inconsistencies prevent quantifying total mental‑health costs without new data collection
Jill Briggs Campbell, deputy secretary for the Agency of Education, told a joint House and Senate education committee that regional sessions repeatedly described increases in student mental‑health needs, growing special‑education demand and shortages of appropriately trained staff.
“Schools are seeing increased acuity,” Briggs Campbell said, summarizing what educators reported during regional planning sessions. That acuity included more severe externalizing and internalizing behaviors and occurrences among elementary‑age students, presenters said.
Committee members heard several recurring operational problems: shortages of school‑based mental‑health…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
