House Education committee hears case to rejoin Education Commission of the States, committee asks Legislative Council to add reauthorization language

The House Education committee on Wednesday heard a presentation on the Compact for Education and the Education Commission of the States, and agreed to ask Legislative Council to add language to a miscellaneous education bill to readopt the compact and restore Vermont’s formal membership.

Andy Gianni, state relations strategist for the Northeast at the Education Commission of the States (ECS), told the committee the Compact for Education was drafted in the 1960s to enable interstate collaboration on education policy. "The Compact was eventually created, with the goal that states and territories should collaborate and share ideas as they work through similar challenges," Gianni said, describing ECS as the Compact's operating arm and noting it was designed to serve state leaders across pre-K through higher education.

Gianni told lawmakers Vermont joined the compact in 1967 and later repealed the joining language in 1993. "Vermont's the only state that has not rejoined the compact, and is not currently a member," he said. He said ECS provides research, 50-state comparisons, confidential customized information requests and policy consultations, and convenings such as policy academies and communities of practice.

Gianni described recent ECS support to Vermont: "In 2024 and 2025, Education Commission of the States provided 4 legislative testimonies to the state of Vermont, 5 policy consultations, 5 state connections to other experts, registrants and attendees at 12 meetings and webinars totaling 23 participants from the state, and 19 customized information requests." He said information requests are treated as confidential and not shared with other state actors.

Committee members pressed on the fiscal impact. Gianni said Vermont’s state dues are $53,100 and that Vermont was placed on the lowest tier in ECS’s dues scale. Committee discussion established that the Agency of Education paid dues in 2023; ECS reported a 2024 check was sent but never cashed and a replacement check is on the way. Gianni said ECS did not bill Vermont in 2025 possibly because ECS assumed the state’s leadership transition had disrupted its connection to the organization.

The committee discussed how dues would be funded. The chair said if the Agency of Education pays the dues, the payment would come from the agency’s general fund allocation. The committee did not take a formal vote, but the chair said she had asked Legislative Council to place the compact reauthorization language into the miscellaneous education bill and, "hearing no objection to sort of proceeding down that path, we'll proceed down that path." The committee then recessed for a half-hour.

The plan now is for Legislative Council to draft or insert the Compact language into the miscellaneous education bill so that, if passed, the statutory language will allow the governor, the speaker, and the president pro tempore to appoint Vermont’s commissioners and for Vermont to be added to ECS’s membership cycle.