Joint Fiscal Office tells committee contractor will recommend how Vermont should fund CTE; report due Dec. 2026

The House Committee on Commerce & Economic Development heard on April 14 that a contractor hired under Act 73 will recommend how Vermont should account for and fund career and technical education (CTE) under the state's new education finance formula.

A Joint Fiscal Office staffer, Julia of the Joint Fiscal Office, told members the General Assembly required JFO to contract with one or more experts in section 45a of Act 73 to review unresolved finance issues. JFO chose the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to perform the full scope of work, and Julia said "this report is due back to the general assembly in December 2026." She said the contractor's scope includes recommending whether CTE should be handled as a weight, a component of the foundation base, or as categorical aid and specifying potential funding streams and amounts.

Committee members asked how prescriptive the contractor's recommendations would be and whether the contractor would present multiple policy options. Julia said the consultant is charged with making recommendations and may present advantages for different approaches; she emphasized JFO itself remains nonpartisan and does not make policy recommendations.

Ezra Holden of the Joint Fiscal Office provided data intended to ground the contractor's work: in fiscal year 2024 Vermont had about 2,500 CTE full‑time equivalent (FTE) in‑state students (a number derived from a six‑semester rolling average), which corresponds to just over 5,000 unique students when part‑time participation is counted. Holden said roughly 180 FTEs were out‑of‑state students attending Vermont centers in FY2024 and that out‑of‑state shares vary by center; some centers have more than 40% out‑of‑state enrollment.

Holden also described four governance models currently operating across Vermont's CTE system — host models attached to a comprehensive high school, regional technical center school districts, independent centers (including private campus programs), and comprehensive high schools that offer some CTE — and noted program mixes differ by center (for example, construction programs are common while dedicated electrician programs are less so). That program and governance variation, he said, complicates any move to a uniform funding approach.

On funding, Holden reported tuition drives a majority of center revenues ("about a little more than 60%"), and he said about 87% of CTE revenues overall come from Vermont's statewide education funds when other state and federal contributions are included. He flagged that in‑state tuition reduction grants amounted to about $4,400 per FTE in FY2024. Committee members raised concerns that tuition‑based payments can create competition between sending schools and centers and asked the contractor to analyze how different funding choices could change incentives for districts and centers.

Committee members also asked whether the contractor's work would explicitly include adult education and pre‑technical programs; Julia said she will raise those items with the contractor and that the contractor is already discussing how such programs might fit into learning models. Members flagged transportation barriers and waiting lists for some centers; staff said H.955 and related appropriations language include provisions to review transportation and that JFO will coordinate that work with the contractor as appropriate.

Julia and Holden said JFO has received much of the initial data from the Agency of Education and is confident the contractor can deliver the report by December 2026 unless the Legislature changes the contract or requires additional scope. Both staff offered to follow up with center‑level breakdowns of out‑of‑state participation and wait‑list information to inform committee deliberations.

The committee did not take formal action at the meeting; members asked staff to share the contractor report, JFO's fiscal note and Holden's CTE brief with the committee for future consideration. The committee scheduled additional discussion on related bills, including H.955, and said JFO staff may be invited back for follow‑up briefings.