The legislature passed its long-awaited bill to reform the way Vermont finances pre-K to 12 education.  What it neglected to consider is what to do about the quality of the state’s education system.

Ask any legislator, or your neighbor, or yourself, how good Vermont’s schools are, and you’ll find near unanimous agreement that our schools are at the least very good,  and most likely excellent.

Ask me, and I’ll say they are below average.  Why?  Because I go where the data take me.

Act 21 allocates $1M to a nonprofit to purchase and abolish medical debt for eligible residents with incomes ≤400% of the federal poverty level or high debt burdens, ensuring no cost or tax consequences and removal from credit reports. It prohibits credit agencies from reporting medical debt and restricts large health care facilities from selling or reporting such debt, except to nonprofits for debt relief.

The act also defines "behavioral health" to avoid stigmatizing mental health or substance use disorders and takes effect July 1, 2025.

Act 34, enacted by the Vermont General Assembly and signed into law on May 27, 2025, establishes the Vermonters Feeding Vermonters Grant Program within the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. The legislation aims to address food insecurity by supporting the purchase and distribution of local food through the Vermont Foodbank.

At the end of last session a number of legislators announced they were not going to run for reelection and over a dozen more lost their reelection bids. In total, this meant 54 new faces in Montpelier this year, which created a serious stir. The political void departing legislators would be leaving behind – in terms of expertise, knowledge of the process, the history behind key bills, familiarity with staff – is hard to overstate.

S.51, as passed by the Vermont House and Senate, amends several sections of Vermont's tax code to expand income tax exclusions and credits. Effective retroactively from January 1, 2025, the legislation modifies provisions related to the Vermont Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), retirement income exclusions, and introduces a new Vermont Veteran Tax Credit.

The legislature has gone home after passing a historic education reform bill. At the end of the day, most of the drama played out in conference committee, but the floor debates still featured impassioned pleas from supporters and opponents alike. Despite attempts by progressive legislators in both chambers to reject the conference committee compromise, the education reform bill passed handedly in the House and eked out passage in the Senate.

It is clear that the House does not want voters involved in setting school budgets. It has always been sort of implicit in this bill, but House members said it explicitly in debates this week: they do not envision a future system where local voters weigh in on their school budgets in any meaningful way.

The bill amends the state's Open Meeting Law to enhance transparency, accessibility, and accountability in public meetings; requiring hybrid meetings and clarifying policies and procedures for various meeting functions.

S. 122, passed by the Vermont House and Senate in 2025, focuses on enhancing economic and workforce development through targeted funding, task forces, and new commissions.