The House Education Committee reviewed a bill, H.630, on Tuesday that would allow for cooperative education services to be provided by a group of school districts. These services would be intended to provide the “least restrictive environment” for students that require a “higher level of care.” Most of the students who would receive these services have mental or behavioral issues that are disruptive in the normal school environment. Today many of these students have 1-on-1 para-educators which does not provide the necessary level of therapy and contributes to classroom disruption and high staffing ratios.

The Senate Education Committee spent most of the week reviewing S.304 which overhauls the state’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) system.

Chairwoman Kornheiser outlined her “three-legged stool” framework of FY2025 (short term) changes, FY2026 (medium term), and long-term solutions on Thursday in the House Ways & Means Committee. She also pointed to needing to balance equity, local control, and simplicity/complexity.

The House Government Operations Committee returned to Draft 4.3 of their municipal ethics bill on Thursday, which would create a uniform statewide code of ethics.

Meagan Roy (Superintendent, Washington Central Unified Union School District (U32)) spoke to the House Education Committee on Wednesday. She has held leadership roles at school districts of varying sizes and understands the conversation is “cost containment” and the conversations around education funding issues need to deal with that issue. It is a polarizing subject, she noted.

Noah Ampe (Legislative Intern, University of Vermont) presented some findings for the House Education Committee of his research about education statistics from other states.

Legislative Council presented a new draft of H.707 on Wednesday for the House Commerce Committee to review. The new draft creates the office of the Executive Director of the Workforce Expansion, which consists of two employees - an Executive Director (under the Governor) and a support staff member. New language was also added to ensure that the Workforce Governance Task Force will study data management models and names the Executive Director as chair of the working group.

Heather Bouchey (Interim Secretary, Agency of Education) and Nichole Lee (Director of Finance, Agency of Education) joined the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday to discuss the cost drivers in education spending. The survey was put out in the field mid-January and most results came back in late January and early February. The survey sought to understand what districts are spending money on this budget cycle that may be driving the $230M in new spending. Lee identified rising health care premiums, the “ESSER cliff” as federal funds go away, capital construction projects, salaries & benefits, and inflation as primary reasons for spending increases.

On Friday, Jeff Fannon (Executive Director, VT-NEA) joined the Senate Finance Committee. “Too often the conversations around education revolve around money,” he said, blaming the current education challenges on a “shattered societal safety net, a global pandemic, economic upheaval,” and that schools must be “staffed adequately.” He also pointed to school construction and inflation as additional factors.