School Construction Aid (H.129) - Overview

The bill, H.129, is meant to simplify the school construction process and aid in a more equitable distribution of funds across the state while lowering the pressure on property tax increases. 

The Details:

• Proposes that school construction be exclusively handled within the Agency of Education (AOE). Under the current program, this role is split between three separate entities including the Secretary of Education, the State Board of Education, local school boards, and the General Assembly. 

• An advisory board for AOE that will guide the implementation of virtually all aspects of school construction. 

• This advisory board will consist of three or four ex-officio members including the Commissioner of BGS, Executive Director of the Bond Bank, Chair of the State Board of Education, and possibly the State Treasurer. Additionally, there will be four non-legislative members with expertise in education and/or construction, including at least one representative from a supervisory union and one educator. 

• Aid is distributed under a debt-service subsidy model. What this means is that the state will subsidize a certain percentage of the debt incurred by a school district.

• A school in need of a school construction subsidy will submit an application for preliminary approval. This is only after a district has voted on and allocated funds or approved a bond. 

• School construction aid is determined by priority points. These priority points are assigned based on evaluation of priority criteria, for example total cost of project or emergent need of a particular building.  

• The amount the state will subsidize starts at 20% of the total construction costs and increasing, based on incentives, up to 40%. These incentives, for instance, may include projects that ensure energy efficiency.

• The Agency of Education will submit a funding requests for this program to the Governor to be included in the annual budget. 

Analysis:

This bill will simplify several aspects of school construction but may be insufficient to address the most critical issues. Among these issues is the unwillingness of certain districts to vote on school construction and overzealousness in others. This has led to an unequitable distribution of updated facilities across different districts, despite statewide property tax increases to support these investments. This bill will still require districts to vote on approval of funding or bond acquisition, which means that needed school construction could still be hampered by reluctant voting districts.

Vermont schools are among the oldest stock in the country with an average age of 61 years old. The creation of the Vermont Bond Bank in 1971 led to a flood in school construction. This construction has aged at the same time, leading to another influx in desperately needed school construction. This bill, while probably suitable for “normal” times, fails to address the fact that a large amount of infrastructure needs to be addressed all at once.

Current Status:

This was introduced on January 31st, 2025 and referred to the House Education Committee. No votes have taken place yet. 

Last updated: 3/24/2025