Monday, April 13, 2009 - Issue #8

House Approves Appropriations Bill

The annual state government appropriations bill begins each year, appropriately, in the House Appropriations Committee. Most on-going and one-time state appropriations are contained in the expansive legislation, including state funds for public schools. H.441 was approved by the House on April 3^rd, and contains several policy references relevant to education, in addition to appropriating public school monies. H.441 is now under consideration in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

· The Department of Education is directed to fill six new positions. Five limited service positions are authorized for the Department to support implementation of federal stimulus funds, including a special education attorney, a program coordinator I position, and three education consultant II positions. The sixth new Department hire will be a permanent classified position to assist in the Department’s enhanced administrative duties related to Act I of 2009, also known as S.13, the child sexual abuse prevention bill.

· As part of the federal stimulus act, the federal government will be temporarily providing states with increased Medicaid matching funds. H.441 states that the increased federal matching funds resulting from school-based Medicaid reimbursements will be retained in the Global Commitment fund and will not flow to school districts or the education fund, notwithstanding 16 V.S.A. § 2959a. Districts will still receive the Medicaid reimbursements they anticipated prior to the federal stimulus act; only the additional reimbursements will be retained.

· The federal stimulus act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, allocates approximately $77 million to Vermont as the designated education portion of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund over two years (2009 and 2010). Because the state has received additional federal guidance regarding the Stabilization Fund since the House developed its budget, the following allocations are likely to change when the Senate considers the bill. Nevertheless, the House-passed version of H.441 would allocate the amount of $38.8 million in Stabilization Fund monies as follows:

o $23.0 million directly deposited into the Education Fund (the State’s annual transfer of funds from the General Fund to the Education Fund would be reduced by an equivalent amount, creating a net effect of no change to Education Fund revenues);

o $6.7 million deposited into the state teacher’s retirement system (in addition to $33.5 million of regular General Fund monies, for a total state contribution of greater than $40 million);

o $9.1 million appropriated to the state’s public institutions of higher learning.

· H.441 would transfer Education Fund revenues to the Community High School of Vermont (operated by the Department of Corrections) in fiscal years 2010 and 2011. The amount in FY2010 is to be $1.1 million. This is a $600,000 increase in Education Fund dollars transferred from the prior year, and would be the first time Education Fund monies have been appropriated for the Community High School other than for special education costs.

· This bill would eliminate 16 V.S.A. § 1564, the technical education equipment replacement fund.

House Approves $14.6 Million for School Construction Aid

H.441 appropriates $7.3 million to existing state obligations for school construction aid. H.445, the annual capital bill, appropriates another $7.0 million for existing school construction aid obligations. H.445 also appropriates $300,000 for emergency projects, and $43,555 for school emergency shelters. Both bills were approved by the House in April; if the numbers do not change when the two bills are considered by the Senate, a total of $14.6 million will be made available this year for school construction and renovation. According to the Department of Education, that would leave unfunded approximately $28 million in other approved state aid for school consolidation that various districts are waiting to receive.

Senate Committee Bills Approved by Senate

In our Education Legislative Report of March 31, we reported that the Senate Education Committee had introduced two bills, S.127 and S.136. We also described those bills in detail in the March 31 Report. Since that time, both bills have been approved by the full Senate and have been sent to the House Education Committee for consideration. S.127, a bill related to tuition payments and designation of public schools, was approved without amendment.

Senators Sears and White introduced an amendment to S.136, the High School Completion bill, that removed the words “evidence-based” where it appears in relation to dropout prevention programs, and the amendment was approved by the Senate.

Senate Committee Bills Holds Hearing on Autism

The Senate Education Committee held a five-hour hearing on April 7 on the subject on autism. Witnesses who testified were either parents of children with autism or individuals affected by autism. Many of the people who testified were unhappy with the special services that their children had received or were receiving. The complaints ranged from the specific services offered, the progress or lack of progress their children received a result of the services, and in some cases, the relationship between school district personnel and parents. We expect that the topic of Vermont’s system of care for children with autism will be a continuing discussion in the Senate Education committee.

The House Education Committee has also heard from providers of services to children with autism.

New Education-related Bills Introduced

The following bills pertaining to education have been introduced by one or more legislators between March 26^th and April 10^th. To read a bill as introduced, or to follow its progress after introduction, go to http://www.leg.state.vt.us/database/status/status.cfm and enter the number of the bill. The statements of purpose following each bill below may be abbreviated forms of the statements contained in the bills as introduced.

H.431 AN ACT RELATING TO MISCELLANEOUS ADJUSTMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RETIREMENT SYSTEMS

Introduced by: The Committee on Government Operations

Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to (1) clarify the current practice of freezing retirement benefits for state employees and municipal employees when a beneficiary returns to active employment that mandates they again become a contributing member of the respective system; (2) amend language created during the 2008 session to allow newly hired group F plan members to be eligible for full COLA when they retire; (3) eliminate one option for reduced retirement allowances for state employees; (4) clarify the definition of “teacher” for purposes of qualifying for membership in the teachers’ retirement system; (5) eliminate the ability for a municipal employee member to work under “reduced hours” for a three-year period; (6) clarify that the decision of a municipality to join the municipal employees’ retirement system is irrevocable; (7) eliminate the required 90-day absence period after separation of service for municipal employees, and provide for the retirement board to determine what the required period of separation should be; (8) authorize the municipal employees’ retirement board to offer a dental plan to retirees; and (9) authorize the three retirement boards to adopt rules to ensure compliance with federal law.

H.437 AN ACT RELATING TO WAIVING RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR A STUDENT WHO MOVES TO A NEW SCHOOL DISTRICT IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ACADEMIC YEAR

Introduced by: Reps. Obuchowski, Deen, Moran, Mrowicki, and Partridge

Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to require a school district to permit a student who moves out of the district during an academic year to complete the academic year under the same terms and conditions as a resident student if the student was a resident student of the school district from the beginning of the academic year through at least December 1 of that year. The bill would permit the district to require the student’s custodial parent or guardian to provide or pay for the student’s transportation between home and school.

H.440 AN ACT RELATING TO COMMON LEVEL OF APPRAISAL USING ONE YEAR’S SALES DATA

Introduced by: Rep. Pellett of Chester

Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to require that formula for calculation of the common level of appraisal use sales and related valuation data only from the prior 12 months.

H.441 AN ACT RELATING TO MAKING APPROPRATIONS FOR THE SUPPORT OF GOVERNMENT

This bill appropriates funds for all state government functions. The public PK-12 education-related portions are described in this legislative report.

H.445 AN ACT RELATING TO CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION AND STATE BONDING

Introduced by: The Committee on Corrections and Institutions

Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to authorize bonding, appropriate capital funds, and address miscellaneous related items.

S.124 AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTION DAY REGISTRATION

Introduced by: Senator White

Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to allow voters to register to vote on the day of an election.

S.127 AN ACT RELATING TO SMALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS THAT PAY TUITION FOR THEIR RESIDENT STUDENTS

Introduced by: Introduced by the Committee on Education

See our Education Legislative Report dated March 31 for a complete report on this bill.

S.136 AN ACT RELATING TO REDUCING THE DROP-OUT RATE IN VERMONT SECONDARY SCHOOLS TO ZERO BY THE YEAR 2020

Introduced by: Introduced by the Committee on Education

See our Education Legislative Report dated March 31 for a complete report on this bill.

S.139 AN ACT RELATING TO CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT POSTSECONDARY INSTITUTIONS FOR VERMONT SECONDARY STUDENTS

Introduced by: Senator Giard

Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to encourage school districts and post-secondary institutions to provide concurrent enrollment options for secondary students within the district.

S.140 AN ACT RELATING TO PROVIDING PARENTS AND LEGAL GUARDIANS THE AUTHORITY TO DETERMINE WHETHER IT IS IN A STUDENT’S BEST INTEREST TO ENROLL IN ANOTHER SCHOOL

Introduced by: Senator Giard

Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to provide parents and legal guardians the authority to decide whether it is in the best interest of a student to enroll in another school.

S.141 AN ACT RELATING TO PROVIDING SPECIALIZED SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY SERVICES

Introduced by: Senator Giard, Brock, and Starr

Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to authorize the commissioners of mental health and of disabilities, aging, and independent living to enter into agreements with any public or private mental health or developmental disability agency for the purpose of providing specialized school-based services to any child or adolescent with severe emotional disturbance or a developmental disability or both.

End