VERMONT SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION
VERMONT SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCAITION
VERMONT PRINCIPALS’ ASSOCIATION
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January 6, 2012 - Issue #1
This week, limited parking, snow, and the Vermont General Assembly returned to Montpelier. This being the second half of a biennium and an election year, conventional wisdom holds that the session will conclude around the first weekend in May. Prior to adjournment, legislators will be asked to balance a state budget (including a projected $46 million revenue-expenditure gap) and consider a host of fiscal and social policies concerning the impact of Tropical Storm Irene. On Thursday, Governor Shumlin commented extensively on Vermont’s response to the storm in his “State of the State” speech to the General Assembly; next week, the Governor is scheduled to present his budget proposal to the Assembly.
Also in the State of the State, Shumlin announced his support for new funding streams for dual enrollment programs that allow high school students to enroll in college courses. Among other topics relevant to public education, Legislators will be asked to set property tax rates and address other Education Fund issues, including a consideration of an education tax abatement bill for those properties affected by the storm. The Picus consulting group will issue an extensive report on education finance (a “working draft” has been released, see the article below for more information). Governance and Act 153-related conversations begun in last year’s session will receive fresh attention as well.
Throughout the session, you can expect to receive regular issues of this Education Legislative Report, published jointly by the VSBA, VSA, and VPA. If you have questions or concerns regarding the content, contact your Association’s executive director or David Cyprian, Legislative Analyst for VSA, VSBA, and VPA (dcyprian@vtvsba.org).
School board members, superintendents and principals, take note. As elected or professional leaders of your school districts and supervisory unions, you can and should serve in an important role as a voice for public education. As your state Associations, we strive to be strong representatives of the concerns of education officials but there is no substitute for contact between Legislators and their local constituents. Read our Reports, keep abreast of issues, and form or strengthen relationships between yourself and the representatives elected from your districts. Here is a link to contact information for Legislators organized by each supervisory union:
http://www.vtvsba.org/legcontact.html
We look forward to working with you and with state policymakers to address our shared challenges during the upcoming year!
Last month, Governor Shumlin publicly urged Vermont’s school boards to level fund education expenditures. Shumlin praised the work of school boards in level-funding budgets overall during FY2011 and FY2012 before recommending they do the same this year. The Governor noted that if budgets were level-funded for the third consecutive year, and the inflationary increase to the base education amount was held to 2.1 percent instead of 4.1 percent, statewide property tax rates would not need to increase.
On the same day as the Governor’s remarks, Tax Commissioner Mary Peterson released a statutorily required report recommending education property tax rates for FY2013. In her letter dated December 1, the Commissioner made the same observations as the Governor regarding level-funded budgets and tax rates. The Commissioner also fulfilled her statutory duty by announcing that if school spending increases 1.7 percent overall (as forecast by the Department of Education and the Joint Fiscal Office), and the base education amount increases 4.1 percent as prescribed by current law, that statewide education tax rates would each need to increase two cents, to $0.89 for homestead property and $1.38 for nonresidential property.
There are a number of upward pressures on education tax rates. At the top of the list are declining enrollments and grand list values, increasing labor and energy costs, and reductions to General Fund contributions to the Education Fund in recent years. The Governor’s proposal to limit the increase in the base education amount to 2.1 percent would put additional pressure on homestead tax rates. Tax abatements resulting from Tropical Storm Irene are expected to decrease revenue to the Education Fund by $2-4 million. Finally, no one can predict with accuracy what amount of spending voters will approve in school budgets this spring. Each of these variables contributes to uncertainty with regard to a prediction for FY2013 tax rates. Stay tuned.
Although it can sometimes be difficult to predict what issues will grab the attention of Legislators and subsequently become the subject of bills in a given session, certain topics appear destined for serious consideration. What follows is a preview of several issues that we are reasonably confident will be under consideration this year.
This month, a House committee will take testimony on a bill that would require teachers who do not join recognized collective bargaining organizations (i.e., unions) to pay an agency fee. The bill would also cover school administrators, where administrator bargaining units exist, and employees of the state judiciary system. An agency fee is a fee assessed to employees who do not join a recognized bargaining unit but do work under a contract negotiated by the bargaining unit. The bill is scheduled to be considered by the House General, Housing, and Military Affairs Committee next week.
Act 25 of 2005 established agency fees as a mandatory subject of collective bargaining between recognized teacher organizations and school board negotiating councils. H.239, if passed, would remove agency fees from collective bargaining negotiations and establish the fee for all school district employees statewide.
The Legislature crafted a so-called “green cleaning” bill last year that would require distributors of cleaning products to schools to only sell environmentally-preferable products where they are available. The bill was not enacted in 2011 but it appears to be an early priority of the 2012 session. The House approved a version of the bill on Wednesday and it will be resubmitted to the Senate for final consideration next week. The most recent version of the bill would also require cleaning products distributors to provide trainings to school personnel at no cost to school districts.
The House Education Committee began taking extensive testimony on Act 153 this week. The Committee is likely to consider introducing legislation that would make modifications to the mechanics of Act 153 without changing its underlying principles. We will report on developments in the Committee’s deliberations in our next issue.
Legislators may continue examination of a bill that would replace the position of Commissioner of Education with a Secretary of Education appointed directly by the Governor. The bill would also amend the composition of the State Board of Education to require that several seats on the Board be reserved for active education officials and practitioners (all members of the Board would still be appointed by the Governor, as is current law).
Two bills introduced last year would require approved independent schools to meet all the standards required of public schools before they would be eligible to receive public tuition dollars. The bills received some attention from both Education Committees last year but neither was approved. We expect the issue generally will receive renewed attention this year; notably, the specific language in the bills may be restricted in scope or otherwise modified.
The Lawrence O. Picus and Associates consulting group has released a working draft of its evaluation of Vermont’s education finance system that was commissioned by the 2011 Legislature. A public hearing on the working draft will be held January 9.
Link to an executive summary of the Picus report draft:
Link to the full text of the Picus report draft:
What follows is a summary of the primary findings in the draft report:
· The current funding system meets the goals established by the Vermont Supreme Court and Acts 60 and 68.
· Equity across districts, as defined by access to resources, has improved since the passage of Act 60. Vermont’s education finance system meets or nearly meets most benchmark definitions of equity.
· Equality of per pupil spending across districts has increased, although this was not a stated goal of Act 60 or 68.
· Vermont ranks near the top of national rankings both for education spending per pupil and student achievement on standardized assessments.
· The Picus group undertook case studies of five Vermont schools that made significant improvements to NECAP assessment scores in recent years and reported on 11 common themes and strategies utilized by these schools to improve student performance.
Members of the consulting team will visit Vermont next week to meet with Legislative committees and the public. The public hearings on January 9 will take place at the following dates and times:
It is a common practice in the General Assembly to direct state officials and departments, often in conjunction with stakeholder groups, to participate in “summer study” committees and to make reports on issues of interest to policymakers. These study reports frequently form the basis for draft legislation in the following session. What follows is a compilation of all education-related study committees with reports due in 2012. Each report can be expected to generate discussion among legislative committees and may lead to potential action.
See the article above for
a complete description of this study.
Due: January 1, 2012
A state regulation requires that all new teachers receive mentoring supports. The Legislature directed several groups to convene and write a report that will make recommendations regarding mentoring practices that would increase teacher retention and teaching skills.
Due: January 15, 2012
In March of 2007, the state instituted a moratorium on new state aid for school construction projects that remains in effect today (emergency projects and consolidation projects were exempted from the moratorium). The Department of Education has been directed to issue a report that would consider the costs of repealing the moratorium. The Department is also asked to examine alternative methods and formulas for funding school construction projects.
Due: January 15, 2012
The Commissioner of Labor, in consultation with the VSBA and other interested parties, is directed to study the issue of potentially offering unemployment benefits to school-year-only employees between academic terms (i.e., summer vacation). The report is to analyze the number of employees who would be eligible and the cost of offering such benefits. The report is also to study the potential for schools to coordinate job placement services for these employees. VSBA testified that our best estimate of the cost of providing this benefit would be $3.36 million annually. This estimate is contingent upon the assumption of a 10-week summer benefits period and our best interpretation of federal law (i.e., salaried staff and nearly all paraeducators and instructional assistants would be ineligible for the benefit).
The Commissioner of Labor is also to study and report on the possibility for allowing all school employees the option to receive school-year wages paid over a 12-month period.
Due: January 15, 2012
The Department of Education, in consultation with VSA, the Vermont Driver and Traffic Safety Association, and other interested parties, is directed to explore options for restructuring the delivery of drivers’ education to 15-20 year olds. The exploration is to consider available funding sources among other requirements.
Due: January 15, 2012
The Department of Education is directed to report on current and planned use of technology in schools, including a report on schools’ access to broadband internet and students’ access to flexible learning environments, among other issues.
Due: January 15, 2012
The Department of Children and Families, in consultation with our Associations and several other stakeholder groups, is directed to study the laws and rules governing public prekindergarten and to determine recommendations that would simplify the regulation of these programs.
A draft of this report is now available online:
http://education.vermont.gov/documents/EDU-Legislative_Report_2011_Act_58.pdf
Current law requires towns and cities to act as tax collection agents for Vermont’s statewide education property tax. This role incurs administrative costs to towns but also generates revenue in the form of state reimbursements for the work and interest generated on tax revenues while those funds reside temporarily in town bank accounts. Since the passage of Act 60 in 1997, the state and municipal governments have debated the relative merits of having the State collect its own education tax, and the Legislature directed the Department of Taxes to study the issue in a report released last summer.
The Tax Department’s report indicates that the Department would be capable of, but not enthusiastic about, assuming the responsibility. The Department estimates that it would cost at least a few million dollars and three years to complete the transition, and the new annual operating cost would be approximately $2.6 million, as compared to the roughly $2 million that the Department currently pays towns for the service. The Vermont League of Cities and Towns favors a switch to state collection, noting that very low interest rates in recent years have diminished any fiscal incentive towns once had to collect, hold, and distribute school funds.
The following education-related bills have been introduced by one or more members of the Legislature as of January 6, 2012. To read any bill’s full text or see its status in the Legislative process, go to http://www.leg.state.vt.us/database/status/status.cfm.
H.461 AN ACT RELATING TO THE REIMBURSEMENT OF STATEWIDE EDUCATION PROPERTY TAXES THAT WERE ABATED DUE TO FLOOD DAMAGE
Introduced by the Committee on Ways and Means
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to authorize the commissioner of taxes to reimburse municipalities for certain property tax abatements granted in the wake of storm flooding.
H.465 AN ACT RELATING TO BAIL IN CASES OF LEWD AND
LASCIVIOUS CONDUCT WITH A CHILD AND TO THE INCLUSION OF HEADMASTERS OF
INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS AS MANDATORY REPORTERS OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
Introduced by Representatives Mook of Bennington and Campion of Bennington
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to categorize lewd and lascivious conduct with a child as a violent act for which bail may be denied if the evidence of guilt is great and the court finds, based upon clear and convincing evidence, that the person’s release poses a substantial threat of physical violence to any person and that no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably prevent the physical violence; and to require independent schools to comply with the same training as school districts with respect to the prevention, identification, and reporting of child sexual abuse and sexual violence, and to add headmasters of independent schools to the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect.
H.474 AN ACT RELATING TO AUTHORIZING PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL CHOICE AND ADJUSTING TUITION PAYMENTS TO REGIONAL TECHNICAL CENTERS
Introduced by Representative Klein of East Montpelier
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to:
(1) authorize public school choice for secondary students residing in a district that maintains a secondary school, with tuition paid by the sending district in an amount not to exceed its education spending per equalized pupil and any excess tuition paid by the student’s parent or guardian; and
(2) compensate a receiving district for real expenses by permitting it to retain a portion of a tuition payment that it would otherwise transfer to a regional technical center, regardless of whether the sending district maintains or does not maintain a secondary school.
S.113 AN ACT RELATING TO PREVENTION, IDENTIFICATION, AND REPORTING OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT AT INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS
Introduced by Senators Sears and Mullin
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to require independent schools to comply with the same training as school districts with respect to the prevention, identification, and reporting of child sexual abuse and sexual violence, and to add headmasters of independent schools to the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect.
S.120 AN ACT RELATING TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FOR
STUDENTS
Introduced by Senator White
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to ensure that students are afforded freedom of expression within the public schools of the state.
S.181 AN ACT RELATING TO SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS
Introduced by Senator Sears
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to exempt school resource officers from the department of education’s rule regulating the use of restraint and seclusion in schools.
S.192 AN ACT RELATING TO GRADE LEVELS WITHIN PUBLIC
HIGH SCHOOL CHOICE REGIONS
Introduced by Senator Westman
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to require that public high school choice regions include grades 7 and 8.
S.193 AN ACT RELATING TO NONSCHOOL RECREATIONAL USE OF
PUBLIC SCHOOL PROPERTY
Introduced by Senator Mullin
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to encourage school districts to make school property available to community members outside the school day for nonschool recreational activities by, among other things, limiting a school district’s liability for loss or injury occurring during such use and requiring the department of education to prepare a model shared-use agreement and other documents to support and promote nonschool recreational use of school property.
S.194 AN ACT RELATING TO CONSOLIDATION OF SUPERVISORY UNIONS
Introduced by Senator Mullin
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to direct the state board of education to consolidate supervisory unions into 16 supervisory unions with approximately the same boundaries as the technical center regions.
S.201 AN ACT RELATING TO EXPANDING PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE FOR ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Introduced by Senator Mullin
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to authorize public school choice for all elementary and high school pupils in the state beginning in the 2013–2014 academic year, to be fully implemented by the 2016–2017 academic year. For the first two academic years, a district that maintains a school would not pay tuition for resident students who enroll in another public school pursuant to this act, and the sending district would continue to count the student within its average daily membership. In the 2015–2016 academic year, a sending district that maintains a school would pay tuition. In the 2016–2017 academic year and after, tuition payments to all private and independent schools would be amended. The options available to pupils residing in districts that currently provide for education by paying tuition will not change.
S.205 AN ACT RELATING TO REQUIRING A STAND-ALONE BILL TO SET THE STATEWIDE EDUCATION PROPERTY TAX BASE RATES EACH YEAR
Introduced by Senator Hartwell
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to require a stand-alone bill to set the statewide education property tax base rates each year.
S.218 AN ACT RELATING TO HIGH-QUALITY, EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Introduced by Senator Kittell
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to increase state subsidies to child care programs offering high-quality, nonschool-based prekindergarten education for children in poverty and to encourage schools wishing to count prekindergarten children within their average daily membership to form relationships with these programs.
S.219 AN ACT RELATING TO A STATEWIDE PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS’ CONTRACT
Introduced by Senator Mullin
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to require that all public school teachers negotiate employment contracts with the state and that the state appropriate necessary funds to pay teacher salaries.
S.233 AN ACT RELATING TO GRADUALLY INCREASING THE
MANDATORY AGE OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
Introduced by Senators Nitka and Starr
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to increase the mandatory age of school attendance to 18 in half-year increments, beginning on July 1, 2013 and ending on July 1, 2016.
S.245 AN ACT RELATING TO REQUIRING CARDIOVASCULAR CARE
INSTRUCTION AS A SECONDARY SCHOOL GRADUATION REQUIREMENT
Introduced by Senators Mullin, Ayer, Benning, Kittell, Lyons, McCormack, Miller and Westman
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to require that all public secondary schools and approved and recognized independent secondary schools provide instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of an automated external defibrillator, and that successful completion of the training would be a condition of graduation.
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