Vermont S 244: An act relating to the creation of the Vermont State Building Security Board

Bill Text

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VT LEG #385815 v.6
S.244 1
Introduced by Senator Vyhovsky 2
Referred to Committee on 3
Date: 4
Subject: Education; education finance; foundation formula; education 5
transformation; tuition eligibility; approved independent schools; 6
State Board of Education; regional assessment districts; property tax 7
classifications; School Construction Aid Special Fund 8
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to repeal 2025 9
Acts and Resolves No. 73 except changes made to the tuition eligibility criteria 10
for approved independent schools in 16 V.S.A. § 828; the State Board of 11
Education appointment authority changes in 16 V.S.A. §§ 161 and 162; the 12
creation of regional assessment districts; and miscellaneous tax provisions. 13
The bill creates a new property tax classification and an increased rate for 14
residential properties used as second homes and short-term rentals and further 15
creates a new property classification for nonhomestead seasonal residential 16
properties that are taxed like nonhomestead nonresidential properties. 17
An act relating to the repeal of 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73 18

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VT LEG #385815 v.6
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 1
Sec. 1. INTENT 2
With the repeal of portions of 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73, it is the 3
intent of the General Assembly to transform Vermont’s education governance 4
system by: 5
(1) building upon the work of 2015 Acts and Resolves No. 46 by 6
identifying the characteristics of Vermont’s preferred education governance 7
structure or structures and incentivizing school districts to voluntarily merge 8
into larger school districts that satisfy the identified characteristics; 9
(2) leveraging the economies of scale and efficiencies that may be 10
provided through the use of boards of cooperative education services (BOCEs) 11
by creating five to 10 BOCEs that provide membership for each supervisory 12
union in Vermont; and 13
(3) adding the construction of regional high schools to the list of high-14
priority funding areas in the State Aid for School Construction Program 15
operated pursuant to 16 V.S.A. chapter 123. 16
Sec. 2. ACT 73 REPEALS 17
The following sections of 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73 are repealed on 18
passage: 19
(1) Sec. 1 (findings; intent; plan); 20
(2) Sec. 2 (Commission on the Future of Public Education); 21

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VT LEG #385815 v.6
(3) Sec. 3 (School District Redistricting Task Force); 1
(4) Sec. 4 (School District Voting Ward Working Group); 2
(5) Sec. 5 (scale; intent); 3
(6) Sec. 6 (prospective amendment to 16 V.S.A. § 165; class size 4
minimums); 5
(7) Sec. 7 (failure to comply with class size minimums); 6
(8) Sec. 8 (SBE rules; report); 7
(9) Sec. 9 (AOE report; school calendar; graduation requirements); 8
(10) Sec. 10 (SBE rule review; appropriation); 9
(11) Sec. 23 (state-level governance; intent); 10
(12) Sec. 27 (prospective amendments to 16 V.S.A. § 823); 11
(13) Sec. 28 (prospective tuition repeals); 12
(14) Sec. 28a (State Board of Education tuition fee rules); 13
(15) Sec. 29 (special education report); 14
(16) Sec. 30 (AOE special education strategic plan); 15
(17) Sec. 31 (AOE position); 16
(18) Sec. 32 (AOE transformation support); 17
(19) Sec. 33 (AOE positions); 18
(20) Secs. 34–43 (transition to cost-factor foundation formula); 19
(21) Sec. 44 (transportation reimbursement guidelines); 20
(22) Sec. 45 (inflationary measures; prekindergarten; reports); 21

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VT LEG #385815 v.6
(23) Sec. 45a (foundation formula report); 1
(24) Sec. 45b (educational opportunity payment transition); 2
(25) Secs. 46, 47, 49, and 50 (statewide education tax; supplemental 3
district spending tax); 4
(26) Sec. 46a (supplemental district spending tax; cap; transition); 5
(27) Sec. 48 (prospective amendments to December 1 letter); 6
(28) Sec. 48a (tax rate transition); 7
(29) Secs. 51, 52, and 54–56 (property tax credit repeal; creation of 8
homestead exemption); 9
(30) Sec. 53 (homestead exemption report); 10
(31) Sec. 57 (Education Fund Advisory Committee; review of 11
foundation formula); 12
(32) Secs. 60 and 61 (property tax classifications); 13
(33) Sec. 61a (tax classifications transition); 14
(34) Sec. 61b (property tax classifications implementation report); 15
(35) Sec. 61c (tax classifications intent); and 16
(36) Sec. 61d (prospective repeal). 17
Sec. 3. 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73, Sec. 70 is amended to read: 18
Sec. 70. EFFECTIVE DATES 19
(a) This section and the following sections shall take effect on passage: 20

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VT LEG #385815 v.6
(1) Sec. 1 (findings; intent; plan); [Deleted.] 1
(2) Sec. 2 (Commission on the Future of Public Education); [Deleted.] 2
(3) Sec. 3 (School District Redistricting Task Force); [Deleted.] 3
(4) Sec. 4 (School District Voting Ward Wor