Vermont H 180: An act relating to the closure of an elementary school

Bill Text

BILL AS INTRODUCED H.180
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H.180 1
Introduced by Representatives Olson of Starksboro, Boyden of Cambridge, 2
Burke of Brattleboro, Burrows of West Windsor, Charlton of 3
Chester, Cordes of Bristol, Greer of Bennington, Harple of 4
Glover, Masland of Thetford, Mrowicki of Putney, Page of 5
Newport City, Pouech of Hinesburg, and Sweeney of Shelburne 6
Referred to Committee on 7
Date: 8
Subject: Education; school district; elementary school; school closure 9
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to create a 10
process by which a school district may be permitted to close an elementary 11
school. 12
An act relating to the closure of an elementary school 13
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 14
Sec. 1. LEGISLATIVE INTENT 15
It is the intent of the General Assembly that: 16
(1) Communities and their community elementary schools should be 17
afforded due process on a case-by-case basis before an elementary school is 18
closed. Elementary schools are not all the same. 19
(2) Before closing a community elementary school: 20

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(A) The community, including students, parents, community 1
members, and teachers, should have a meaningful voice. 2
(B) The educational benefits of the school for students should be 3
carefully considered, especially for at-risk students from historically 4
marginalized groups, students from households with low income, and 5
ethnically or linguistically diverse households. 6
(C) The financial savings associated with closing the school should 7
be objectively analyzed based on credible data, and those financial savings 8
should be measured against all other reasonable savings options. 9
Sec. 2. 16 V.S.A. § 726 is added to read: 10
§ 726. CLOSING AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 11
(a) Definitions. As used in this section: 12
(1) “Close an elementary school” means ceasing to provide educational 13
instruction to all students in the elementary school, or to any subset of grades 14
as they exist as of the date of the proposal to close the elementary school. 15
(2) “Elementary school” means an educational facility for the instruction 16
of students in any configuration of grades prekindergarten through grade eight. 17
“Elementary school” includes an elementary school governed by a union 18
school district and by any other school district governed by an entity that has 19
the authority to close an elementary school without the agreement or consent 20
of the school district or votes of the town or other locality wherein the 21

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elementary school is located. “Elementary school” does not include an 1
elementary school governed by a school district that is exclusively responsible 2
for that elementary school. 3
(b) Closure report. 4
(1) Before closing an elementary school, a school district shall provide 5
public notice of its intent to close the elementary school at least nine months 6
before issuing its elementary school closure report and publish an elementary 7
school closure report not later than 90 days before making a final decision. 8
(2) The district shall provide students, families, community members, 9
teachers, and others a meaningful opportunity to consider and offer comments 10
concerning the report and to file objections to the conclusions reached in the 11
report. Notwithstanding 1 V.S.A. § 316(c) and (d), the district shall respond 12
promptly, without charge, to reasonable requests for the then-existing data and 13
assumptions on which the report is based. 14
(3) The report shall demonstrate, based on credible data, and based on 15
competent, reasonable, and independent analysis of the educational impacts on 16
students, whether: 17
(A) student proficiency scores, social-emotional health, and other 18
measures of student outcomes will improve as a result of the closure; and 19
(B) students from historically marginalized households with 20
marginalized demographics, including students from households with low 21

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income and students from ethnically and linguistically diverse households, will 1
not experience adverse educational outcomes from moving from a local 2
elementary school to a larger school located outside the community. 3
(4) The report shall demonstrate, based on credible data and based on 4
competent, reasonable, and independent financial analysis, whether: 5
(A) A reasonable and credible amount has been ascribed to the 6
financial savings that can be attributed to closing the elementary school. 7
(B) Financial savings options have been considered as alternatives to 8
closing the elementary school and those alternative financial savings, in the 9
aggregate, are less than the amount credibly ascribed to closing the elementary 10
school. Consideration of alternative financial savings shall include: 11
(i) the most