Vermont H. 698: An act relating to establishing a non-opioid directive form

Bill Text

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H.698 1
Introduced by Representatives Feltus of Lyndon, Branagan of Georgia, Burtt 2
of Cabot, Dickinson of St. Albans Town, Gregoire of Fairfield, 3
Hango of Berkshire, Keyser of Rutland City, Nelson of Derby, 4
North of Ferrisburgh, Quimby of Lyndon, and Southworth of 5
Walden 6
Referred to Committee on 7
Date: 8
Subject: Education; school districts; class size minimums; tuition; education 9
finance; State funding of public education; pupil weighting; 10
foundation formula; taxation and finance; education property tax; 11
property tax classifications; grand tax lists 12
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to update 13
various education policies in 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73 to (1) remove the 14
amendment to 16 V.S.A. § 823 that would allow a receiving school to charge a 15
sending school an additional fee for high school students; (2) remove all 16
references to class size minimums; and (3) revert any unused portion of the 17
appropriation made to the School District Voting Ward Working Group to the 18
General Fund upon passage. This bill also proposes to update the foundation 19
formula in 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73 to add a secondary student weight. 20

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Finally, this bill proposes to remove the amendments to Vermont’s property 1
tax classification system added in 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73. 2
An act relating to various changes to 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73 3
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 4
* * * Education Policy * * * 5
Sec. 1. REPEALS; EDUCATION POLICY 6
2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73, Secs. 5 (scale; intent), 6 (16 V.S.A. § 165; 7
minimum class size standards), 7 (failure to comply with class size 8
minimums), and 27 (16 V.S.A. § 823) are repealed. 9
Sec. 2. 16 V.S.A. § 823 is amended to read: 10
§ 823. ELEMENTARY TUITION 11
(a) Tuition for elementary students shall be paid by the district in which the 12
student is a resident. The district shall pay the full tuition charged its students 13
attending a public elementary school to a receiving school for each resident 14
student attending the receiving school an amount equal to the base amount 15
contained in subdivision 4001(16) of this title multiplied by the sum of one and 16
any weights applicable to the resident student under section 4010 of this title. 17
If a payment made to a public elementary school is three percent more or less 18
than the calculated net cost per elementary pupil in the receiving school district 19
for the year of attendance, the district shall be reimbursed, credited, or 20

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refunded pursuant to section 836 of this title. Notwithstanding the provisions 1
of this subsection or of subsection 825(b) of this title, the boards of both the 2
receiving and sending districts may enter into tuition agreements with terms 3
differing from the provisions of those subsections, provided that the receiving 4
district must offer identical terms to all sending districts, and further provided 5
that the statutory provisions apply to any sending district that declines the 6
offered terms. 7
(b) Unless the electorate of a school district authorizes payment of a higher 8
amount at an annual or special meeting warned for the purpose, the tuition paid 9
to an approved independent elementary school or an independent school 10
meeting education quality standards shall not exceed the least of: 11
(1) the average announced tuition of Vermont union elementary schools 12
for the year of attendance; 13
(2) the tuition charged by the approved independent school for the year 14
of attendance; or 15
(3) the average per-pupil tuition the district pays for its other resident 16
elementary students in the year in which the student is enrolled in the approved 17
independent school Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, or any other 18
provision of law to the contrary, the district shall pay the full tuition charged its 19
students attending an approved independent school in Vermont functioning as 20
an approved area career and technical center. 21

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Sec. 3. 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73, Sec. 8 is amended to read: 1
Sec. 8. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION; RULES; REPORT 2
(a) Rules. 3
(1) The On or before July 1, 2027, the State Board of Education shall 4
initiate rulemaking to amend the Education Quality Standards rule 2000 series, 5
Agency of Education, Education Quality Standards (22-000-003), pursuant to 3 6
V.S.A. chapter 25: 7
(A) on or before August 1, 2026, to ensure compliance with the class 8
size minimum standards set pursuant to 16 V.S.A. § 165(a)(9); and 9
(B) on or before July 1, 2027, to adopt standards for statewide 10
graduation requirements based on standards adopted by the State Board and 11
recommendations from the Ag