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The House Education Committee is slated to take up a fundamental change to the way public K-12 schools are funded in Vermont on Friday, when it considers a bill passed by the Senate to implement new per-pupil weighting factors.
The hearing is set for 8:45 a.m. Friday, with Senate Education Committee Chairperson Brian Campion, D-Bennington, and legislative counsel James DesMarais walking the committee through S. 13, a Senate bill establishing an implementation task force.
That discussion is going to be watched carefully, by school districts across the state and by a coalition of Vermonters who say both rural and urban districts have been underfunded by the formula for decades and are pushing for change.
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MONTPELIER â More than a year ago, a study commissioned by the Vermont Legislature concluded the stateâs pupil weighting system â its means of equalizing educational opportunity for rural students, economically disadvantaged students and English language learners â needed to be overhauled.
The potential changes in education property tax bills are significant enough that a bill proposing new weighting factors, considered by the House Education Committee on Tuesday, includes safety valves phasing in the biggest change and phasing in increases for communities where taxes rise more than 20 percent.
The committee was taking up the bill, H. 54, for the first time this season. A âwalkthroughâ led by legislative counsel James DesMarais provided lawmakers with background on the issue, and a step-by-step explanation of the bill.
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MONTPELIER â A bill scheduled for initial review in the Vermont House Education Committee on Wednesday proposes changes in the per-pupil weighting formula for prekindergarten through Grade 12 education.
The main sponsors of the bill, H. 54, represent all three parties in the House as well as independents, and include Reps. Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, Kelly Pajala, I-Londonderry, and John Gannon, D-Wilmington.
The billâs intention is revising the weighting factors used to calculate how to count students in rural districts, economically disadvantaged communities and districts where English is a second language, while mitigating property tax rate increases likely to result from the change.