2013 Vermont Statutes
Title 16 Education
Chapter 133 STATE FUNDING OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
§ 4011 Education payments

4011. Education payments

(a) Annually, the general assembly shall appropriate funds to pay for statewide education spending and a portion of a base education amount for each adult diploma student.

(b) For each fiscal year, the base education amount shall be $6,800.00, increased by the most recent New England Economic Project cumulative price index, as of November 15, for state and local government purchases of goods and services from fiscal year 2005 through the fiscal year, for which the amount is being determined, plus an additional one-tenth of one percent.

(c) Annually, each school district shall receive an education spending payment for support of education costs. An unorganized town or gore shall receive an amount equal to its adjusted education payment for that year for each student based on the weighted average daily membership count which shall not be equalized. In fiscal years 2007 and after, no district shall receive more than its education spending amount.

(d) [Repealed.]

(e) Early college.

(1) For each 12th grade Vermont student enrolled, the Secretary shall pay an amount equal to 87 percent of the base education amount to:

(A) the Vermont Academy of Science and Technology (VAST); and

(B) an early college program other than the VAST program that is developed and operated or overseen by one of the Vermont State Colleges, by the University of Vermont, or by an accredited private postsecondary school located in Vermont and that is approved for operation by the Secretary; provided, however, when making a payment under this subdivision (B), the Secretary shall not pay more than the tuition charged by the institution.

(2) The Secretary shall make the payment pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection directly to the postsecondary institution, which shall accept the amount as full payment of the student's tuition.

(3) A student on whose behalf the Secretary makes a payment pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection:

(A) shall be enrolled as a full-time student in the institution receiving the payment for the academic year for which payment is made;

(B) shall not be enrolled concurrently in a secondary school operated by the student's district of residence or to which the district pays tuition on the student's behalf; and

(C) shall not be included in the average daily membership of any school district for the academic year for which payment is made; provided, however, that if more than five percent of the 12th grade students residing in a district enroll in an early college program, then the district may include the number of students in excess of five percent in its average daily membership; but further provided that a 12th grade student enrolled in a college program shall be included in the percentage calculation only if, for the previous academic year, the student was enrolled in a school maintained by the district or was a student for whom the district paid tuition to a public or approved independent school.

(4) A postsecondary institution shall not accept a student into an early college program unless enrollment in an early college program was an element of the student's personalized learning plan.

(f) Annually, the commissioner shall pay to a department or agency which provides an adult diploma program, an amount equal to 26 percent of the base education amount for each student who completed the diagnostic portion of the program, based on an average of the previous two years.

(g) The commissioner shall pay to a school district a percentage of the base education amount for each resident student for whom the district is paying a technical tuition to a regional technical center but who is not enrolled in the district and therefore not counted in the average daily membership of the district. The percentage of the base education amount to be paid shall be the percentage of the student's full-time equivalent attendance at technical center multiplied by 87 percent.

(h) The commissioner shall make all payments required by subchapter 5 of chapter 23 of this title.

(i) Annually, by October 1, the commissioner shall send to school boards for inclusion in town reports and publish on the department website the following information:

(1) the statewide average district spending per equalized pupil for the current fiscal year; and 125 percent of that average spending; and

(2) a statewide comparison of student-teacher ratios among schools which are similar in number of students and number of grades. (Added 1997, No. 60, 18, eff. July 1, 1998; amended 1997, No. 71 (Adj. Sess.), 90, 117a, eff. March 11, 1998; 1999, No. 49, 197; 1999, No. 108 (Adj. Sess.), 3, eff. May 10, 2000; 2001, No. 8, 16; 2001, No. 63, 170b; 2003, No. 36, 21, 22; 2003, No. 66, 187b; 2003, No. 68, 16, eff. June 18, 2003; 2003, No. 76 (Adj. Sess.), 25, eff. Feb. 17, 2004; 2003, No. 122 (Adj. Sess.), 174; 2003, No. 130 (Adj. Sess.), 15; 2005, No. 54, 16; 2005, No. 176 (Adj. Sess.), 1; 2007, No. 66, 9; 2009, No. 4, 81, eff. April 24, 2009; 2009, No. 44, 17, eff. May 21, 2009; 2013, No. 77, 8.)