Data provided by the Agency of Education shows that Vermont schools cumulatively spent about 320 school days closed, or missing at least half their kids, during the 2021-22 school year.
Advocates say students are being pulled out of class without the legal suspension process. During the pandemic, they say, the practice has grown more common.
Many legislative studies solicit specific policy proposals. But others are a way to postpone decision-making on controversial issues.
Amid a shift in Vermont’s funding setup, some districts are set to lose thousands — if not millions — of special education dollars.
“With all due respect, I am unaware that your district has greater public health expertise than the Vermont Department of Health,” Vermont’s secretary of education wrote to a superintendent.
Amid Covid-19 outbreaks, staffing shortages and behavioral problems, Vermont’s students are likely out of class more than ever before.
State officials say Vermont could see 600 to 1,000 new Covid-19 cases a day after the holidays, threatening health care and education systems that are already stretched thin.
At least two school districts — Maple Run in St. Albans and the North Country Supervisory Union — used Medicaid dollars last school year to pay for school police, according to a public records request the ACLU placed with the state. They were reimbursed about $139,000 in total.
The Agency of Education also had to recalculate pupil counts in the Mount Mansfield Union district.
Windham district officials pin the blame for problems back onto the state, arguing all would be fine if it had simply allowed the districts to remain independent.
The Agency of Education told legislators that it needs an additional $7 million to cover costs related to placing students in schools outside of their parents’ home districts.
Sugarbush Resort has announced several changes to its senior management team.
