An act relating to next steps in transforming Vermont’s education system

Legislative intent section expanded from two brief subsections into a detailed 'Findings; Legislative Intent' section with five findings covering Act 46 implementation results, regional high school benefits, small school closure research, geographic considerations for rural districts, and post-secondary enrollment rates. New intent language added requiring the statewide system to encourage local elementary schools, central middle schools, and comprehensive regional high schools with universal CTE access.

Grand Isle Supervisory Union moved from Chittenden Central CESA to Champlain Valley North CESA, changing the membership composition of both areas.

New policy statement added authorizing two or more school districts, including an existing union school district, to form a union school district for the purpose of providing education to resident students, with intent that formation encourage local decisions, equity, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

New definition of 'supervisory union' added, clarifying that the term also includes supervisory districts and regional career technical center school districts formed under chapter 37, subchapter 5A.

CESA membership fee allocation method specified: fees shall be allocated according to the aggregate average daily membership of each member supervisory union. Nonmember service fees must be based on the amount of services actually provided.

The provision requiring bylaws to include 'the method of termination of the BOCES and the withdrawal of member supervisory unions, which shall include the apportionment of assets and liabilities' is marked as repealed in the unofficial version.

CESA services now must be offered 'when requested and when approved by the CESA board,' adding a conditional approval requirement not present in the official version. Information technology added to the list of business and administrative services CESAs may provide.

Replaced voluntary BOCES formation with seven fixed CESAs whose member supervisory unions are specified by name in the statute. Supervisory unions no longer choose whether to form a cooperative body; they are assigned to a CESA region by law.

New Section 2a expands the minimum services a CESA must offer to explicitly include professional development, curriculum coordination and development, transportation, and facilities master planning, in addition to the existing requirements for special education and business/IT/administrative services.

New Section 13 requires the Vermont Learning Collaborative to hire seven union school district formation facilitators plus one lead facilitator by September 1, 2026. Each facilitator is assigned to one CESA region and must group school districts into merger committees by October 15, 2026.

Merger committee final reports must include analysis of strengths and challenges of current structures, how recommendations enable operational efficiencies under the foundation formula, and if the vote was not unanimous, an analysis of the minority view including how non-recommended districts will meet state quality standards for education, career technical education, and special education.

Merger committees must have a minimum of 2,000 total average daily membership students as practical, school districts must be contiguous, and districts on the same committee may span different supervisory unions. School districts are required to participate in good faith in their assigned merger committee.

The CESA start-up grant amount increased from $10,000 to $15,000 per CESA. Merger committees are funded through General Assembly appropriations rather than the local cost-sharing process previously required under 16 V.S.A. chapter 11.

New transition timeline: CESA board directors appointed within 30 days of passage, officers elected within 45 days, facilitators hired by September 1, 2026, school boards identify committee members by September 15, 2026, and merger committees hold first meetings by October 15, 2026.

New Section 2b requires the River Valley Technical Center School District and Vermont Learning Collaborative to propose a membership adjustment to the General Assembly by December 15, 2027 to formally include River Valley Technical Center as a VTLC member.

Repealed 2024 Acts and Resolves No. 168, Sec. 3 (a transition and report provision), and removed the cap of 'not more than seven BOCESs statewide' since the CESAs are now fixed by statute rather than being formed up to a maximum number.

The term 'boards of cooperative education services' (BOCES) is consistently replaced with 'cooperative educational service areas' (CESA) throughout the bill, including in the chapter title and all statutory references.

The operating document for each CESA changes from 'articles of agreement' to 'bylaws.' The bylaws must still include the same minimum content (names of participating unions, mission, programs, financial terms, service fees, budget procedures, termination method, membership procedures, and board powers/duties).

A statement of purpose is added in the official version summarizing five main proposals: renaming BOCES to CESA, assigning each supervisory union to a CESA, requiring all school districts to participate in a study committee on forming unified union school districts, amending contingent effective dates in 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73, and requiring the Joint Fiscal Office to hire a contractor for prekindergarten education finance recommendations.

The page count increases from 140 to 149 pages, indicating substantial additional content in the official version (likely the study committee provisions and other sections not visible in the truncated diff).

The unofficial version's standalone legislative intent section at the top of the document is restructured; in the official version it appears as Section 1 after the act title, consistent with standard Vermont bill formatting.

The bill tripled in length from 45 pages to 140 pages, indicating major new provisions were added in the House version that are not fully visible in this truncated diff excerpt.

The 'Statement of purpose of bill as introduced' section (which summarized five purposes including renaming BOCES to CESA, assigning supervisory unions to CESAs, requiring study committees for unified union school districts, amending contingent effective dates, and requiring JFO to hire a pre-K finance contractor) was removed, which is standard when a bill moves from introduction to passage.

The 'Introduced by Committee on Education' attribution line and date field were removed, consistent with the transition from an introduced bill to a House-passed version.