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Changes to House bill praised by NEK school leader
by Guy Page
A Northeast Kingdom school leader is expressing cautious optimism after the Vermont Senate Education Committee stripped mandatory minimum class sizes from a proposed education reform bill, offering a potential lifeline to small and independent schools across the state’s rural communities.
According to a report in today’s Caledonian-Record, Megan Durling, co-head of the East Burke School, said the changes to House Bill 454 mark a significant step toward protecting access to education in regions like the Northeast Kingdom, where small schools serve as vital community hubs.
H454 passed the House but without a two-thirds majority needed to override a gubernatorial veto. It is now in the Senate Finance Committee, having been sent there by the full Senate following changes made to the original House bill by Senate Education.
“The Senate moved quickly to eliminate the minimum school and class size mandates that would have severely limited educational access to children in our rural communities,” Durling said in a statement. “We are grateful to the Senate Education Committee for recognizing that a one-size-fits-all approach to school operations is not an equitable solution.”
House version of the bill included were mandatory minimum class sizes — 12 students in kindergarten, 15 in grades 1–4, and 18 in grades 5–12 — and district size requirements, which could have triggered school closures in counties like Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans.
Those measures were removed following a unanimous Senate Education Committee vote on May 2 to advance an amended version of the bill. The revisions reflect growing recognition in Montpelier of the challenges faced by Vermont’s smallest school districts.
The bill still includes changes to the rules for independent schools that accept public tuition. Under the new criteria, these schools must meet two conditions to continue receiving public funding: they must be located in supervisory districts that do not operate public schools for some or all grades, and at least 25% of their Vermont students must have been publicly funded in the current academic year.
Durling, whose school depends on tuition support from local districts, said the updated language provides greater stability while maintaining accountability.
“There’s still more work to do, but this version of the bill shows that lawmakers are listening,” she said. “Rural education needs flexibility — not mandates that ignore geographic and economic realities.”
The bill will next go to the full Senate for consideration before returning to the House, where lawmakers will have to decide whether to accept the Senate’s changes or seek further negotiation.
This article includes information from a May 12, 2025 article in the Caledonian-Record.
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Categories: Uncategorized
The class size number is very important to be included in the new Educational Bill! The senate could put small district schools number, say 400, where they could maintain their class size but if larger must keep numbers set by state! My grandson had 5 students in his 12 th grade English class, rediculous! I understand the 12 to 15 in k to 3, but higher numbers are needed going forward! The best was to control expenses is through class size, how else !
VDC readers: It is long past time to think outside the box. Class size is relevant only in a 19th century education system that forces students to perpetually sit in a public education brick and mortar box (i.e., classroom).
There’s a time and a place for a classroom, to be sure. But it’s not the be all, end all, to successfully educate our children. Far from it.
There’s no point in reiterating here all of the entrepreneurial and inexpensive education options coming to the fore where options are available. They are many… infinite in scope.
But if it’s a Model T you insist on driving, as Henry Ford once famously said, ‘you can have any color you want, as long as its black’.
To all State Legislators (Democrat, Progressive, Socialist, Independent, Republican, as well as all other Parties represented in the Legislative body)
To the State Governor, and Lt. State Governor
To the State Agency of Education
To the numerous group of district School Superintendents (including support staff)
To the numerous group of local School Boards (including support staff)
To the numerous group of local School Administrators (including support staff)
To all State Teachers Unions
To all paid Lobbyists that are involved in any aspect of swaying those in Montpelier
Year after year, the number of students decline, yet the cost to educate each student increases year after year. I believe Vermont currently has the 2nd highest cost per student in the entire country!
Year after year, we see reports that students are not achieving their level of competency, and are falling behind.
If any of you named above, as well as any I have omitted, were sincerely interested in providing the very best education to all of Vermont’s (K through 12) students, in the most efficient manner, and at a level of cost that Vermont’s citizens are able to afford, I have simply one suggestion: SCHOOL CHOICE