Chairman Conlon noted for the House Education Committee that the testimony they had received to date on S.304 was concerning to him, particularly with regards to unfunded mandates and transportation to stand-alone schools. He noted that the APA report (Study on the Funding and Governance of Career and Technical Education in Vermont) focused on funding and governance and S.304 does neither. He added that time was not on their side at this point in the session, and he was not sure what he could get done.

Chelsea Myers (Associate Executive Director, Vermont Superintendents’ Association) presented a letter to the Vermont House Education Committee. VSA held two stakeholder feedback meetings in late 2023.  Several core themes emerged from the first meeting including:

1. Many recommendations outlined in the APA Report relating more generally to topics in PreK-12 education.  They should not be discussed in isolation from the overall delivery system, she argued.
2. Coordination and collaboration between entities to ensure equality, quality, and efficiency is essential, this includes the higher education system.
3. There is a need for flexibility and accessibility.
4. Expansion requires additional attention to all of the barriers discussed throughout the APA report, including but not limited to, facilities, transportation, and financial and human resources.
5. As a lever of economic growth in Vermont, any changes to career and technical education should be grounded in a clear vision both statewide and in local communities.

Myers agreed that this bill does little to reflect the recommendations in the APA report. She also noted that a mandate for grades 6 through 8 students to get exposure to CTE would be challenging to coordinate and implement. She worried that the additional requirement might actually shift from an “ecosystem of genuine opportunities to those of compliance.”

While the Association did not discuss this recommendation in its feedback sessions, whichever entity is responsible for oversight of CTE Centers should have the capacity to do so effectively and towards a shared vision of an effective public school delivery system. They did, however, recognize that there is a need for better alignment between CTE Centers and higher education institutions. A seamless secondary to post-secondary to career pathway is critical for Vermont’s economic future, in their opinion.