Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Peter Conlon, Chair, House Committee on Education]: Hey. Welcome to House of Education. April 21, something like that. Sounds so good. Alright. Great. As we are trying to do each month, it's a chance for us to visit with the state board, kinda get an update as to where they are, find out if they have questions for us. We are somewhat diminished committee this afternoon, some online, some traveling, some at doctor's appointments, and I'm gonna have to leave in a few minutes as well. But in the meantime, we welcome the chair of the State Board of Education to give us a bit of an update.

[Jennifer Deck Samuelson, Chair, Vermont State Board of Education]: Great, thank you. For the record, Jennifer Deck Samuelson, Chair of the State Board of Ed. First of all, I do want to acknowledge, I think I am the reason why we're meeting today and not next week, because typically we meet, State Board of Ed meets on the third Wednesday of the month, and then I, and Tammy, if she's available, meet with you on the fourth Tuesday of the month. What happened this month because of the way the dates fell, this is actually the third Wednesday. I messed it up. So anyway, I appreciate the committee's flexibility because next week would have been hard for me anyway. But good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me in to talk to you. I had sent kind of a brief overview of the State Board of Eds meeting last Wednesday. We were in person up in Burlington at Edmonds Elementary School, had a fantastic tour of the elementary school and the middle school, learned about the unique programs that they're actually able to have in house because of economies of scale, which was really cool to see. Had a fantastic lunch. And right now, I would say the State Board of Ed meetings themselves, the monthly meetings are not terribly meaty because so much of the work that we're doing right now is in committees. So we are getting our monthly updates from the various committees, but I really think that it won't be until September, October, November that we are going to be really, really getting into the meat of the work that we're doing, which I'm happy to recap for you guys. And I guess the other thing I will throw out and then if you all have questions, I can unpack all of that. I did testify last Thursday before the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development about the CTE proposed updates, And that was, I think, a really helpful conversation for them to hear, you know, how things work from the State Board of Ed's perspective. So I will pause there and just entertain any questions that you all might have.

[Peter Conlon, Chair, House Committee on Education]: Thanks. Could you just remind us what committees are sort of up and running right now?

[Jennifer Deck Samuelson, Chair, Vermont State Board of Education]: Sure. So right now we have the legislative review committee that you've been kind enough to come to on a regular basis, the turning of the tables. That's where we get you to come in and tell the State Board of Ed what's going on, which has been enormously helpful. I really, really think that this has been a really good committee that the Board has stood up. So that's one committee. We have a standing committee, which is the 2200s Approvals Committee. So that is the committee that's charged with receiving, in the first instance, schools that are recommended for reapproval by the secretary. Once the agency has conducted its work, it brings those schools before the twenty two hundred's approvals committee. That is currently chaired by Tom Lovett. And his committee hears from the agency, hears from the schools, and his committee talks about it. And then he will bring his recommendations the committee's recommendations before the full board every month. So that's a standing committee. It will exist in perpetuity. Although we are gonna have to replace Tom, unfortunately, next year when he turns off the board. We also have the student performance standards committee, which is really I guess that too is a standing committee that's set up to take in any standards that arise pursuant to the board's authority in 16VSA 160 four-nine. So like Common Core is one of those performance standards. We just, at our last meeting, ratified a vote that we had had in our March meeting to approve the WIDA standards for English language learners. So that was another standard. The student performance standards committee looked at that, you know, spoke with the agency of education, you know, had some questions, asked for clarification, and once, you know, they were sort of satisfied, they brought their recommendation before the full board. So that is another committee. We also have a couple of committees that have been I've stood up in response to act 73. So we have the class size minimums committee, which will implicate both EQS and 2,200. That committee is chaired by Brian Campion, and my understanding is right now he and Sarah Buxton, who's our attorney, are working with the agency. The agency did a phenomenal job of, doing a lot of prep work on this issue, as I think you all know, because I think the agency generated a report this past January. So we're trying to understand with whom did the agency, consult when they were making these recommendations. Are there any gaps and entities or people that need to be consulted, before the board makes its overlay of recommendations and and really sort of untangles, I mean, untangle is probably not the right word. The board is looking at the agency's recommendations and then, you know, really doing the board's due diligence, because ultimately, these will be the board's recommendations. So that committee is currently looking at the universe of information that has been compiled by the agency, and then we'll go from there. We also have

[Peter Conlon, Chair, House Committee on Education]: Quick question on that. Before

[Chris Taylor, Vice Chair, House Committee on Education]: you move on to the next one, can you as best you can, sort of what do you think the next kind of sequence of things will be on that or when things might start to come to the more public, know, out of committee to the full board or into some sort

[Jennifer Deck Samuelson, Chair, Vermont State Board of Education]: of public input stage? Soon. I do know again, Brian Campion is chairing that committee. He had some prior scheduling issues that have delayed the committee actively working on this, but I think they have a lot of homework in terms of reading the materials from the agency. So my sense is that they will be meeting substantively before the board's next monthly meeting, which is on May 20, I believe. So sometime before May 20, they'll, have committee meetings. And then I think the cadence will be up to the committee whether they meet twice a month, once a month. But I believe we are under a deadline to, have that work done unless it's changed by the legislature. So they will be working on that.

[Chris Taylor, Vice Chair, House Committee on Education]: Okay. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt your flow. That's okay. That's one where you're anxiously waiting and so many things hinge on that. Right.

[Jennifer Deck Samuelson, Chair, Vermont State Board of Education]: We also have our roles and responsibilities committee that has, also been stood up. That too is, underwritten by act 73 because as you may recall, the board did get funding to hire, an attorney. So where we are right now with that is Sarah Buxton is going through not just 16 VSA, 01/1964, 165, and 01/1966, but really the full body of the universe of education law in Vermont and really trying to understand what's delegated to the agency, what's delegated to the board. And I do know that just over time, things have been sort of added on and added on and added on in statute and not necessarily there's there there are places where there is there lacks internal consistency. So she's kind of flagging those areas. And then once she's done and this really is a comprehensive, review that she's doing for us. Once she's done with that review, then the roles and responsibilities committee, again, is gonna, you know, start meeting and looking at her recommendations and having discussions about that and ultimately coming up with, you know, what we feel is appropriate. And then I think we have a December 1 deadline of this year to come back to the general assembly with our recommendations. So, again, this is work that I think is really going to be in committee through the summer and then, you know, probably in the fall, you'll start seeing more full board discussions on these issues. And the last committee, if I'm not forgetting anything, we do have a career tech rule update committee that I actually stood up last year, and frankly tried to this was before the state board of ed was given money to have counsel on retainer. So last year, you know, there there was a modest amount that was in our budget. I tried to, seek approval to put this out to bid, and the response that I got back was, no. You don't have enough money. So, we have a committee, and presumably, if we were to embark on this work now, we would have Sarah, you know, already on retainer to help us. The one issue there, and this is an issue that I raised before house commerce last week, is the money that we've received to hire Sarah really is earmarked to act 73. So if she's being asked or if the board is being asked to do more than that, there would need to be funding behind it. So for instance, if we are asked to update the CTE rules, we would need funding from the legislature to be able to have Sarah assist us with that work. So I just wanna put that out there because the money that we've received has been enormously helpful. I just I hope it will continue.

[Chris Taylor, Vice Chair, House Committee on Education]: Questions from committee members at all? It's great to hear that you're in Burlington and on-site. And I know this was also, I think, part of having a little bit more being better resourced, being able to be back in the field a bit more. Do you have any upcoming field visits?

[Jennifer Deck Samuelson, Chair, Vermont State Board of Education]: So yeah. And actually, I think we've always had money in our budget to do that in person. So just to, you know, kind of set the framework on this. When I came on the board, was August 2020. Right. Everything was remote because it was COVID. But the lesson from that is, I mean, there are good things about being remote. There are also bad things about being remote. And so I've really tried to strike a balance. You know, it's easier for members of the public to Zoom in. And here I am right here today with you guys via Zoom. So there are benefits to being remote, but on the other hand, there's real value in being together. So we try to have a couple of meetings in the spring and a couple of meetings in the fall in person at schools. There's no magic to it. I think it was Tammy who had recommended or suggested Edmonds for this April meeting. We'll be meeting at Lake Region in May to celebrate Caleb Greenwood, who's our senior student member and he'll be graduating and transitioning off the board. So we often we try to hold the main meeting where the senior is graduating. And then I also use these meetings as a chance to celebrate other board members who are transitioning off the board. So I know that we'll have one of our fall meetings will be somewhere in St. Johnsbury to celebrate Tom Lovett. And then I'm not sure where we'll do the other one. Always open to ideas. So anyone can always reach out and say, hey, please come visit us. We would love to.

[Chris Taylor, Vice Chair, House Committee on Education]: Great. Thank you.

[Jennifer Deck Samuelson, Chair, Vermont State Board of Education]: Yeah.

[Chris Taylor, Vice Chair, House Committee on Education]: I don't think no questions here. If there's anything else for us, appreciate you squeezing it in and we'll be in touch.

[Jennifer Deck Samuelson, Chair, Vermont State Board of Education]: Great, thank you so much. Have a good afternoon.

[Peter Conlon, Chair, House Committee on Education]: Thank you.