Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Welcome to House Education on 05/06/2026. Our next speaker this morning is gonna hear from a couple of students from Ethics Lutzford School District talking to us a bit about education transformation in general, and a little more specifically about their thoughts, ideas, concerns with it. Emma, you're up first. You'd come up, introduce yourself, and then we look forward to hearing from you. If you're up for some questions, we'll probably ask some questions.

[Emma Capaluti (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: My name is Emma Capaluti. I'm an eleventh grade student at Essex High School, and I'm one of our school board representatives. I'm here today to share my concerns about how Act 73 could negatively impact one of Vermont's greatest strengths, community engagement. One of the things I love most about living in Vermont is how deeply people care about their schools and communities. Our teachers, families, neighbors, and local board members are not distant figures. They are people we know personally, people who show up at meetings, go to town meetings, come to our schools, theater productions, and soccer games, and work together to support students. In EWSD, we have parent and community volunteers teaching science with the four WINS program. We have the Essex Boosters, who are community volunteers who raise money to support Essex High School athletics and after school clubs. We have parent teacher organizations, a special education parent advisory coalition, the Equity Advisory Committee, the Multilingual Advisory Council, parent volunteers who support theater productions and so much more. Additionally, local businesses provide internships and guidance to current students. As a student, I see every day that decisions made at the local level are not just numbers on a spreadsheet. My concern is that Act 73, by reducing local representation and moving decision making farther from the communities it affects, risks weakening the involvement that makes Vermont schools unique. Vermont schools are strongest when communities have a voice, when families, educators and students feel heard and invested in the outcome. If that connection is lost, we run the risk of returning education to something that happens to communities and not something that builds communities. We urge you to protect that local engagement as you move forward. Thank you for your time.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Great, thank you. So you're on the school board as Essex Westward. One of the things that we are talking about here is making it essentially a requirement that all school boards have student representatives. It's pretty common anyway. Can you talk a little bit about what you think you bring to the school board and Essex Westwood as a student?

[Emma Capaluti (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: I think both sides are fine. We bring a lot of insight from a student's perspective. I think on the school board, a lot of the board members will make decisions what they think is best as adults in our communities, parents or even teachers. But I think having a student who is directly impacted from these decisions they're making, it brings a lot of personal insight as students. And I think also we help the students know what's going on with the board, what's happening in the community on the governance level. And I think it impacts it very positively, and it brings a lot of perspective and representation of the students.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Can you think of a particular issue or moment on the board when they really, they needed student input and they said, Hey, tell us about X, Y, Z. Was there a moment like that this year? Yes.

[Emma Capaluti (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: I would say something that impacts it probably when we had to choose a new superintendent for our district. I think that the previous student representatives were on the board at this time, we were still coming on as we were shadowing the current board members and- Excuse me. They helped make surveys and forums that were for the students in our district to help choose a new superintendent. And I think it's really important that the students get to know who the people are that were in line to become a new superintendent. I think that it helps bring an opinion of the students and what they want and what they need in school.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: The concerns you bring up about further consolidation, these were actually the same concerns that were brought up when Essex Westport was Essex and Westford, and then merged into one. And I guess, you seen I don't know, you were in a much younger grade when all of that took place, but do you think the fact that it has become one school district has been a benefit to everybody there?

[Emma Capaluti (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: I did not live here when that happened. But based on what I've seen, I think it did have positive and negative impacts. I think that was a much smaller region, though. I think now making it a lot bigger will kind of minimize the voice even more than how it was before. But I can't tell you to hold on that because I wasn't here, but based off what I've seen. Well, you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Pleasure. Cyrus.

[Cyrus Lynch (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: Thank you all for having me here. My name is Cyrus Lynch, and I am a junior at Essex High School and one of the two student representatives on the Essex Westford School District School Board. This is my second time testifying to Vermont legislature about the issues surrounding Act 73. I am here today to express my concern about the proposed funding of special education under Act 73. The proposed foundation formula is predicted to underfund special education across Vermont by $59,000,000 Specifically, it would underfund special education in EWSD by $6,000,000 which is over a quarter of our school's entire special education budget. Due to federal maintenance of effort requirements, which prevents school districts from reducing their special education funding, we would be legally required to make up this deficit through cuts in other areas. If we did not meet our maintenance of effort requirements for special education, we would lose an additional $1,400,000 of federal funding. Having to make up $6,000,000 from other places in our district would be incredibly detrimental. For example, taking $6,000,000 out of our budget would be the equivalent of cutting our entire student transportation budget and our entire athletics budget, and it would still fail to fill the deficit. The Essex Westford School District serves approximately 4,000 students, over 30% of whom receive special education services. Our special education services include a full time therapeutic school, a number of integrative clubs and programs, comprehensive individualized plans to achieve student success, and we draw students from all over Vermont to our district. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, students who require special education services are part of one or more of the 14 established categories of disability. These disabilities vary greatly in their impact on the student and include a variety of both physical, intellectual and emotional disabilities. In comparison, under Act 70 three's foundation formula, students would be divided into three levels of weight and funding, depending on the perceived severity of their diagnosis. This would not take individual students into account, instead reducing them to a disability and a label of A, B, or C. This system will never work and is grossly unfair to all students. It is flat out wrong to assume that a shared diagnosis makes one student the same as another. A student with a high level disability may cost significantly less than a student with a low level disability due to dozens of other factors like home life, poverty, social and emotional needs, and primary language spoken. Disabilities are not black and white, and the way that they impact students is incredibly differentiated. I am a student with a five zero four plan, and I receive and benefit from special education services. I often find myself forming a community with other students who receive these services due to our shared experiences. This experience and my experience as a student representative on the EWSD school board has allowed me to meet and connect so many students in my district who receive special education services, and has shown me how wide the scope is of student needs. These needs are not stagnant either. While I've had the same official diagnoses throughout my time in Essex High School, I can say that the level of support I have needed from special education coordinators has fluctuated so much depending on my personal life, my commitments, and my growth as a student and a person. I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak with you all, and I appreciate you listening to me today. I would also like to recognize and thank you all for your work on Bill H955. I know that you are all trying to do what is best for Vermonters. I have a unique perspective as a student and a school board member, which gives me special insight into what funding changes will mean in my day to day life, at my school, and in my education. Because of this position, I believe it is my duty speak up on behalf of my fellow students. I ask you to preserve maintenance of effort and federal funding for special education and to approach cuts to education funding with the utmost caution. Thank you.

[Emma Capaluti (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: Thank

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: you. Cyrus, you know more about special education funding than I'm sure any other eleventh grader across the state, and frankly, than most people in this building. It took me quite some time to understand maintenance of effort. So kudos to you. That was very impressive. You'll be happy to know that sort of classification system for the foundation formula is being reconsidered and is being reevaluated in September precisely for the reasons you just talked about. And I think that we also have language in September specifically calling out maintenance of effort and making sure you don't violate maintenance of effort. I think you also highlight another challenge. I was first here, we passed Act 173, which is all about special education funding and how we deliver special education. And the delivery part sort of got caught up in a lot of underfunding and COVID and changes at the AOE. While the funding part still continued and was put into place and is, I would say, probably underfunded special ed today at that same level. So these are all really important issues. I have no question in that. Was just a first statement I really want to make, that was great. What's your sort of level of engagement on this issue? Are you working with others,

[Cyrus Lynch (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: organizations, or is it really just sort of personal interest of your own? Not only to become so well informed on it. It's something that we're working a lot with on our school board's advocacy committee. We're working with people on CPAC student Special Education Parent Advisory Council,

[Unidentified Committee Member]: I'm sorry, and

[Cyrus Lynch (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: it's something that's very personal to me. I benefit from these services. My mother is a special education coordinator, so it's something that's really been ingrained in my life for a long time, and I feel like that makes it really important for me to speak on. The school board and other groups that I am involved in, we're really focused on this right now, I would say.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: My mother was also a special educator back in the '70s when the precursor to IDEA came on. It was called Public Law 90 four-one 142, and to this day, I

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: can still remember that number because it's all she talked about at the time.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Any questions?

[Unidentified Committee Member]: Do you have a sense that students know much about kind of Act 73 or transformation or sort of the big policy debate that we're having at the state level? Do you think that's trickling down to students? Where do you see that?

[Cyrus Lynch (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: I don't think it is as much as I would like it to be. Me and Emma, are definitely working on educating our fellow students, but it's a slow process. I'd say there are small pockets of educated students who are more involved in their community, but the student body as a whole is not very informed on this issue.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: It's hard. It's a slow moving bill or law that it's going to take years to implement. So it shouldn't be surprising that not everybody is up to date on it, because at this point, nothing has changed, really.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: Just quickly, so appreciate both of you being here. And I'm on a school board, and we have students on our board, and I've often told this committee that the student voice on our board is sometimes the most important voice, because we really need you to be there. I'm curious about, do you this could be the both of you, either of you, but Cyrus, do you have a formal relationship between your student body that you're representing and your board? And is there a process that you go through if there's something happening on the school board that you take back to your student body? Is there like student council or something like that?

[Cyrus Lynch (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: We are actually, right now, there is not a formal process, but me and Emma are working to, by the beginning of next year, founded a student advisory council, which would hopefully involve students from, I think, the sixth grade level up until senior year, so that we can really keep everyone involved. So that's one of our current goals right now, making more connections.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: That's fantastic. Thank you doing that. School boards need it.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: How has been the transition of the Westford grades that were moved from Westford to the larger Essex school?

[Cyrus Lynch (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: I can't speak to anyone's specific experience. I know it has been difficult for a lot of families to find transportation and to change their daily schedules. We visited the Westford School, and we found that the younger students that still attend there seem to be receiving a wonderful education. They're very happy. I've not yet spoke personally with any Westford middle schoolers who had to transfer, but we also visited the EMS middle school, which is where these Westford students would have gone, and the principal is working very hard to ensure that the students feel represented and incorporated into the community. So, I would say it is definitely a long and a difficult process having to change the system like that, but I think it is working.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Any other questions? Well, thank you both very much for coming in and taking the time to speak with us. We probably do not get enough student voice in our own committee as much as we strive to have that happen. I have you available today straight. Thanks.

[Cyrus Lynch (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: Thank you so much.

[Emma Capaluti (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: Thank you, Kevin. Thank you to Matt for going against Rachel Orange.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: Yes, yes, that's an unsaid thing in here. It's Toston theme.

[Emma Capaluti (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: I do have

[Cyrus Lynch (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: copies of my testimony if anyone would like. Oh, great.

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: See, right up there. Thank you so much. You.

[Emma Capaluti (Student Representative, Essex High School, EWSD)]: Have great rest of your day. You too. All right,

[Rep. Peter Conlon (Chair)]: well, are back