The Senate Appropriations Committee on May 16 examined H.454, the education transformation bill, which would replace Vermont’s current education funding with a foundation-based model that multiplies a fixed base amount by a student-weighted count to determine each district’s Educational Opportunity Payment (EOP).

The proposal sets a base amount of $14,541 per student and creates additive weights for grade level, economic disadvantage, multiple English-language-proficiency tiers, newcomer status, small-school sparsity, and a contingent career-technical-education (CTE) weight. Under the measure, a district’s EOP would equal its weighted long-term membership multiplied by the base amount.

The change aims to make funding “follow the student,” John Ray, Office of Legislative Counsel, told the committee. He said the bill’s weighting rules are additive so a student could carry multiple weights (for example, grade-level plus English-learner and economic-disadvantage weights). Julie Richter of the Joint Fiscal Office noted the bill’s chosen base amount was calibrated so statewide payouts would be roughly consistent with fiscal 2025 spending.

A five-year transition would phase districts from their FY2025 spending to their calculated EOP. Committee discussion clarified the math: the “transition gap” equals the difference between a district’s FY2025 spending and its computed EOP; each year one-fifth of that gap is applied as an adjustment to smooth increases or decreases in funding.

H.454 would also create a separate local supplemental district spending (SDS) tax for voter-approved spending above the EOP. The bill caps SDS-eligible voted increases at 10% of the product of the base amount and the district’s unweighted long-term membership and requires an equalization mechanism so districts raise the same amount at a uniform notional rate. Money raised in excess of the voted amount through the equalization process would be recaptured into a statewide SDS reserve, first to fix mathematical errors and then to transfer to a school construction aid special fund.

Committee members raised practical and timing concerns. Several senators asked whether implementing this model without finalized school-district boundary maps could yield large, uneven tax effects across communities. Ray confirmed the bill’s rollout is agnostic to whether the legislature enacts new district boundaries and warned districts and voters would need to build budgets quickly to meet a proposed FY2028 rollout.

The committee also discussed legal and analytical risks. A procurement of empirically supported weights and documentation was flagged as defensible if the new formula were challenged in court; staff said using weights grounded in empirical studies reduces legal risk.

The committee adopted a technical amendment adding implementation and appropriation items and later moved the bill out of committee for further consideration. The recorded roll call (see actions array) reflects that motion.

What’s next: the bill would proceed to the Senate floor and carries several contingent and rulemaking elements — for example, AOE rulemaking authority for school-construction aid priorities and appeals — that will shape the final distribution of funds and local tax impacts.