The Senate passed a bill Tuesday to expand options for students who want to enroll in college courses before graduating from high school. The legislation now heads to the House.
The “flexible pathways” bill puts on paper one of Shumlin’s education proposals. It ups the number of free courses students can take from one to two, and it sets the stage for establishing early college programs — where students complete their senior of high school and their first year of college at the same time — at the University of Vermont, the Vermont State Colleges, and some private in-state colleges. The bill also makes “personalized learning plans” mandatory for all Vermont students, starting in kindergarten.
The Senate Appropriations Committee reviewed and reported favorably on the bill. The expansion of the dual enrollment program would be funded in part by the sending school district and in part by the state’s workforce development fund. The early college portion of the bill would be funded through the Education Fund. Both programs depend on subsidization from the postsecondary schools. No funding accompanies the “personalized learning plans.”