[A] state rulemaking committee scuttled plans this week to change private school rules.
The State Board of Education wanted to even the playing field between private and public schools that receive taxpayer money. The board had proposed to require private schools to offer open enrollment and special education services, among other changes.
Ninety-six private schools in Vermont receive public money from districts that offer school choice to local families.
In July, the State Board of Education voted to change the rules for private schools that accept public tuition dollars.
The board’s plan to put new mandates in place for private schools was thwarted Monday by the Interagency Committee on Administrative Rules.
That committee, which is led by Gov. Peter Shumlin’s staff, blocked the rule from moving forward.
Stephan Morse, the chair of the State Board of Education, blamed Shumlin for interfering in the process and bowing to the independent schools lobby.
Morse says Shumlin has intervened to halt the process twice — once in August and again on Monday when the rules went before the Interagency Committee on Administrative Rules.
While relaying the previous day’s events to the State Board of Education on Tuesday, Morse said he was “shocked” at what happened. Choking back emotion he added, “Twenty minutes into it (the meeting at ICAR) it was clear to me the decision had already been made.”
Michael Clasen, the deputy secretary of the Agency of Administration who chairs ICAR, opened Monday’s well-attended hearing to public comment. An hour and half later, he read a prepared motion that rejected the proposed changes and sent the rules back to the State Board of Education for revision.
“I don’t think it was a fair hearing at all. I’ve seen this in other places in local and state government over the years but it is very rare and very un-Vermont,” Morse said.
In a phone call, Clasen said the governor did not influence ICAR’s decision.
August was the first time the rules prepared by the Agency of Education over a year long process appeared on ICAR’s agenda. But then — without explanation at the time — they disappeared from the website.
Morse told VTDigger.org that Shumlin had reached out to him and said he wasn’t opposed to the rules but thought the timing was wrong.
“He asked me to delay introducing them until after the election and I honored that.” But after that phone call, Morse said, Shumlin “instructed the Agency (of Education) not to participate anymore in the process. That is why we hired independent counsel.” The SBE hired Chris Leopold to represent them.
Private schools that want to receive public tuition dollars have to be approved by the board and renew that approval every five years; the rules in question guide the process.
Under the new rules, private schools would have to provide special education services and be accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges or the Office of Overseas Schools (part of the U.S. State Department). New financial documentation requirements would also have been put in place.
Private school leaders balked at the proposal. They believe that the new rules will force small private schools to close because they can’t afford to comply with the same rules that public schools do.
The State Board of Education and civil rights advocates say that the new requirements are necessary to ensure all students, including those with disabilities, have access to the same educational opportunities and none are discriminated against.
At Monday’s ICAR meeting, the room was packed with well-heeled lobbyists representing the state’s private schools as well as public school advocates. But only the private school representatives spoke.
Mark Oettinger, the attorney for the Vermont Independent Schools Association, said private schools had implored the Agency of Education to give them a chance to provide stakeholder input.
“We believe many of the issues could be addressed if there were a stakeholder process. We are asking ICAR to ask the SBE to engage in a meaningful stakeholder process prior to the resubmission of a modified set of rules,” Oettinger said.
Both Morse and Moore said that the AOE met with heads of schools during the drafting process.
Rep. Oliver Olsen, I-Londonderry, who is also a trustee for Burr and Burton Academy, spoke at the ICAR meeting Monday. In an interview, Olsen said that AOE met with a “number of stakeholders” over a six-month period. But he said, the process broke down when the rules were voted on in July. “No one actually saw the text of the rules until that meeting on July 29.”
Olsen said the rules were released just a few days before that meeting and they were voted on 10 minutes after being presented to the State Board. Normally the board would read the rules line by line with an attorney and get input from the public and stakeholders, then make adjustments and then submit them to ICAR, according to Olsen.
Oettinger also took issue with the lack of economic impact analysis provided in the proposed rules. He said that the private schools are businesses and therefore an economic impact statement needs to be included.
“These independent schools are small businesses. … There has not been submitted a small business impact statement,” he said.
The State Board of Education said an impact statement was not needed because special education services are still paid for by the local school districts, so even if a private school contracts with or hires special education teachers they are reimbursed for the costs.
Olsen said the process needs to slow down and all the relevant information needs to be included with the proposed rules so that the public can engage in an informed way if they move forward.
Right now, Olsen said, “People are talking over each other like ships passing in the night. I think this is an important issue and we need to continue the discussion. The process has just been, well, it could have been a little better. Rather than rush and have people panic, lets slow it down and have true public engagement.”
Nicole Mace, executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association, who attended Monday’s meeting, didn’t see things the same way — she said ICAR was getting in the way of public involvement because if it had approved the rules the next stage would have been to engage the public in four meetings around the state.
“What happened on Monday, was a well-coordinated attempt by the independent schools to prevent this issue from coming before the public,” she said. She applauded the State Board of Education for trying to get to the rulemaking process to the public meeting stage to ensure all voices could be heard and not just those of the private schools.
At Monday’s meeting, Clasen said that in the six years he has chaired ICAR he had never received written comments on a rule. “I’ve never received comments from the public for any rules with the exception of this one. Twenty-five different individuals wrote me and they have all opposed this rule,” he added.
Then he asked for a recommendation to return the rules to the SBE so it can provide a stronger economic impact statement specifically on small businesses, local school districts and special education services, and he asked for maximum stakeholder and public input prior to resubmission.
Morse pointed out that the rules had been listed on State Board meeting agendas for over a year and anyone from the public that wanted to could comment at any time.
Morse told the members of the state board on Tuesday that he suspected collusion between the administration and private schools. “Given some of the conversations I had with the administration, I think they were behind all of this and orchestrated it with the folks in the Independent Schools Association.”
