Vermont officials fast-tracked the approvals of two new private schools last week, just days before a statewide moratorium on authorizing new schools took effect.
The last-minute decisions will allow the two schools — the Expeditionary School at Black River in Ludlow, and the Pond Brook Project in Bristol — to receive public tuition money but will subject them to greater state oversight.
“We really felt like, if there was a school that was in process, that was within striking distance of being up for board consideration — we didn’t want the moratorium to prevent that school from being considered,” said Jennifer Samuelson, the chair of the State Board of Education.
Board approval does not dictate whether or not a private — also known as independent — school can operate. But schools cannot accept public tuition money for students without approval from the state board, whose members are appointed by the governor. Many independent schools rely on the revenue from public tuition money.
Normally, the approval process is a lengthy, months-long affair, involving work by the Vermont Agency of Education and the state board.
Officials from the state Agency of Education visit a school’s campus, observe the facilities and academic program, and issue a recommendation for or against approval. That report then goes to the school’s administrators, who have up to 30 days to review and respond to its contents. A Board of Education committee then reviews the agency’s recommendations and decides whether or not to greenlight the school’s application. Finally, the full board must issue a decision on whether to approve the school or not.
But this year, schools faced a new barrier: a July 1 moratorium on all new independent school approvals, recently imposed by the Vermont Legislature.
Samuelson, the state board chair, said that by the time the Legislature passed the moratorium, there was not enough time for a school to complete the entire approval process.
“But we were aware of schools that had, you know, in good faith, started the process,” she said.
So state officials sped up the timeline. The Agency of Education conducted campus visits in June, and submitted reports within weeks. The Board of Education then scheduled a June 28 meeting of the board’s independent schools committee, followed by a June 29 special board meeting for final approval — just two days before the moratorium took effect.
A spokesperson for the Agency of Education did not provide answers to emailed questions. It was unclear if other schools were in the middle of the approval process when the moratorium took effect.
One of the newly approved schools, the Pond Brook Project, is “an experiential, outdoor-oriented” school for seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders, said Eric Warren, the program’s director. The school is operated by the outdoor education nonprofit Willowell Foundation.
Pond Brook first applied for approval in January, according to Warren. Administrators there “were very nervous” about the looming moratorium, he said, and had spoken to his state representatives about it.
“All of them that we talked to had all assumed that we were not going to be able to get this through,” he said. “And so we were getting resigned to that as well. And so we were pleasantly surprised when they were able to pull it together and get us in there.”
The other school, the Expeditionary School at Black River, had been seeking approval since 2021. But last year, state education officials had recommended against approval, citing concerns about the school’s academics and governance.
Last month, however, the Agency of Education reversed course and recommended that the school be approved. That recommendation, however, came with a series of conditions, including stricter state oversight of the school’s curriculum and staffing. The approval is also for one year only, meaning the school will have to return to the board next year for a renewal of its approval.
“There’s nothing that we’re overly concerned about meeting those conditions,” said Gary Blodgett, chair of the Expeditionary School’s board of trustees.
Without the ability to take public tuition money, administrators, parents, and community members had grown concerned that the Expeditionary School would close. Amid the uncertainty around its future, the head of school had accepted a job elsewhere. But the board’s approval should ensure that the school will open its doors again in the fall, with — Blodgett hopes — around a dozen publicly tuitioned students.
“Everybody is very grateful and glad,” Blodgett said.