Gov. Phil Scott’s education proposal would allow every student to opt into a school choice lottery system within their regional school district. 

Thursday’s testimony in the House Education Committee from Education Secretary Zoie Saunders was the first public explanation of how school choice would work in Scott’s “transformation” plan.

“It’s very provocative,” Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, the committee’s chair, said during the hearing, “and we need provocative.”

The new information on school choice and education governance is the latest aspect unveiled in the administration’s extensive proposal. Last week, Saunders released the details of the governor’s proposed foundation formula, a new way to pay for education that would spend about $180 million less than the state currently spends. 

Week by week, Scott and his team have added more specifics to their cornerstone policy proposal. Lawmakers had been eagerly awaiting more information on school choice, one of the plan’s biggest gaps in the first weeks of the legislative session. 

In Vermont’s current system, many towns offer school choice if their local school districts do not operate public schools for all or certain grades, sometimes offering specific options and other times allowing total choice.

In Scott’s proposed system, every student would be assigned by their district to a public elementary, middle and high school, according to Saunders, with limited exceptions. Each student could also apply for a lottery to attend a “school choice school.” 

Those choice options could be magnet public schools or private schools, and each school district would decide which and how many schools to designate, though every district would need to designate at least one school choice school. Officials did not indicate whether religious schools could receive public funding as they do in Vermont’s existing system. 

The designated schools would need to follow state guidelines related to “educational and financial standards,” according to the proposal, and certain requirements could be set such as a minimum number of school choice students that a private school would accept. 

Despite some state oversight, “select state academic and operational requirements would not apply” to school choice schools, according to the proposal.

The plan attempts to account for existing school choice in the current system. The lottery could provide “preference” for students in towns that have historically had school choice, Saunders said. 

In the proposed system, state money would follow students, meaning school choice schools would be paid directly by the state for the weighted funding associated with choice students. 

Some Democratic members of the committee appeared concerned about providing access to school choice for all students — an expansion compared to the state’s existing system. 

“Not surprisingly, this is a big issue,” Conlon said. “Does this open the door to folks coming in and creating an independent school in competition with the public school system?” 

Jill Briggs Campbell, interim deputy secretary of education, said school districts could decide not to allow a proliferation of “school choice schools” so as not to “drain” students from the public school system. Lawmakers could also set limits on creating new private schools. 

Thursday’s testimony from Saunders also provided more information on the five proposed regional school boards that would oversee all of the state’s public schools. 

The plan recommends school boards with five members, with each member representing a regional “ward” within the district. 

Each school under the proposed system would have a “school advisory committee,” composed of parents, students, teachers and community members. The committee, Saunders said, would play a role in offering budget feedback and could direct some limited amount of discretionary spending.