NO. R-453.  Joint resolution authorizing the legislative council to codify educational charters and agreements as Title 16 Appendix of the Vermont Statutes Annotated.

(J.R.H.53)

Offered by:  Representatives Crawford of Burke, Aswad of Burlington, Branagan of Georgia, Chen of Mendon, Cross of Winooski, Duffy of Rutland City, Endres of Milton, LaVoie of Swanton, McLaughlin of Royalton and Seibert of Norwich.

Whereas, the General Assembly amended and revised significantly the University of Vermont’s charter as No. 66 of the Laws of 1955, entitled “AN ACT TO AMEND NO. 88 OF THE ACTS OF 1865, INCORPORATING THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT AND STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND FOR OTHER  PURPOSES INCIDENTAL TO THE DEFINITION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUCH CORPORATION AND THE STATE OF VERMONT,” and

Whereas, the current version of the University of Vermont’s charter is not widely available to the public as since 1955, the General Assembly has on several occasions amended the charter by uncodified session law, and

Whereas, the system of educational governance in Vermont is based on supervisory unions, town school districts, union school districts, interstate school districts, joint contract districts, city school districts, unified union districts, incorporated school districts, and regional technical center school districts, and

Whereas, the charters and agreements which establish these administrative units serve as the fundamental authorization for these important educational entities, and

Whereas, school administrators, school boards, and the public must refer to these charters and agreements when deciding immediate operational matters or considering changes to a district’s organizational structure or financial policies, and

Whereas, unfortunately, these important charters and agreements are not codified and published, and, consequently, they are difficult to locate even in the districts for which they were established, and

Whereas, school districts, regardless of their organizational structure, when confronting administrative and legal difficulties must be able to locate easily their respective charters or agreements, and

Whereas, the addition to the Vermont Statutes Annotated of a new Title 16 Appendix consisting of the codification of the charter of the University of Vermont and the charters and agreements of the state’s various forms of school districts would be of great benefit to both educators and the public, now therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:

That the legislative council, in consultation with the offices of legal counsel at the University of Vermont and the Department of Education, is directed to create and add a new Title 16 Appendix to the Vermont Statutes Annotated for the purposes of codifying the charter of the University of Vermont and codifying or compiling the charters and agreements establishing and governing supervisory unions, town school districts, union school districts, interstate school districts, joint contract districts, city school districts, unified union districts, incorporated school districts, and regional technical center school districts, and be it further

Resolved:  That the legislative council is authorized to proceed with the codification and publication of the charter of the University of Vermont and the legislatively approved charters of school districts during the 2004 interim, and be it further

Resolved:  That the legislative council is authorized to take all preparatory steps other than publication, with respect to all other agreements related to the formation and governance of school districts and educational administrative entities, and be it further

Resolved:  That educational administrative authorities in the state are strongly urged to work cooperatively with the legislative council in the implementation of this important publication project, and be it further

Resolved:  That the House and Senate committees on judiciary shall review with the legislative council the compilation of the agreements during the 2005 biennial session prior to publication, and be it further

Resolved:  That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to the chief legal counsel at the Department of Education and the University of Vermont.