Tape No. 99-1, 99-2, 99-3

LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

ON RESTRUCTURING EDUCATION

MINUTES

Meeting of September 29, 1999

The Legislative Oversight Committee on Restructuring Education met at 9:40 a.m. in Room 10 of the State House, Montpelier, Vermont.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Senators Cheryl P. Rivers, Chair; Nancy I. Chard; James H. Greenwood; Jeb Spaulding; Representatives Martha P. Heath, Vice Chair; Karen M. Lafayette; Richard W. Mallary; Robert H. Rusten; Gaye R. Symington.

STAFF PRESENT AT VARIOUS TIMES: Emily Tartter, Anne Winchester and Rachel Levin of the Legislative Council; Catherine Benham and Steve Klein of the Joint Fiscal Office.

Staff distributed the Committee's legislative charge which is to monitor the implementation of the reforms in financing education and educational quality. Steve Klein, Chief Legislative Fiscal Officer, called the meeting to order at 9:40 a.m.

CONVENE, ORGANIZE AND ELECT CHAIR

Steve Klein welcomed Committee members and opened the floor to nominations for Committee Chair. Representative Lafayette nominated Senator Rivers. Steve Klein asked if there were any other nominations. Senator Chard made a motion to close nominations. The motion to close nominations passed unanimously on a voice vote. Steve Klein stated Representative Lafayette's motion in the form of a question for a vote: Shall Senator Rivers Chair the Committee? The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

Senator Rivers opened nominations for Vice Chair. Senator Rivers then made a motion to nominate Representative Heath. Senator Rivers asked if there were any other nominations. Representative Symington made a motion to close nominations. The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote. Senator Rivers stated the motion in a the form of a question for a vote: Shall Representative Heath serve as Vice Chair of the Committee? The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

Senator Rivers thanked the Committee and invited Committee members to contact her at any time regarding agenda items.

REVIEW AND APPROVE NOVEMBER 17, 1998 MINUTES

Senator Rivers suggested taking the November minutes up later in the day. The Committee agreed and then discussed the day's schedule.

DEPARTMENT OF TAXES IMPLEMENTATION UPDATE

Commissioner Sean Campbell updated the Committee on the status of this year's "prebate" checks. He said the preliminary prebate report reflected 114,137 prebate checks had been issued, totaling $59,673,027, at an average of $523 per check. Commissioner Campbell said there were 116,000 prebate applications currently, and more would be coming in.

The Committee discussed with the Commissioner the need for Vermonters to have clear information on prebates and the prebate process and noted that helpful information had been distributed to Vermonters and the media in the past and suggested that it would be important to do again. The Committee also commended Commissioner Campbell and the Tax Department staff for their good work meeting deadlines and answering questions. Representative Symington made a motion for Senator Rivers, on behalf of the Committee, to send a letter to Commissioner Campbell commending Tax Department staff. The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote. Senator Chard made a motion that the Tax Department prepare a prebate and rebate anticipated reconciliation sheet. The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote. Senator Rivers requested that if Committee members had specific technical questions to put them in writing and bring them back for the Committee to consider.

Representative Rusten expressed a desire for statistical information about the income levels of Vermonters who have experienced various degrees of tax relief under Act 60. Senator Rivers requested that any requests Committee members had for statistical development be put in writing for consideration by the Committee. Commissioner Campbell indicated that complete information on prebate figures would not be available until after the reconciliation process was complete when tax forms are filed next year.

Commissioner Campbell said Bill Johnson would review the Equalization Study results with the Committee. He also said the Department was currently looking to fill the hydroelectric appraisal staff position, as well as reviewing finalists for the contract appraisal work.

EQUALIZATION STUDY UPDATE

Bill Johnson, Director of Property Valuation and Review, distributed and discussed a document entitled, Changes to Vermont's Equalization Study. He said that the Department had instituted some of the recommended changes in the document, while others which were recommended hadn't been changed yet because they needed legislative action or because they required more public discussion. At the Committee's request, Bill Johnson said he would mail the executive summary to school and selectboard members and also coordinate with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, the Vermont School Boards Association, and any other appropriate organizations which had newsletters. The Committee asked for an update at the next meeting on those issues, as well as on the CAPTAP program towns were using.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION UPDATE

Bill Reedy, General Counsel, briefed the Committee on issues relating to the Mountain School at Winhall, the school's reapproval and the question of the responsibility of school districts to provide opportunity for an education. Acting Commissioner Marge Petit said the Department had been working in every way they could to come to a resolution. The Committee asked for an update on the reapproval process at the next meeting.

The Committee recessed for lunch and then reconvened.

BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION ON SPECIAL EDUCATION COSTS UPDATE

Jan Westervelt, Commission Chair and Business Manager for the Caledonia Central Supervisory Union, and Stuart Savage, from the Department of Finance and Management, updated the Committee on the Commission's activities. They distributed and discussed the July 1999 Report of The Blue Ribbon Commission on Special Education Costs. After discussion reflecting the Committee's frustration that there is no silver bullet solution recommended, Senator Spaulding said that when you don't know how to solve the problem, you have a study; after you have a study and you still don't know how to solve the problem, you collect data.

Chair Westervelt said recommendations in the report were to improve how we perform what we are currently doing, learn how to better manage it, and train ourselves to do it better. He said this will not solve the cost problem, but it will improve the results. Senator Chard indicated that the Senate Education Committee was meeting in December to begin work on their response to the report.

The Committee thanked Jan Westervelt for the work he did and said they would like to continue the discussion.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION IMPLEMENTATION UPDATE

Acting Commissioner Marge Petit, made available to Committee members copies of a report dated September 1999 entitled, Special Education Program and Fiscal Review Panel: First Year Summary. She said she would make a document available to the Committee which compared special education reports.

Bill Talbott, Chief Financial Officer, and Acting Commissioner Petit, distributed and discussed a document prepared by the Department of Education, dated September 29, 1999 entitled, Medicaid Participation Status Report. Bill Talbott said that the target was to have 87% of children who were eligible for special education participating. He said that 60% were currently participating. Senator Rivers expressed concern that the participation levels were running below the level required to bring in the budgeted amount of Medicaid reimbursement and asked if coordination and cooperation between State agencies was a problem. She said this item would be discussed at a future meeting.

Acting Commissioner Petit discussed a September 29, 1999 memo on the status of Action Planning. She said in Action Plans, according to State Statute, the school shall, through a process including parents, teachers, and community members, develop and implement a comprehensive

Action Plan. She updated the Committee on the status, the support provided to schools, future support schools could expect and grant support available. She said that a review of over 100 Action Plans indicated that more support was needed in the use of local performance data in addition to the state performance results, strategies to desegregate data, and the use of other types of data related to student performance like course taking patterns, learning opportunities, and surveys on student engagement. The Committee requested a list of schools which hadn't submitted Action Plans yet. The Committee also made a request for a future examination of how Action Plans had become a part of the community and expressed interest in understanding what the situation was in communities that had not submitted Action Plans. Representative Rusten asked how school budgets impact the quality of education. Representative Symington asked if the benefits to small schools had been assessed.

Bill Talbott, distributed and discussed a document which listed school budgets and then demonstrated the concept of the Equalized Yield with the use of a prop. His presentation indicated that if school spending increased in receiving towns and decreased or stayed the same in sending towns, the yield would go down. He then presented a document from the Department of Education, dated September 28, 1999 entitled, Preliminary General State Support Grant Recommendation for FY 2001. He said the preliminary General State Support Grant per equalized pupil recommendation level was $5,182.

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE UPDATE

Bill Griffin, of the Attorney General's Office, distributed and discussed a document which outlined the current status of cases relating to the Equal Educational Opportunity Act. He said that all the cases that had been finally resolved, had been ruled in favor of the State.

JOINT FISCAL OFFICE UPDATE

Steve Klein and Catherine Benham of the Joint Fiscal Office distributed and discussed a document outlining issues relating to the Education Fund balance sheet, including lottery receipts, statewide property tax receipts, special education Medicaid reimbursement, cost of minimum yield, special education aid and school construction aid. Steve Klein also announced that Catherine Benham would be leaving the Joint Fiscal Office at the end of the month. The Committee thanked Catherine Benham for her constant help and said that it had been a pleasure to work with her.

PLAN FOR FUTURE MEETINGS AND MEETING SCHEDULE

The Committee discussed agenda items for future meetings. The Committee agreed that they would request, as much as possible, for testimony to be put in writing and sent to Committee members prior to meetings. Representative Rusten asked about the charge of the Committee. Committee members agreed that they took a literal interpretation of the Committee's charge as stated in Act 60, which was to oversee the Act's implementation.

The Committee agreed to the following meetings, to begin at 9:30 a.m. and take place in Room 10 at the State House: Thursday, October 28; Monday, November 8; Tuesday, November 23. The Committee discussed agenda items they would like to take up at future meetings.

The Committee adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Rachel Levin