In Response to Special Education Report Required Under Act 73
Montpelier, VT — The Vermont Superintendents Association (VSA) and the Vermont Council of Special Education Administrators (VCSEA) today responded to the Vermont Agency of Education’s newly released
Current State of Special Education Delivery to the Legislature, required by Act 73 of 2025.
Both associations commend the Agency’s collaboration with educators in producing the report and urge policymakers to build on the analysis with a data-informed, student-centered approach. They emphasized the need for caution in policymaking when data is incomplete or inconsistent, warning that rushing to enact new mandates without full information risks compounding inequities and destabilizing the system.
That caution extends directly to Act 73 itself—recently passed legislation that weights the cost of special education services based on disability category, underfunds school districts relative to actual needs for special education, and focuses narrowly on cost containment without offering any improvements to delivery. VSA and VCSEA stress that this is not a call to do nothing. We believe in accountability and in strengthening Vermont’s system of supports. But accountability must be matched with the resources, consistency, and monitoring that make improvement possible.