§ 801 - Applicability of Vermont Laws-Article XI - Vermont Statutes

§ 801. Applicability of Vermont Laws-Article XI

A. General school laws. With respect to the operation and maintenance of any school of the district located in Vermont, the provisions of Vermont law shall apply except as otherwise provided in this compact and except that the powers and duties of the school board shall be exercised and discharged by the interstate board and the powers and duties of the union superintendent shall be exercised and discharged by the interstate district superintendent.

B. Vermont state aid. A Vermont school district shall be entitled to receive such amount of state aid for operating expenditures as though its share of the interstate district's expenses were the expenses of the Vermont member district, and as though the Vermont member district pupils attending the interstate schools were attending a Vermont union school district's schools. Such state aid shall be paid to the Vermont member school district to reduce the sums which would otherwise be required to be raised by taxation within the member district.

C. Continued existence of Vermont member school district. A Vermont member school district shall continue in existence, and shall have all the powers and be subject to all of the obligations imposed by law and not herein delegated to the interstate district. If the interstate district incorporates only a part of the schools in the member school district, then the school board of the member school district shall continue in existence and it shall have all of the powers and be subject to all of the obligations imposed by law on it and not herein delegated to the district. However, if all of the schools in the member school district are incorporated into the interstate school district, then the member or members of the interstate board representing the member district shall have all of the powers and be subject to all of the obligations imposed by law on the members of a school board for the member district and not herein delegated to the interstate district. The Vermont member school district shall remain liable on its existing indebtedness; and the interstate school district shall not become liable therefor. Any trust funds and any property not taken over shall be retained by the Vermont member school district and held or disposed of according to law.

D. Suit and service of process in Vermont. The courts of Vermont shall have the same jurisdiction over the districts as though a Vermont member district were a party instead of the interstate district. The service necessary to institute suit in Vermont shall be made on the district by leaving a copy of the writ or other proceedings in hand or at the last and usual place of abode of one of the directors who resides in Vermont, and by mailing a like copy to the clerk and to one other director by certified mail with return receipt requested.

E. Employment. Each employee of an interstate district assigned to a school located in Vermont shall be considered an employee of a Vermont school district for the purpose of the state teachers' retirement system of Vermont, the state employees' retirement system, the Vermont workers' compensation law, and any other law relating to the regulation of employment or the provision of benefits for employees of Vermont school districts except as follows:

1. A teacher in a Vermont member district may elect to remain a member of the state teachers' retirement system of Vermont, even though assigned to teach in an interstate school in New York.

2. Employees of interstate districts designated as professional or instructional staff members, as defined in article I hereof, may elect to participate in the teachers' retirement system of either the state of Vermont or the state of New York but in no case will they participate in both retirement systems simultaneously.

3. It shall be the duty of the superintendent in an interstate district to: (a) advise teachers and other professional staff employees contracted for the district about the terms of the contract and the policies and procedures of the retirement system; (b) see that each teacher or professional staff employee selects the retirement system of his choice at the time his contract is signed; (c) provide the commissioners of education in New York and in Vermont with the names and other pertinent information regarding each staff member under his jurisdiction so that each may be enrolled in the retirement system of his preference. (1975, No. 130 (Adj. Sess.), § 11; amended 1981, No. 165 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)