§ 821 - School district to maintain public elementary schools or pay tuition - Vermont Statutes

§ 821. School district to maintain public elementary schools or pay tuition

(a) Elementary school. Each school district shall provide, furnish, and maintain one or more approved schools within the district in which elementary education for its pupils is provided unless:

(1) The electorate authorizes the school board to provide for the elementary education of the pupils residing in the district by paying tuition in accordance with law to one or more public elementary schools in one or more school districts.

(2) The school district is organized to provide only high school education for its pupils.

(3) Otherwise provided for by the general assembly.

(b) Kindergarten program. Each school district shall provide public kindergarten education within the district. However, a school district may pay tuition for the kindergarten education of its pupils:

(1) at one or more public schools under subdivision (a)(1) of this section; or

(2) if the electorate authorizes the school board to pay tuition to one or more approved independent schools or independent schools meeting school quality standards, but only if the school district did not operate a kindergarten on September 1, 1984, and has not done so afterward.

(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, a school board without previous authorization by the electorate may pay tuition for elementary pupils who reside near a public elementary school in an adjacent district upon request of the pupil's parent or guardian, if in the board's judgment the pupil's education can be more conveniently furnished there due to geographic considerations. Within 30 days of the board's decision, a parent or guardian who is dissatisfied with the decision of the board under this subsection may request a determination by the commissioner, who shall have authority to direct the school board to pay all, some, or none of the pupil's tuition and whose decision shall be final.

(d) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, the electorate of a school district that does not maintain an elementary school may grant general authority to the school board to pay tuition for an elementary pupil at an approved independent elementary school upon notice given by the pupil's parent or legal guardian before April 15 for the next academic year; provided the board shall pay tuition for the pupil in an amount not to exceed the least of:

(1) The statewide average announced tuition of Vermont union elementary schools.

(2) The average per-pupil tuition the district pays for its other resident elementary pupils in the year in which the pupil is enrolled in the approved independent school.

(3) The tuition charged by the approved independent school in the year in which the pupil is enrolled. (Added 1969, No. 298 (Adj. Sess.), § 52; amended 1985, No. 71, § 4; 1987, No. 141 (Adj. Sess.); 1989, No. 271 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1, 2; 1991, No. 24, § 11; 2009, No. 44, § 13, eff. May 21, 2009.)