- File: Diana Bolton
Updated at 7:16 p.m.
Vermont's Agency of Education is at imminent risk of losing $100,000 in federal funds for failing to comply with reporting requirements related to identification of low-performing schools.
Vermont's Agency of Education is at imminent risk of losing $100,000 in federal funds for failing to comply with reporting requirements related to identification of low-performing schools.
The money represents a quarter of a $400,000 allocation the state was set to receive to administer the federal Title I program, which provides financial assistance to schools with high poverty rates. Around 250 schools in Vermont qualify for Title I funding.
In a letter on Friday to Vermont's interim education secretary, Heather Bouchey, Adam Schott of the U.S. Department of Education wrote that, despite ample warning from the federal government, Vermont Agency of Education officials failed to identify schools that qualified for targeted support and improvement (TSI) and additional targeted support and improvement (ATSI) using data from the 2021-22 school year. Those categories represent the lowest performing Title I schools.
Vermont is the only state to receive such a letter related to the 2021-22 school year, according to a U.S. Department of Education spokesperson.
"Failing to identify schools for TSI and ATSI ... more than a full year after identifications should have occurred, is a significant violation of [federal law]," the letter states. It also says:
A state accountability system provides useful information to school leaders, educators, parents and stakeholders; supports informed decisions about programs and services; and helps allocate resources to support student needs. To maximize the utility of the information, the state must provide it in a timely manner, as close to the beginning of the subsequent school year as reasonably possible.
The feds put the grant on "high-risk status" in July because of the state's failure to submit the required evidence, the letter noted. Now, six months later, Vermont still has not complied.
Federal officials gave Vermont 15 days to show cause, in writing, why the money should not be withheld. If it doesn't, the letter stated, "the Department's action will be considered final."
Schools would not lose out on the money if this comes to pass. Instead, the $100,000 allocation would be given directly to supervisory unions and school districts — known in education parlance as local education agencies, or LEAs — in accordance with federal regulations.
On Monday, the Vermont Agency of Education highlighted that fact in a statement to Seven Days.
"It is important to note that [the U.S. Department of Education] is not taking back any federal funds, rather, they are requiring the state agency to allocate them directly to LEAs," agency spokesperson Lindsey Hedges wrote in the statement. "The Agency is working both internally and with LEAs to mitigate any impacts resulting from the reallocation of funds."
Hedges said the agency has been "working earnestly" to address the state's lack of compliance, noting that the pandemic made it difficult for the state to make the year-to-year comparisons necessary to identify schools that qualify.
Hedges said the agency has been "working earnestly" to address the state's lack of compliance, noting that the pandemic made it difficult for the state to make the year-to-year comparisons necessary to identify schools that qualify.
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In a January 16 email to Seven Days, the governor's press secretary, Jason Maulucci, said second-round interviews of the secretary finalists "have been conducted."
"As the Governor has said, he has full confidence in Interim Secretary Bouchey to lead the Agency as the process unfolds," Maulucci said.
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