Vermont 2025-2026 Regular Session

Vermont Senate Bill S0015

Introduced

1/17/25

Refer

1/17/25

Caption

An act relating to providing supplemental reading instruction in all schools

Summary

S.15 amends Vermont’s education law on early literacy and reading instruction. The bill requires public schools and approved independent schools eligible for public tuition that serve grades kindergarten through 3 to provide systematic, explicit, evidence-based reading instruction to all students. It also requires schools to provide supplemental reading instruction to any enrolled student whose reading proficiency is below grade-level standards or otherwise prevents progress in school, and to give parents or guardians information about the student’s reading level based on valid and reliable assessments. The bill also updates existing policy language in 16 V.S.A. § 2903 concerning the state’s literacy framework. It directs the Agency of Education, working with other education and human services partners, to maintain a comprehensive plan for early education and literacy services aimed at ensuring students learn to read by the end of third grade. Approved independent schools receiving public tuition must maintain a grade-level literacy plan addressing screening, assessment, intervention, progress monitoring, and professional learning. The act would take effect upon passage.

Impact

If enacted, S.15 would expand and clarify statutory obligations for elementary reading instruction in Vermont, especially for K-3 schools and publicly funded independent schools. It would strengthen the legal expectation that schools identify struggling readers early, provide targeted intervention, and communicate assessment-based reading information to families. The bill would also reinforce the state’s existing literacy planning framework and tie school-level literacy practices more directly to evidence-based instruction and supplemental supports.

Sentiment

Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes in the provided materials, the overall sentiment appears supportive and policy-driven rather than contentious. The bill is framed around a widely shared goal of improving literacy outcomes and preventing early school failure, with language emphasizing the importance of reading proficiency for student success. No formal opposition, amendments, or recorded roll-call divisions are included in the materials provided.

Contention

No specific points of contention are documented in the provided transcripts or voting history. Potential areas of debate, based on the bill’s requirements, could include the cost and staffing implications of mandatory supplemental reading instruction, the administrative burden of screening and progress monitoring, and how schools—especially approved independent schools—would implement evidence-based instruction and intervention requirements. However, no named stakeholders or opposing arguments are present in the supplied record.

Companion Bills

No companion bills found.

Previously Filed As

VT HB684

In evidence-based reading instruction, further providing for definitions, providing for school entity duties related to evidence-based reading instruction, for school entity duties related to reading screening, for reading deficiency identification and parental notification, for reading intervention plans, for grant program, for funding, for reporting, for accountability and for construction.

VT SB700

In evidence-based reading instruction, further providing for definitions and for evidence-based reading instruction curriculum and providing for reading screening, for reading deficiency and identification, for school entity duties and reading intervention plan, for parent notification, for grants to school entities, for funding and for reporting; and establishing the Evidence-based Reading Instruction Restricted Account.