Misuse of Medicaid Reinvestment Funds inconsistent with state law, detracts from essential programs and support services.
Vermont Business MagazineIn a letter sent to the Agency of Education (AOE) today, the ACLU and the Disability Law Project of Vermont Legal Aid are calling for an end to funding school police with Medicaid reimbursements. With assistance from the Police Out of Schools Coalition and Neighbors for a Safer St. Albans, the groups recently learned that AOE has allowed at least two Vermont school systems – Maple Run Unified School District in St Albans and North Country Supervisory Union – to use Medicaid funds to pay for school cops, an apparent violation of state law.
Officials: Vermont ruling on religious school tuition raises questions
Modified: 4/28/2021 9:00:25 PM
When the Vermont Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that public funding couldn’t be used for religious worship or education but could be used for secular classes at religious schools, it left school districts in a bind.
Local school boards and administrators in districts that pay tuition to schools had no yardstick with which to gauge whether payments to a religious school would be funding religion or education. Districts made decisions on their own, with some paying tuition to religious schools and others drawing a bright line.
Last week’s decision by the Vermont State Board of Education requiring three school districts to pay tuition to religious schools, a matter that’s also the subject of litigation in federal court, doesn’t make things any clearer, according to school officials in two of the districts, both of them in the Upper Valley.
Vermont bill proposes eliminating school resource officers Share Updated: 7:05 PM EST Feb 8, 2021 Matt Leighton Share Updated: 7:05 PM EST Feb 8, 2021
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Show Transcript AND THE BILL PROPOSED IN THE SENATE LAST WEEK WOULD BAN THEM ACROSS THE STATE. SEN. RUTH HARDY / (D) ADDISON COUNTY - I HOPE THAT WE ARE ABLE TO FIND ALTERNATIVES TO HAVING ARMED POLICE OFFICERS IN OUR SCHOOLS STATE SENATOR RUTH HARDY IS THE SPONSOR OF A BILL THAT WOULD PREVENT VERMONT SCHOOL DISTRICTS FROM CONTRACTING SERVICES FOR SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS. THE ADDISON COUNTY DEMOCRAT SAYS THAT STATE AND NATIONAL research SHOWs that S-R- OS LEAD TO HIGHER RATES OF DISCIPLINE CASES AND ARRESTS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES AND STUDENTS OF COLOR. SEN. RUTH HARDY / (D) ADDISON COUNTY - NATIONAL CONVERSATION ABOUT THE USE OF POLICE IN ALL SORTS OF SITUATIONS LED ME TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE USE OF SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS IN OUR STATE NORTH COUNTRY SUP
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NVRH and Umbrella Inc. partner to support prevention efforts throughout the Northeast Kingdom
Vermont Business Magazine Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) has received the Vermont Prevention Center of Excellence’s Grant. This grant is a one-year grant opportunity with goals to reduce underage drinking, high-risk alcohol consumption, marijuana and tobacco misuse, prescription drug and stimulant misuse, and illicit stimulants and opioids. In order to build prevention capacity and infrastructure at the community, as well as regional levels, NVRH is partnering with Umbrella Inc.
The grant, which totals $450,000, tackles two components of prevention: the promotion of healthy lifestyles and norms that reduce the risks associated with the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and the reduction of the impact of those at higher-than-average risk for substance misuse. This includes individuals currently experiencing problems related to use.