The Valley Reporter - From the State House

By Dara Torres D-Moretown

Progress on education and healthcare continues

KW Vermont Mad River Valley - Homes, Estates, Condos, and land

While the House education transformation bill (H.454) has passed to the Senate, we're continuing a focus on students and youth. Student leaders have organized a joint hearing of House and Senate Education Committees this Friday, April 25 from 1 to 3 p.m. specifically for students to be heard on the future of education in Vermont. Students can join in person (Room 11 of the State House) or via Zoom; contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to sign up.

Last week, I joined a public viewing of the film, "Can't Look Away", a powerful documentary that reveals how dangerous social media algorithms are fueling a youth mental health crisis. The film was organized by a representative from Fairplay (fairplayforkids.org) and legislators who are advancing bills to protect youth online safety and data privacy (S.69) as well as promoting cell phone-free schools statewide (H.54/S.21). Parents and health care providers showed up to discuss the need for a cell phone-ban during the school day in all Vermont schools. The Education Committee took testimony on H.54 last week, and witnesses included Harwood principal Megan McDonough and students who shared their positive experiences since the school went cell-phone free. In a recent survey, a majority of Harwood students reported being more engaged in classes and feeling more connected to peers, and staff reported powerful and positive changes for the school community, including increased library circulation and decreases in hazing, harassment and bullying incidents.

Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee has been further exploring school construction funding. Members heard from the treasurer’s office and the Vermont Bond Bank on ideas for how to structure school construction funds for infrastructure improvements without damaging the state’s credit rating or driving up the cost of borrowing. The Bond Bank will be testifying to the Senate about adding language to the House education bill (H.454) that strengthens the school construction section of the bill. Many changes and developments on education reform are happening now in the Senate; keep track by finding the Senate Education Committee page on legislature.vermont.gov.

In recognition of the disproportionate impact of medical debt on low- and middle-income families, we passed the "medical debt bill" (S.27) with strong support out of the House. This bill, originally proposed by Treasurer Mike Pieciak, will eliminate up to $100 million in medical debt for low-income Vermonters and exclude medical debt from credit reports. It allocates $1 million to contract with a nonprofit to purchase and forgive qualifying debt and prohibits medical debt from being included in credit reports, shielding Vermonters from long-term financial harm due to health care costs. We also passed two other healthcare bills that originated in the Senate--a bill that establishes a pathway for freestanding birth centers to operate in the state (S.18) and a bill that strengthens protections for those who access or provide reproductive and gender-affirming care (S.28).

April coffee hours