An act relating to transforming Vermont’s career technical education system

The bill expanded from 5 pages to 16 pages, adding five new sections (Secs. 3-7) with concrete deadlines and statutory amendments, plus four unrelated labor law sections (Secs. 8a-8e).

Secs. 8a-8e add unrelated labor law provisions: an FMLA employee definition amendment, expanded crime victim and domestic violence definitions for employment protections, a provision allowing colleges to retire tenured professors at age 70, a wage-and-hour employee definition amendment, and a new prohibition on non-compete clauses in health care provider contracts (effective July 1, 2026).

New Sec. 3 requires the Agency of Education to issue CTE guidance by September 18, 2026 covering definitions, credit standards, work-based learning safety sequencing, minimum facility standards, Perkins V data alignment, and differentiated regional delivery models.

New Sec. 5 requires a written report to legislative committees by January 15, 2027 with recommendations on CTE educator licensing, a pre-enforcement intervention pathway for mediating disputes between CTE centers and sending districts, a statewide career navigation framework with grade-level competency standards from PK through grade 12, professional development programming, a model career navigation policy, data system gap analysis, and Adult Diploma Program access to CTE.

New Sec. 7 amends 16 V.S.A. section 1545 to prohibit sending schools from altering CTE grades or credits, require all Vermont schools to honor CTE credits toward graduation (including district requirements exceeding state minimums), allow appeals to the Secretary of Education with a presumption favoring CTE participation, and add a specific provision for Vermont Academy for Science and Technology students.

New Sec. 4 amends 16 V.S.A. section 1532 to require the State Board of Education to review CTE rules and procedures at least every five years and update them as necessary.

Sec. 2(1)(D) was strengthened: the original required transportation provision when a locally accessible alternative existed; the enacted version requires state-level funding or coordination mechanism for transportation and expands the protection to any viable alternative program that aligns with the student's intended program of study and meets sequencing and safety requirements.

Sec. 2(5) added a new obligation: where CTE centers cannot become diploma-conferring institutions, high schools are required to award credits recommended by a CTE center.

New Sec. 6 redefines the intended meaning of 'comprehensive high school' from a school that provides secondary CTE to one that fully integrates CTE with general education in one building or campus under a single budget, and requires future recommendations about regional high schools to consider this model.

The effective date changed from July 1, 2026 to 'on passage' (the governor signed on June 18, 2026).

Removed the 'Introduced by' sponsor list (Senators Ram Hinsdale, Bongartz, Clarkson, Hardy, Harrison, Major, Perchlik, Weeks and Westman), committee referral line, introduction date (January 27, 2026), subject line, and the statement of purpose of bill as introduced. These are metadata elements present only in the official version.

Changed the document header from 'BILL AS INTRODUCED AND PASSED BY SENATE AND HOUSE' to 'AS PASSED BY HOUSE AND SENATE' and updated page count from 14 to 17 pages due to reformatting.

Added introductory metadata: list of nine introducing senators, referral to Committee on Education, introduction date of January 27, 2026, subject line, and a statement of purpose summarizing the bill's intent.

Header changed from 'AS PASSED BY SENATE' to 'BILL AS INTRODUCED AND PASSED BY SENATE' and page count increased from 4 to 5 pages due to the added metadata.

Introductory metadata including sponsor names, committee referral line, subject line, and statement of purpose were removed from the bill text, which is standard formatting when a bill passes a chamber.