Vermont Town Tuitioning and IEP Rights: What Families Must Know

Vermont has one of the most unusual school choice systems in the country. About 90 Vermont towns don't operate their own public schools. Instead, those towns pay tuition for students to attend approved independent schools — places like St. Johnsbury Academy, Burr and Burton Academy, or Rice Memorial High School. For most students, this works smoothly. For students with IEPs, it has historically been a minefield.

The rules changed significantly. Understanding both the new protections and the continuing gaps is essential if your child has an IEP and attends — or may attend — an independent school through Vermont's tuitioning system.

How Vermont's Town Tuitioning System Works

When a Vermont town doesn't operate a public school for a particular grade level, the town must pay tuition for students to attend an approved independent school or a school in another district. The town acts as the "sending school district," and the approved independent school is the "receiving school."

Vermont's approved independent schools are accredited private schools that have chosen to participate in the tuitioning program. They are not technically public schools, but they receive public funding through this system.

Historically, approved independent schools had broad discretion to admit or reject students. Many used admissions processes that effectively screened out students with complex disabilities or high support needs. A family in a tuitioning town whose child had a significant IEP could find that no independent school would accept their child — leaving the town scrambling to find an alternative placement.

What Changed Under Act 73 and State Board Rule 2200

Recent Vermont legislation — Act 73 — and subsequent changes to State Board Rule 2200 fundamentally altered this dynamic.

Under the new framework, any approved independent school that accepts public tuition dollars cannot discriminate against students on the basis of disability. This means:

• Approved independent schools may not use admissions criteria that screen out students based on their disability status or special education needs.
• If an approved independent school accepts a student who has an IEP, it must provide the services required by that IEP.
• The school cannot accept a student and then fail to implement the IEP, claiming it lacks the resources or staff.

This is a significant shift from the prior rules, which allowed independent schools to decline enrollment for students with disabilities. Parents who were previously told "that school doesn't take IEP students" should revisit that assumption — the legal landscape is different now.

Who Is Legally Responsible for FAPE?

Despite these changes, here is the critical legal reality: the sending town school district remains the legally responsible party for ensuring Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

The independent school may be delivering the education day-to-day, but the LEA — the town school district that issued the tuition payment — remains accountable under IDEA. This matters for several reasons:

If the independent school doesn't deliver IEP services properly, the complaint goes to the town school district, not the independent school. The town district must either compel the independent school to comply or arrange alternative services.

If the IEP team determines the student needs services the independent school cannot provide — say, a full-time behavioral paraprofessional or a specialized reading specialist — the town district must figure out how to provide them, even if that means contracting separately.

If the independent school wants to make a change to how services are delivered, it cannot do so unilaterally. Any change to the IEP requires a full IEP team meeting with the parent's participation and, where appropriate, written consent.

The IEP Meeting When Your Child Attends an Independent School

The IEP team composition looks slightly different in a tuitioning situation. The independent school's staff — including the person responsible for special education coordination at that school — should participate. The town district's special education director (usually at the Supervisory Union level) must also be involved.

This creates a situation where two institutions are at the table, and they may have different interests. The independent school wants to minimize its operational complexity; the town district wants to minimize cost. Your job is to keep both focused on what your child actually needs.

Before each annual review, get clarity on:

• Which institution is responsible for each specific service listed in the IEP.
• How progress monitoring will be communicated to you, and by whom.
• What happens if a service provider at the independent school leaves mid-year — who is responsible for filling the gap.

Can an Independent School Refuse to Enroll Your Child?

Under the new rules, an approved independent school participating in the tuitioning program cannot discriminate based on disability. However, the rules also recognize that not every independent school has the capacity to serve every student's needs. There is a difference between:

• Refusing to admit a student because they have a disability — this is prohibited.
• Determining, through a proper IEP team process, that the school cannot provide FAPE — this may be legitimate, but must result in the town district finding an appropriate alternative placement, not just denying services.

If an independent school is pushing back on admitting or continuing to serve your child with an IEP, get everything in writing. Ask for a Prior Written Notice (PWN) explaining the decision — the town school district is required to provide one. If the refusal feels like disability discrimination rather than a genuine capacity determination, you can file a complaint with the Vermont Agency of Education or the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

Choosing Between Tuitioning and Out-of-District Placement

Not all students in tuitioning towns attend independent schools through the standard tuitioning program. Some students with more intensive needs are placed in out-of-district therapeutic day schools or residential programs. Vermont has one of the highest rates of separate school placements in the country — 5.27% of students with IEPs, compared to a national average of 2.36%.

For students whose needs can be met in an approved independent school with proper supports, pursuing that option with a robust IEP is often preferable to a more restrictive placement. But the IEP must actually specify the services — not just accept a placement and hope the school figures it out.

The Vermont IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a section specifically on tuitioning and IEP rights, with a framework for evaluating whether an independent school placement will actually deliver FAPE and what to document if it doesn't.

Practical Steps for Tuitioning Families

1. Request the IEP in writing before any school transition. If your child is moving from a public elementary school to a tuitioning program at an independent high school, the IEP must be in place and agreed upon before the transition, not after.

2. Get the independent school's 504/special education coordinator involved early. Knowing who at that school will oversee your child's services before day one prevents gaps.

3. Confirm that the independent school's staff has read and understood the IEP. You can request a brief meeting with the person responsible for implementation in the first week of school.

4. Know that you can reconvene the IEP team anytime. If services aren't being implemented, send a written request to reconvene. Address it to both the independent school and the town district's special education director.

5. Document everything. In a split-responsibility situation, documentation is the only clear record of what was agreed and by whom.

Vermont's town tuitioning system is genuinely distinctive — there's no national playbook that covers it. Getting it right for a student with an IEP takes specific knowledge of both state law and the practical dynamics between town districts and independent schools.

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