Bill would create Vermont Skier Development Scholarship Fund, divert $525,000 a year from education fund

Representative Brady presented a bill to create the Vermont Skier Development Scholarship Fund, saying the measure would “decouple elite athletic development, and perhaps economic development from the public, education fund and our education system” by moving support for ski academies into a scholarship program administered by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD).

The proposal would fund up to 20 four‑year scholarships worth $25,000 each for Vermont high school students attending eligible Vermont ski academies, with ACCD administering awards, adopting selection rules, and reporting back to the legislature. The bill calls for an annual transfer of $525,000 from sales and use tax revenues to the new fund; legislative counsel said that sum covers 20 scholarships at $25,000 each plus administrative costs.

Lawmakers pressed sponsors on equity and eligibility. Representative Brady cited Agency of Education (AOE) data saying that, as of 2024, students enrolled in the ski academies were not economically disadvantaged and did not have individualized education programs, raising questions about whether public education dollars should support those schools. “It looks like as of 2024 none of the students enrolled in the ski academies were economically disadvantaged nor had an IEP,” Brady said.

Members also voiced concerns the program could be used by families with second homes or by people who relocate to capture tuition benefits. The bill would require students to have completed eighth grade in a Vermont public school or an approved independent school to be eligible, an attempt sponsors said would limit out‑of‑state gaming but would need rulemaking detail.

Legislative counsel James walked the committee through the bill’s statutory structure: a new subchapter establishing the Vermont Skier Development Scholarship Fund, eligibility rules for schools and recipients, criteria for maintaining awards (athletic progress, academic progress, attendance, injury reporting and return‑to‑sport protocols), and delegation to ACCD for selection criteria and prioritization. Counsel described the fund language and said the first automatic transfer would be triggered July 15, 2026, with an effective date of July 1, 2026.

Several committee members focused on practical effects. Representative Brown said the scale of current public tuition going to ski academies and the cited enrollment figures warranted careful review, observing that “the fact that we’re talking about 100 and change students and $1,900,000 at the Ed Fund tells a pretty compelling first‑glance story.” Other members asked whether the bill’s independent‑school eligibility changes would make several existing independent schools ineligible for town tuitioning and what options students served by those schools would have if that occurred; counsel said the bill does not itself identify which schools meet the new criteria and that those details would be resolved in rulemaking and further committee work.

Sponsor supporters framed the measure as an economic development tool — shifting a niche, elite athletic subsidy out of the education funding stream into a targeted scholarship program overseen by ACCD, with a five‑year sunset and review so the legislature could evaluate return on investment before continuing the program. Representative Brady emphasized the scholarship approach was a starting point for discussion rather than a finished product: “This is not a fully baked ready to go product, but I think it’s an important concept in conversation in the basket of education transformation.”

No vote or formal action was taken at the meeting; the committee paused for a seven‑minute recess and planned further review and detail work on eligibility definitions, funding mechanics, and the independent‑school provisions.