MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A measure to provide public money for students in religious schools to participate in a dual enrollment program allowing high school students to enroll in some college courses was rejected Tuesday by the Vermont House.
The House voted down by a 76 to 65 vote an amendment by Republican Rep. Carolyn Branagan, of Georgia, that would have allowed religious school students to participate in the program.
The House then defeated, 74-67, a separate amendment by independent Rep. Adam Greshin, of Warren, that would have allowed public funding of dual enrollment students from private, nonreligious schools.
Those votes came before the House gave preliminary approval to the underlying bill on education law changes, including a hotly debated provision eliminating a big break on tuition offered to Vermont resident graduate students at the University of Vermont.
Rep. Michele Kupersmith, D-South Burlington, said she would offer an amendment on the UVM provision narrowing its scope when the bill is up for final action on Wednesday, but the UVM change appeared to have crucial support from the House Education Committee, which crafted the measure.
At issue in the dual enrollment debate was who should have access to about $1.1 million the state spends annually on a program that allows high school students to enroll in up to two college courses. Supporters of the program said it gives young people a jump on college and frequently encourages youngsters to become the first generation of their families to attend college.
Branagan said she wanted her amendment to mean that “these kids are Vermonters and have equal access to that money as do kids in public schools.”
But the majority of House members disagreed, with some saying providing public funding to religious school students amounted to unconstitutional government support for religion.
Rep. Johannah Leddy Donovan, D-Burlington, the chairwoman of the Education Committee, argued that issues over religious schools benefiting from public money had not been vetted thoroughly enough in her committee for the measure to be approved.
On the UVM issue, Vermont has had a law since 1959 that in-state students are not to pay any more than 40 percent of the tuition paid by out-of-staters, with the exception of its medical school. Vermont residents pay about $7,000 for a 12-credit semester of graduate study, while nonresidents pay nearly $18,000 per semester.
UVM wants to narrow that gap so that it can bring down the costs of online graduate courses for nonresidents without affecting in-state tuition, supporters said.
But opponents said scrapping the so-called 40 percent rule would be a big change that needed more study.
Kupersmith said the amendment she will offer Wednesday will limit the UVM change to eight of the school’s roughly 50 master’s degree and 20 Ph.D. programs, and that the school would have to report back to lawmakers on the impact of the changes on the institution and on in-state students.
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