Vermont Legislative Bienniums
Each biennium has two sessions. Each session is held for about 5-6 months each of the two years approximately from January to June. All bills die at the end of the second year. There is another election and with a new legislature in place the whole process starts all over again with a new list of bills. In recent years, only about 15% of all bills introduced make it through the process. Most "die on the wall." Each year there are less than 10 bills that touch upon home study and bear watching. This is a very small number compared to the hundreds of bills introduced. Over the years, very few of these bills ever made it to the Governor's desk. Click to view Legilsative Statistics or go to the Vermont Legislature's website. Click to view sessions:
2019-2020 Legislative Session 2005-2006 Legislative Session 2003-2004 Legislative Session
2001-2002 Legislative Session 1999-2000 Legislative Session 1997-1998 Legislative Session
1995-1996 Legislative Session 1993-1994 Legislative Session 1991-1992 Legislative Session
1989-1990 Legislative Session 1987-1988 Legislative Session 1985-1986 Legislative Session
Bills often go through multiple versions. These versions are never posted online for public view but are indeed public documents. You can request copies of drafts of these bills from the Committee Assistant. Secondly, the only way to know if any of these bills are under consideration is to ask someone on the Committee if this bill is moving through the process or is it "dead on the wall". Each Committee room has a bulletin board on which they tack a 3X5 card for each bill. Some of those on the bulletin board never go anywhere, so they "die on the wall". It is a good idea for someone to personally watch out for what bills have been introduced and to think how this migh affect homeschoolers. Sometimes it is a direct increase on regulation of homeschooling and sometimes it is indirect. For example, mandatory school age. If the mandatory age is changed, homeschoolers would have to report those extra years. Legislators think about this in terms of the public schools. They rarely think or understand how it might affect homeschoolers.