Following are a few of the sections of the State of Vermont legislation regarding the responsibilities and governance of technical high schools respective to local regional advisory boards. More information on the relationship of local schools boards and workforce investment boards and their respective roles and responsibilities regarding technical education may be found here.
§ 1541. Responsibility of local boards which manage centers
(a) A school board which operates a technical center has responsibility for providing secondary and adult technical education services within its service region.
(b) A school board which operates a technical center shall establish a regional advisory board. It shall give due regard to the policy and financial recommendations of its regional advisory board. When the school board rejects a written recommendation of a regional advisory board, or fails to adopt such a recommendation after 30 days, it shall so notify the advisory board and the commissioner or designee in writing, stating its reasons. If the state board designates a service region for two or more comprehensive high schools, the boards of the high schools shall establish a joint regional advisory board.
(c) In consultation with its regional advisory board, a school board which operates a regional technical center shall:
- annually set the budget for operation of the center;
- establish the secondary and adult curriculum of the regional center, including courses of study offered;
- whenever advantageous to the service region, provide for the decentralization of its technical programs, including the creation of rotating and satellite programs;
- employ and, as need requires, dismiss an assistant director for adult education and, subject to section 243 of this title, a director of technical education;
- establish admission and program completion policies;
- periodically evaluate the success of the center in serving all parts of its service area and in offering useful adult training and education programs;
- periodically evaluate the quality of each course of study offered by the center;
- coordinate use of the center with the Vermont state colleges, other state programs, including licensing, job training and apprenticeship programs, and with other approved institutions, for the provision of postsecondary technical education programs and charge fees not exceeding actual direct and indirect costs of the use of the center;
- offer programs designed to acquaint prospective students with technical programs, but which do not require an enrollment commitment;
- After giving due consideration to efficient and cost effective use of the center, establish fees for building and equipment use.
(d) A school board which operates a technical center:
- Shall establish a technical tuition.
- Shall make the center’s facilities and equipment available for providing technical education to adults.
- Shall use and maintain all facilities designed and constructed for technical education in a manner consistent with that purpose, except when those facilities are not needed for technical education and the commissioner or his designee so consents. (Added 1983, No. 247 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1987, No. 238 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 2, 3; 1989, No. 243 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 1991, No. 204 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 4, 7; 1993, No. 233 (Adj. Sess.), § 49d, eff. June 21, 1994; 2007, No. 192 (Adj. Sess.), § 6.004, eff. June 7, 2008.)
§ 1541a. Responsibility of local boards in sending districts
(a) A school board of a sending district which offers public education in grades 11 or 12 shall:
- provide students enrolled in grades 11 and 12 with a genuine opportunity to participate fully and to benefit from technical education;
- provide students enrolled in programs at technical centers transportation between its high school building and the technical center or centers in its designated service region or regions; and
- if the technical center for the region does not offer a course of study desired by a student, pay tuition on behalf of that student who applies and is accepted to another technical center which does offer such a course of study. The district of residence is not responsible for providing transportation for a student attending a technical center under this subdivision.
(b) School boards that maintain secondary schools shall provide the names and addresses of students to the technical center for its region for the limited purpose of the technical center providing information to students and their parents about technical center offerings. (Added 1987, No. 238 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; amended 1991, No. 204 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; 1997, No. 138 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. April 27, 1998.)
§ 1542. Regional advisory board
(a) Each regional advisory board shall consist of:
- one member from each public high school in the center’s service region, elected by and from among the members of that high school board for a term determined by that high school board; and
- the superintendent or his or her designee of each supervisory district or union within the center’s service region; and
- one member elected for a term of three years by the school board of each sending district in the center’s service region which does not have a public high school represented on the advisory board under subdivision (1) of this section; except, that if there are more than three such districts in the center’s service area, the advisory board shall select three school boards to represent the interests of all such districts, shall rotate its selections among the districts, and shall stagger the expiration of initial terms; and
- one member of each independent comprehensive high school board of trustees within a service region, elected by the members of that high school board for a term determined by that high school board; and
- once constituted, the regional advisory board shall elect three additional members for terms of three years to represent the interests of employers or employees, provided that no two terms shall expire in any year.
(b) A regional advisory board, with the consent of the workforce investment board, may delegate its responsibilities to the regional workforce investment board. In this case, the workforce investment board shall become the regional advisory board unless and until the school board which operates the technical center requests that the regional advisory board be reconstituted pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. (Added 1983, No. 247 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1987, No. 238 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 1993, No. 233 (Adj. Sess.), § 49e, eff. June 21, 1994; 2001, No. 33, § 2.)