§ 1694 — Powers and duties of the Standards Board for Professional Educators

In addition to any other powers and duties prescribed by law or incidental or necessary to the exercise of such lawful powers and duties, the Standards Board shall:
(1)(A) Adopt rules pursuant to 3 V.S.A. chapter 25 with respect to the licensing of teachers and administrators, and of speech-language pathologists and audiologists as provided in 26 V.S.A. chapter 87.
(B) Not less than once every five years, review its continuing education or other continuing competency requirements for professional educators. The review results shall be in writing and address the following:
(i) the renewal requirements for licensure and endorsements;
(ii) the renewal requirements in other jurisdictions, particularly in the Northeast region;
(iii) the cost of the renewal requirements for the licensees; and
(iv) an analysis of the utility and effectiveness of the renewal requirements with respect to the purpose set forth in section 1691 of this chapter.
(2) Establish standards for educator preparation programs in Vermont and approve those that meet the standards so that a person graduating from an approved program shall be eligible for a license to engage in teaching or school administration in accordance with Standards Board rules. The Standards Board may accept accreditation of an educator preparation program in Vermont or another state from a national accreditation entity as sufficient for approval.
(A) Each Vermont educator preparation program seeking Results Oriented Program Approval (ROPA) shall be subject to the following fees.
(i) Authority to recommend licensure. Colleges, universities, and other educator preparation programs that have the authority to recommend applicants for licensure shall pay an annual fee of $1,000.00.
(ii) New program initiation. Colleges, universities, and other educator preparation programs that do not have existing approved ROPA programs, or that wish to add an additional program approved by ROPA, shall pay a fee of $2,000.00 for the initial program application.
(iii) Program review. Colleges, universities, and other educator preparation programs with approved ROPA programs shall pay an annual fee of $25.00 for each applicant who completes a program.
(iv) Two-year report. Colleges, universities, and other educator preparation programs shall pay a fee of $500.00 for the review of the two-year report that they are required to submit following their program review. Programs reviewed to be exemplary by the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators may have the requirement of the two-year report waived; in these cases, programs shall not be subject to the two-year report fee.
(v) Visit. Colleges, universities, and other educator preparation programs shall pay a fee of $1,500.00 for the travel, lodging, and meal expenses of the review team. If a program chooses to have a review team chair travel from outside the State under Vermont State Board of Professional Educators (VSBPE) Policy N2, the program is responsible for all additional expenses in excess of $1,500.00.
(B) Fees collected under this section shall be credited to special funds established and managed pursuant to 32 V.S.A. chapter 7, subchapter 5, and shall be available to the Agency to offset the costs of providing those services.
(3)(A) Establish standards, including endorsements, according to which individuals may obtain a license or have one renewed or reinstated.
(B) Adopt rules for an application process to provide licensure to applicants who can demonstrate three years or more of licensed practice in good standing in another jurisdiction within the United States, regardless of whether that jurisdiction has licensing requirements substantially similar to those of this State. The Standards Board may, by rule, exclude an endorsement from the process required by this subdivision (B) if it finds that licensure through this process for the endorsement does not fulfill the goals set forth in section 1691 of this chapter.
(4) Oversee and monitor the application and licensing process administered by the office. The Standards Board may, by adoption of a written policy that is posted on the Agency’s website, allow specific military credentials to satisfy one or more requirements for licensure.
(5) Develop a code of professional ethics and act as advisor to professional educators regarding its interpretation. (Amended 2005, No. 214 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. July 1, 2007; 2015, No. 149 (Adj. Sess.), § 47; 2019, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. April 1, 2021.)