§ 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.)