§ 823. Elementary tuition

(a) Tuition for elementary students shall be paid by the district in which the student is a resident. The district shall pay the full tuition charged its students attending a public elementary school. If a payment made to a public elementary school is three percent more or less than the calculated net cost per elementary pupil in the receiving school district for the year of attendance, the district shall be reimbursed, credited, or refunded pursuant to section 836 of this title. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection or of subsection 825(b) of this title, the boards of both the receiving and sending districts may enter into tuition agreements with terms differing from the provisions of those subsections, provided that the receiving district must offer identical terms to all sending districts, and further provided that the statutory provisions apply to any sending district that declines the offered terms.

(b) Unless the electorate of a school district authorizes payment of a higher amount at an annual or special meeting warned for the purpose, the tuition paid to an approved independent elementary school or an independent school meeting education quality standards shall not exceed the least of:

(1) the average announced tuition of Vermont union elementary schools for the year of attendance;

(2) the tuition charged by the approved independent school for the year of attendance; or

(3) the average per-pupil tuition the district pays for its other resident elementary students in the year in which the student is enrolled in the approved independent school. (Added 1969, No. 298 (Adj. Sess.), § 54; amended 1989, No. 271 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2003, No. 76 (Adj. Sess.), § 29, eff. Feb. 17, 2004; 2005, No. 54, § 7; 2007, No. 66, § 5; 2009, No. 44, § 13, eff. May 21, 2009; 2011, No. 58, § 30, eff. May 31, 2011; 2015, No. 23, § 23.)