BILL AS INTRODUCEDS.298
2000Page 1
S.298
Introduced by Senator Spaulding of Washington County
Referred to Committee on
Date:
Subject:Education; GED tests; appropriation
Statement of purpose: This bill proposes to stipulate that general education development (GED) exams are to be paid for by the commissioner of education and that no fee is to be charged to the test taker, and to appropriate funds therefor.
AN ACT RELATING TO PAYMENT OF FEES FOR GED EXAMS
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:
Sec. 1. 16 V.S.A. § 1049 is amended to read:
§ 1049. Programs
(a) The commissioner of education may provide programs designed to fit the individual needs and circumstances of adult students. Programs authorized under this section shall give priority to those adult persons with the lowest levels of literacy skills.
(b) Fees for services to adult students shall be:
(1) Adult diploma program:$500.00 per student
(2) General educational development:$5.00 filing fee
$3.00 transcript
The adult diploma program (ADP) means an assessment process administered by the Vermont department of education through which an adult can receive a local high school diploma granted by one of the program’s participating high schools. Fees for the adult diploma program shall be $500.00 per student. The fees may be adjusted pursuant to subdivision 603(2) of Title32.
(c) General educational development (GED) means a testing program administered jointly by the Vermont department of education, the GED testing service, and approved local testing centers through which an adult can receive a secondary school equivalency certificate based on successful completion of the tests of general educational development. Pursuant to subdivision 603(2) of Title 32, these fees may be adjusted. The commissioner shall provide GED exams and answer sheets to testing centers at no charge and shall reimburse a testing center for administrative costs on a per test basis. The state board of education shall adopt a rule establishing the per test cost which it will pay to the testing centers and a procedure for distributing the funds. A testing center shall not charge a fee to a person taking a GED exam. The education department shall not charge a fee for an initial GED certificate. However, the department may charge a fee of $3.00 per certificate to a person requesting a replacement copy or that a copy be sent to another party.
(c)(d) Fees collected under this section shall be credited to a special fund established and managed pursuant to chapter 7, subchapter 5 of Title 32, and shall be available to the department to offset the costs of providing those services.
Sec. 2. APPROPRIATION
The amount of $118,000.00 is appropriated to the Commissioner of
Education for the purpose of purchasing General Education Development exams and for reimbursing testing centers for their costs in administering the exams.
VT LEG 117207.1