Instead of making its case to the State Board of Education that it should not be barred from public funds, the I.N.S.P.I.R.E. School for Autism in Brattleboro will shut down.
The year-round therapeutic school informed the Vermont Agency of Education on Friday that it was planning to close its doors Sept. 2. Because the school usually takes a two-week hiatus starting this week, the last day for students will be Thursday.
The school has been on probation since last year, after state investigators concluded that the school’s leaders appeared unaware of their basic duty to offer students content-area instruction. I.N.S.P.I.R.E.’s accounting practices were also shoddy, regulators said, and the school had overcharged districts by at least $136,000.
Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders has since sought to revoke the school’s ability to access publicly-funded tuition. The State Board of Education, which has the final say on which private schools are eligible for public funding, was in the process of scheduling a hearing on the matter.
The school’s decision to shutter represents a major reversal. I.N.S.P.I.R.E. had installed a new executive director, vowed to fight the state, and hired a prominent Burlington law firm to argue its case. In an email Tuesday, the school’s executive director, Lisa Kuenzler, said that the school had been eager to defend itself before the board.
“Unfortunately, due to inaccurate and unfair representations that were made public during this process, we have not received enough contracts for the new school year to keep Inspire financially viable and we recently lost a core teacher to another school,” she wrote.
Most of the school’s students are from out of state. There were four Vermont students enrolled for this school year, according to Toren Ballard, a spokesperson for the Agency of Education, along with two students from Massachusetts and eleven from New Hampshire.
It is unclear how many of those students would have returned next year, or how many have yet to find an alternative placement. Ballard said the state was working with local districts to find a spot for Vermont students.
“Unfortunately, due to inaccurate and unfair representations that were made public during this process, we have not received enough contracts for the new school year to keep Inspire financially viable and we recently lost a core teacher to another school.”I.N.S.P.I.R.E. Executive Director Lisa Kuenzler
Because the school is closing, the state will not hold its planned hearing on whether or not it should remain approved to access public funding. But Ballard said the state retains the option to re-start the hearing process if needed.
The state’s scrutiny of the school was prompted by four former employees, who were fired after raising concerns internally about the school’s practices. The school has denied their firing was retaliatory.
In a joint email, the educators — Melissa McClure, Al Mitton, Suzy West and Violet Witt — said that the school’s closure was “understandable,” but also “disappointing.” The transition for families and students would be difficult, they said.
“We hope that ultimately the result of this long process will be genuine inclusion for all students, and an educational system that stands out as a model for learning, with a foundation of focused support to educators and to the agencies that oversee our schools,” they added.
Therapeutic schools play an important — and expensive — role in the state’s education system. Federal law requires public schools to educate all students. When traditional public schools decide they can’t appropriately serve students with more complex needs, they’ll often pay to send those students to specialized therapeutic schools, like I.N.S.P.I.R.E., which are usually private. The money involved is considerable: the Brattleboro school was authorized by Vermont to charge nearly $99,840 per student this last school year.
I.N.S.P.I.R.E. is only the latest in a string of therapeutic schools to shut down abruptly amidst scrutiny from regulators. Stone Path Academy in Moretown shuttered in 2022 as the state began looking into its finances, and the LiHigh School in Poultney shut down under similar circumstances in 2024, according to VTDigger.
