Vermont prohibits any person from knowingly possessing a firearm within a school building or on a school bus.¹ The state also prohibits any person from knowingly possessing a firearm on any school property with the intent to injure another person.² These provisions do not apply to possession of a firearm if the board of school directors (or the superintendent or principal if delegated authority to do so by the board) authorizes possession or use for specific occasions or for instructional or other specific purposes.³ The term “school” is undefined, so it is not clear whether this term applies to colleges, universities, or other postsecondary institutions.

In Vermont, school boards must adopt and implement policies regarding students who bring a firearm to school or possess a firearm at school.⁴ At a minimum these policies must provide that any student who brings a firearm to school or possesses a firearm at school shall be expelled for not less than one calendar year.⁵ The school board may modify the expulsion on a case-by-case basis in certain circumstances.⁶

Technical training centers must also regulate or prohibit firearms on their premises.⁷

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1. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 4004(a).[↩]
2. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 4004(b).[↩]
3. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 4004(c)(2).[↩]
4. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 16, § 1166(b).[↩]
5. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 16, § 1166(b)(2).[↩]
6. Id.[↩]
7. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 16, § 1577(4). The governing board’s policies must meet or exceed these same requirements of Vermont Statutes Annotated title 16, § 1166 and title 13, § 4004.[↩]