by Guy Page
The known total of Vermont school districts and supervisory unions that rejected proposed school budgets at Town Meeting now numbers 31.
The Washington Central Unified School District (Berlin, Middlesex, Worcester, Calais, and East Montpelier) announced Wednesday night that its budget had failed. The Vermont Superintendent’s Association yesterday afternoon provided to VDC a then-comprehensive list of 29 failed budgets.
Meanwhile, the South Burlington schoolboard immediately went to work preparing a new, smaller budget for voters to consider. The new budget will reduce projected property taxes from 22.5% to 14.5% by drawing on a surplus fund and cutting some curriculum and co-curricular activities, the superintendent said per a WCAX report.
Officials in the Burlington and Winooski school districts say that Act 127, the ‘pupil weighting’ formula that benefits school districts with many pupils from lower-income families, provided much-needed state funding, thus easing the passage of their budgets. It remains to be seen if the Legislature adjusts the formula in ways that reduce this funding.
Many of Vermont’s school districts have yet to vote on the 2025 budget.
| Alburgh | No | Grand Isle SU | |
| Fairfax | No | Franklin West SU | |
| Georgia | No | Franklin West SU | |
| Holland | No | North Country SU | |
| Milton | No | Milton SD | |
| Northfield | No | Central Vermont SU | |
| Rutland Town | No | Greater Rutland County SU | |
| St. Johnsbury | No | St. Johnsbury SD | |
| South Burlington | No | South Burlington SD | |
| South Hero | No | Grand Isle SU | |
| Springfield | No | Springfield SD | |
| Barstow UUSD | No | Rutland Northeast SU | |
| Otter Valley UUSD | No | Rutland Northeast SU | |
| Addison Northwest USD | No | Addison Northwest SD | |
| Champlain Valley USD | No | Champlain Valley SD | |
| Lamoille North MUSD A | No | Lamoille North SU | |
| Harwood UUSD | No | Harwood UUSD | |
| Mt. Abraham USD | No | Mt. Abraham USD | |
| Kingdom East USD | No | Kingdom East SD | |
| Paine Mountain School District | No | Central Vermont SU | |
| Montpelier Roxbury School District | No | Montpelier Roxbury SD | |
| Green Mountain USD | No | Two Rivers SU | |
| Ludlow – Mt. Holly UUSD | No | Two Rivers SU | |
| Champlain Islands UUSD | No | Grand Isle SU | |
| Slate Valley UUSD | No | Slate Valley UUSD | |
| Enosburgh-Richford UUSD | No | Franklin Northeast SU | |
| Missisquoi Valley School Distrist | No | Missisquoi Valley SD | |
| Elmore-Morristown UUSD | No | Lamoille South SU | |
| Barre UUSD | No | Barre UUSD | |
| Northern Mountain Valley UUSD | No | Franklin Northeast SU | |
| Washington Central Unified School District | No | (Berlin, Middlesex, Calais, East Montpelier, Worcester) |