By Michael Bielawski
A new Scott administration education financing overhaul, announced yesterday, would provide school districts a base amount of state revenue from which they would craft their budget. The idea is to reconnect voters with the impacts of their votes and reign in runaway property taxes, Secretary of Education Zoie Saunders told a joint meeting of legislators Wednesday afternoon.
The ambitious overhaul would involve reshaping school governance, doing away with dozens of existing supervisory unions in favor of five major districts. The districts would be the Champlain Valley region, Winooski Valley region, Northeast region, Southwest region, and Southeast region.
“It allows us to reinvest in teachers’ salaries by reducing administration overhead, improve service delivery by operating at scale, and it increases educational opportunities for all students,” Saunders said.
The plan would entail a simplified statewide property tax and income-eligible homeowners would be able to get some credit back based on their home value. Local communities – if they vote to do so – can add to their school budgets over the base amount.
The administration has also indicated that they desire no rise in property taxes for the next year, they may use one-time funds to achieve necessary spending with no tax increase. Currently, the state predicts a 5.9% rise in property taxes. No decision has been made about the source of the one-time funds.
Easier to understand
Vermont’s Tax Commissioner Craig Bolio highlighted some of the key problems with the status quo for funding education.
“So we have a system that relies on local control as cost containment, is too complicated for people to understand, has little to no guardrails for the state to set reasonable limits, and gives districts few tools to find ways to save,” Bolio said.
He suggested the new plan would be easier to understand and make adjustments to the ever-shifting economy.
“If we move to the foundation formula and this plan, the system will be easier to understand and explain, both for homeowners and school boards, and allows the credit to be more responsive to property value and rate changes in a given year,” he said.
Some schools to close?
The logistics and economics of small schools continue to be a controversy. Some schools may close, Saunders suggested.
“Part of this plan will be to understand which schools are small by necessity and which schools are small by choice,” Saunders said. “Some schools will need to operate on a smaller scale and serve fewer students because they operate in very rural areas. And part of this plan is being very tactical and intentional about defining that criteria.”
Bipartisan support?
House Speaker Jill Krowinski and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth issued a joint statement indicating that the majority party, the Democrats, are willing to work with the administration on a new system.
“We thank the Governor for bringing forward a proposal to transform Vermont’s public education system and we look forward to working together throughout the session,” it states. “The Legislature and the Governor are aligned in the belief that we must take on the serious task of transforming our education system so all Vermont kids have the opportunity to thrive.”
Changes to early education, afterschool programs, and more
On Tuesday morning, Saunders was before the committees to discuss education policies. Some highlights include that Vermont has some of the highest enrollment in early childcare in the country.
“But the state has, you know, the second highest enrollment nationally for three-year-olds and with 71% of age-eligible children last year participating,” she said.
They would also like to expand the offerings of afterschool programs.
“There are certain communities that really need after school [programs], but those schools or community, organizations may need a little bit more support in order to start up, the program,” she said.
And tech centers continue to be a priority for the administration. They also want the tech centers to do their part in keeping students proficient in math and English.
“Currently, only 44% of our CTE [tech centers] concentrators are proficient in English and 53% are proficient in math,” she noted.
How to reach your legislators
Constituents may contact committee members (click link on name for bio, party affiliation, etc.) with comments, questions, and information at the following email addresses:
House Education
Peter Conlon, Cornwall, Chair, pconlon@leg.state.vt.us
Chris Taylor, Madison, Vice Chair, cataylor@leg.state.vt.us
Erin Brady, Chittenden District 2, Ranking Member, ebrady@leg.state.vt.us
Jana Brown, Richmond, Clerk, jbrown@leg.state.vt.us
Joshua Dobrovich, Orange-3, jdobrovich@leg.state.vt.us
Leanne Harple, Orleans 4, lharple@leg.state.vt.us
Robert Hunter, Bennington-4, rhunter@leg.state.vt.us
Emily Long, Burlington, elong@leg.state.vt.us
Kate McCann, Washington-4, kmccann@leg.state.vt.us
Beth Quimby, Caledonia-3, bquimby@leg.state.vt.us
Casey Toof, St. Albans City, ctoof@leg.state.vt.us
Senate Education
Seth Bongartz, Manchester, Chair, sbongartz@leg.state.vt.us
David Weeks, Proctor, Vice Chair, dweeks@leg.state.vt.us
Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Montpelier, kraminsdale@leg.state.vt.us
Nader Hashim, Windham, nhashim@leg.state.vt.us
Terry Williams, Rutland, Clerk, tkwilliams@leg.state.vt.us
Steven Heffernan, Addison, sheffernan@leg.state.vt.us
All committee transcripts are available at www.goldendomevt.com. The committee meeting video is available on the committee’s YouTube channel. The committee meets in the morning in Room 8.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle