by Bill Huff
I appreciate Representative Masland keeping the constituents of Windsor-Orange 2 informed about school funding, however trying to justify an 18.5 % increase in just school funding is simply putting lipstick on a pig (bloated budget). A pig Vermonter’s can no longer afford.
All Vermonters have felt the devastating effects of rampant inflation. Everything is wildly more expensive than it was just a couple years ago. Knowing that Vermonters are already struggling to make ends meet, why would our legislators make affordability worse, far worse than it already is? Rep Masland passed some things off as inevitable and “beyond school board’s control.” For the sake of the average Vermonter, you, Rep Holcombe, and the rest of the legislature, must do better.
In Governor Scott’s State of the State address, he mentioned the demographic challenges Vermont faces including the fact that 14,000 fewer kids under the age of 18 reside here now, than did just a dozen years ago. He added, the 18.5% estimated increase in property tax bills is “after we use a $37 million education fund surplus to buy down rates. In total, this would be a quarter billion-dollar tax increase on Vermonters.” He continued, “The Education Fund is now more than $2.1 billion dollars. With fewer than 83,000 Pre-K through 12 students, we’re spending about $25,000 a year per student, among the very highest in the country. It’s the result of an education infrastructure that is too large for the number it serves, so not enough money is making it to the kids.”
We may not be able to directly control the demographic changes in our young population but we certainly can adjust the infrastructure to meet the diminished school population. And we certainly didn’t have to add universal school meals to the education budget last year. That bill alone added $29 million dollars to provide meals for every child regardless of income. That means while some struggle to put food on their own table, their tax dollars are being spent to feed wealthy people’s kids.
Rep Masland stated the $18.5% ed funding doesn’t even consider local school spending and as of January “there is more need in the Ed Fund than current revenues would cover. The testing in schools for contaminants is just getting ramped up. With State standards set substantially BELOW Federal guidelines, local school spending will skyrocket in coming years as buildings are abandoned and new schools built. Think it won’t happen here? This very thing is costing the South Burlington taxpayers around $200 million.
As bad as the education funding news is, it’s the tip of the iceberg when trying to afford to live in Vermont these days. Not only did Rep Masland and Rep Holcombe both vote for the universal school meals, they voted for an across the board 20% DMV fee increase even though the head of the transportation dept stated we didn’t need it. Both voted for a new payroll tax on employees and employers to fund day care in the state.
What they didn’t explain, is how the Legislature created the problem in the first place (2017 legislation that cut the number of VT day cares in half) and the fact they only partially funded the program last year knowing it would take more money this year. The proposal now, to fully fund the program, is a 9-11% income tax increase! This means those same people that struggle to get by, will be charged a payroll tax and higher income tax rates so that a family of four making approximately $175,000 per year can get a child care subsidy.
But don’t despair, the Democratic supermajority has another proposal to make the rich pay their fair share by adding a 3% surcharge for the top 1% of taxpayers. The top 1% of Vermont taxpayers already pay 48% of all the income tax collected. And congratulations if you make over $154,000 annually. You are part of the top 10% of Vermont taxpayers that pay 98% (figures from VT Tax Dept 2021) of the income tax collected! Not that this proposal would lower the tax bill for any of us, it just raises more money to spend.
Let’s not forget, taxpayers are now going to be on the hook for the $16.5 million EB-5 fraud perpetrated a decade ago. Insurers won’t cover it. And the flood recovery and resiliency bill proposes another $18.5 million to be added to tax bills. The Affordable Clean Heat Act will cost us all millions but nobody can tell us how many millions because the “Rube Goldberg” (Sen. Dick McCormick’s words, not mine) machine that makes this all work is still trying to be built. Hours before the Governor’s speech, the legislature overrode his veto of the new bottle bill that took another 2 million dollars from Vermonter’s pockets.
The Governor also vetoed a bill that would effectively double our legislators pay and benefits at taxpayer’s expense. Apparently, our legislators can’t afford Vermont either? The bill is already back this year. So much for serving the public. Vermonters don’t want, nor can we afford a full-time legislature. There were several efforts last year to shorten the session to save money but the supermajority wouldn’t even consider it.
Rep Masland said Gov Scott had sometimes been unreasonable in asking the legislature to cut spending and “With past as prologue, he’ll also blame the legislature for not doing his bidding.” I wonder who Jim thinks is responsible for the spending if not the legislature? I agree with Governor Scott, Vermont is rapidly becoming unaffordable for even the middle class. More spending and more subsidies is not the answer. If you find yourself in the bottom of a deep hole, the first order of business should be to STOP DIGGING!
The author is a former Orange County candidate for the Vermont Legislature.