Tax letter ‘just a starting place,’ JFO officer cautions
By Guy Page
A day before the Legislature’s Friday, November 30 review of the state’s economic forecast, the Scott administration dropped a bombshell press release: property taxes are likely to increase almost 20% next year due to increased education costs.
Commissioner of Taxes Craig Bolio today released the December 1 education tax rate letter which forecasts the education tax yields for resident homeowners and the non-homestead tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2025. This letter is based on specific calculations outlined in State law and is a result of collaboration by the Department of Taxes, Agency of Education, Department of Finance and Management, and Joint Fiscal Office.
This year’s letter projects property tax bills to increase by an average of 18.5 percent next fiscal year, driven largely by a forecasted 12 percent increase in year-over-year education spending, Bolio said. In addition, many districts are seeing changes in pupil counts due to implementation of the new pupil weights from Act 127 of 2022. Changes in pupil counts affect education tax rates, which are based on per pupil spending.
“I understand that this will not be welcome news for Vermonters,” said Commissioner Bolio, “This forecast predicts an unprecedented property tax increase next year, with very real financial impacts at a time Vermonters are already struggling to pay for housing.”
Deputy Fiscal Officer Emily Byrne of the Joint Fiscal Office cautioned that the “tax letter is just a starting place” for school funding next year. Speaking to the Legislature today at the annual economic/fiscal preview, Byrne said work done by the Legislature next year and voters’ decisions at Town Meeting will affect the final school tax rate.
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Scott’s office released the following statement:
“Vermont’s tax burden is already, unfortunately, among the highest in the country, and families are bearing an incredible burden with increased costs of living across the board, including new and higher taxes and fees imposed by the Legislature. Put simply, a nearly 20% property tax increase would hurt Vermonters and our economy, and we cannot let it happen.
“At a time when housing costs and interest rates are elevated, higher property taxes will make our housing and workforce crises worse, and I sincerely hope the Legislature agrees.
“For years, I have warned that Vermont is unaffordable for too many families and small businesses. This is why for seven years I focused on holding the line on higher taxes and fees, while offering solutions to reduce the tax burden on Vermonters. And for six out of the seven years, we were successful in preventing new taxes and fees.
“We should all agree it is time for us to take our affordability crisis seriously.
“We have proven when we work together, we can make historic and impactful investments that produce positive results for our communities, without adding more financial burdens on residents. We can do that again, but it will require more than better budgeting in Montpelier. School boards, who already have a difficult job, will need to do all they can to contain spending to a rate that taxpayers can afford.
“Together, we can, and must, prevent this untenable tax increase, or anything close to it, from coming to pass.”
Much of the content of this news article was sourced from administration statements.
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Categories: Education, Press Release
The more we give, the less we get. The kids that are getting passed on today are dumber than ever, unless of course you put a lot of import on protesting for freebees, or wacky lefty ideals.
And the teachers & staff will be again be so indebted as to vote yet again for the democrat politico’s & their democRAT agenda, and round ‘n round we go – just as with Biden paying off student loan debt yesterday. Bribe people into voting for you. Now Why couldn’t the GOP think of something like that??
Trust me. There’s an absolutely incredible amount of money that gets wasted in Vermont public schools. I’ve seen it from the inside.
Well yes…keeping these organizations and their extensive staffs infrastructure afloat is an expensive proposition. If families want their kids “educated” …if the commonwealth needs an educated citizenry there’s really no alternative…?right? Wait a min. Why are we supporting schooling organizations rather than learners? If the resources followed the learner..if families received the educational funds directly…they could buy the teachers, curriculum, schooling services they want. Such a market would change the whole dynamic of this over taxation problem.
This is indeed an unprecedented rise in taxation. However we do not see an unprecedented rise in the quality of education. Rather we see more and more bloated programs that are not designed to teach children to be lifelong learners with inquisitive and critically thinking minds, but rather the system indoctrinates students to never question authority, to question their gender, to abandon common sense, decency and become good little obedient proletarians to the ever increasing tyranny of government and their favored NGOs. We should all pay our taxes in protest over the decline in the ability of the educational system to actually educate our young people.
This proposed increase is complete and total insanity. What in the world could possibly justify such a gargantuan increase? Is VT building additional schools, I wonder…and if so why?
The two legislators in Manchester/Arlington & their evil Communist cohorts have long been plotting for ways to get around Constitutional law as decided by the SCOTUS in ’22 that prevents states from discriminating against religious schools within school choice programs. I’m wondering if they figure that if there are schools in every single town, that can prevent parents/guardians from having the opportunity to participate in making an alternate choice. After all, children must be indoctrinated in order to adhere to the new globalist world order.
Maybe it’s time to ask Kathleen James & Seth Bongartz who have actually had the cojones to publicly brag about their scheming to reduce school choice in VT and escape having to be in compliance with the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Traitors to the US Constitution need to be dealt with swiftly & severely and in compliance with punishment for treason.
This will happen (if not this year, next year). It is time for Vermonter’s Democrats and Republicans to vote common sense. If you don’t we have lost Vermont ! As things are now, many Vermonter’s are being taxed out of their homes. Add another 18% to property tax (which represents school tax) will seal the deal for many. How many new businesses do you think you will attract with the 18% increase ? How many businesses will say enough, and move to NY where they offer 10 years tax free for new businesses ?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the unrepairable damage this will do to Vermont. Vote these idiots out NOW !
Florida public education, K-12 ranked #1 in the country, property taxes are below the average for all the States, considered a VERY red State.
Vermont ranked five from bottom for K-12 for public education, only five States with higher property taxes ( that is until the new increase takes effect ), considered a extremely Blue State………….perhaps a correlation could be drawn?
A pie in the sky or a pie in the face? Big money ticket items getting tossed around in the midst of an economic meltdown. Governor Empty Suit and the bean counters for the corrupt Corporation of Vermont really expect us to believe there is enough loose change in between our couch cushions to pay for this defunct and bankrupt system to continue longer than 6-8 months maybe? Fear not, I believe the day of retribution is at hand. The real numbers don’t lie – their numbers are null and void based on a bankrupt and dead fiat dollar system. No more petro dollars for oil – reconcile that factoid and prepare for the upending of the money changer tables.
Then these morons wonder why people are homeless. Taxes. Add in the costs associated with owning a car in Vermont (and make sure there isn’t a quarter sized hole in the metal) car insurance upkeep on home and auto. Rents (landlords pay property tax also). It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure it up.
Yes but look at the immense progress in youth mental health as a result of the AOE’s social/emotional indoctrination….i mean intervention. Kind if reminds me of all the progress in homelessness…..i mean the housing crisis, since massive government funding and intervention. The bureaucratic government schools must be returned to the public before we expect any progress. Defund the DOE, AOE, VSA, VPA, NSBA, VSBA, AFT, NEA…ALL OF THEM! Which Presidential candidate can get it done? 2 come to my mind
The financial ruin of the State of Vermont is on approach. Soon the dollar/fiat currency will become useless, and the flow from Washington (a big chunk of the budget) into the states coffers will end.
We will have a true atonement.
The EV/Clean Heat/Govern by emotion crowd running things in Montpelier will have to learn how to live without free money from the private sector. Hope you all got some firewood in the back yard, and some rice and beans in the basement.
Where is Dick Snelling when you need him?
Here’s to vigorously supporting Governor Scott working with others to pare down that 20%.
But beyond our supporting the Governor, the situation cries out…CRIES OUT…that
a huge overhaul of public education from stem-to-stern is desperately needed if our state is gonna make it.
The state colleges system financially melted down, then took the bull by the horns, and did the necessary roto-rooting and overhaul.
WE ARE THERE with Pre-K through 12, folks! The same is needed.
You want a real shock? Go visit the local school library and see all the filth they are pumping into our kids minds. It’s horrifying.
Guess they need to buy more of this garbage. Grrrrr……
Well, you used to get what you paid for… only now, EXCEPT in education. While test scores continue to plummet, teacher salaries spiral out of control. Why can’t someone stand up and demand a performance-based model for our teachers? As well as competency testing in whatever subject(s) they happen to teach? It’s like Voter ID – Who actually disagrees that this is a good idea?
Quick story. My brother-in-law was seeking a position as a high school football coach, and he had a track record of being a damn good one. One school district he applied (not in VT), said they’d love to hire him, but he’d have to teach biology as well as coach. Did he know anything about that? Well, of course he didn’t, but said he did, and he was hired. As he told me, the first two years, he learned along with his students. LOVED my brother-in-law, but…
Finally, name for me one city, town, county, state, or country that ever taxed its way to prosperity. That’s okay, no hurry. I’ll wait…
To the group of liberal elitists that sought a large “pay” increase for themselves just 7 months ago- phil scott is sending a shot over the bow of the legislative ship of state. Will there be a single D or P legislator that pays attention to his warning?
Probably Not. This kind of financial mismanagement cannot be allowed to stand, but will the voters remember in twelve months?
Only the ones that aren’t income sensitive to the property tax. But they’re also the ones that are usually employed at taxpayers’ expense, so they can always vote themselves a raise without having to show cause or merit, which these days is anathema to the BLM/social justice crowd.
Do you think there’s a wee little chance that this is a financial shell game to house the unhoused this winter, now that the covid money has dried up?
VDC Readers: This is the usual ploy. In the fall, the various school boards begin working on their budgets for next year. They always come in with an outrageously high initial estimate. It’s their modus operandi. And they are oblivious to the appearance of their projection. Honestly, they don’t think. They do what they’re told to do.
Think about it. If Rep. Wilson’s numbers are correct, with a current $23,856 per student cost, an 18.5% increase for next year would equal $28,270 per student. No one in their right mind would go for that. Right?
And keep in mind that last year’s Covid era budget they’re comparing to is already excessively high because of all the money the Feds and the State pumped into the system.
Here’s what you should expect. The debate will rage on and later, in January, Governor Scott will come back with what amounts to a 10% increase, and tell us – ‘See, I’ve been working really hard to keep costs down and we’ve cut the projected budget increase by 46%. That’s right. A 46% cut.’
Of course, anyone who cares to think about it would see right away that cutting the proposed budget increase of $4414 per student (an 18.5% increase) down to $2385 per student (a 10% increase) is still an increase of $2385 from the previous and already inflated year’s budget.
Unfortunately, most Vermont voters learned their math skills in our public schools and can’t tell a budget cut from a budget increase.
If you want a market comparison, consider this.
Vermont parents can send their children for a full year of undergraduate college courses to one of the Vermont State University schools (Castleton State or Lyndon State) for $25,600. And now we’re spending as much to educate a first or second grade student? What gives with that?
But here’s the real kick in the butt. The Castleton State costs include room and board for the year too.
It’s not a question as to how stupid Governor Scott thinks we are. The question is, how stupid are we?
This issue has reached my local high school district. As was recently reported:
“WESTMINSTER — Bellows Falls Union High School Principal Kelly O’Ryan told the school’s budget committee this week that seven freshmen out of a classroom of 14 students were reading at a first grade or elementary school level.”
It’s not that only half of the high school students can read to grade level. It’s that half of them can only read to a first grade level.
https://www.reformer.com/local-news/low-reading-scores-alarm-bfuhs-board/article_164366fc-8fbe-11ee-9255-33662841f33e.html
And this kind of report has been going on for 20 years or more. A couple of years before I served on one of our local highschool boards, we learned of a VT Agency of Ed. report showing that a majority of the school’s special ed. students were inappropriately identified as learning disabled because they’d not been taught to read in the lower grades. The school was making money by enhancing the disabilities of its own students.
So… please note that this issue was raised by the school principal at a BFUHS ‘budget’ meeting. In other words, it’s a precursor to justify Gov. Scott’s recent warning that the State education budget, which is already at a $23,856 per student cost, will increase 18.5% for next year and equal $28,270 per student.
Question: why does anyone take seriously the educational advice of an institution that thrives financially on the educational dysfunction of its students?
Again, how stupid are we?
END CURRENT USE! Let those who can afford to own most of the land pay, instead of the rest of us helping them with their taxes.
Better yet… just give the same 2023-2024 Average Announced Tuition of $18,266 per student, the amount parents receive when they tuition their kids to alternative independent schools, to all parents and let all parents choose the education programs they believe best meet the needs of their children.
Instead of Governor Scott’s proposed 18.5% budget increase, Vermont taxpayers would see an immediate 23% decrease in education taxes.
This is a good answer along with closing any high school with under 200 students, but I’d round it up to $21k just because private schools can pick and choose their students while public schools have to deal with underfunded special ed mandates.
1. Special Ed. is a federally mandated and regulated program. It is often used (corruptly) by public schools as a somewhat complicated method to pad their budgets. Special Ed. expenditures tend to decrease when parents can choose the school they believe best meets the needs of their children. Public schools tend to over-identify learning disabilities. When I served on our local school board, a large percentage (almost half) of those students identified with learning disabilities were actually found to be poor readers because of poor instruction, not learning disabled.
2. Make no mistake… public schools do NOT have to educate all students. The common misperception is based on the fact that a school district (the Local Education Agency – LEA), not any specific school within that district, is required to provide a ‘free and appropriate education’ (FRAPE) to all students residing in their district. But the district always has the option to send any student to any school, public or independent. The concept of ‘cherry-picking’ is a false equivalence. Some schools, especially those who specialize in specific learning disorders, reasonably try to attract those students they believe they help best. Nothing wrong with that. If parents are disappointed in one school, they can choose a different school.
3. It doesn’t really matter what the tuition payment is. To date, the 2023-2024 Average Announced Tuition of $18,266 per student has proved to be more than sufficient. But, in any case, it is the creation of a competitive educational free market that works wonders for decreasing costs and increasing academic outcomes.
4. The current system is very complicated, by design. Providing universal school choice tuition payments will serve to simplify the process and make it more accountable to parents and taxpayers.
Wrong. The amount of land someone owns has no relationship to number of kids in school or school budgeting. You’re punishing the wrong people. Taxing property is a form of slavery. capture. You cannot move your property to escape usurious taxation…think farms and agriculture. Would you prefer Bill Gates or China owning the rest?
All parents need to withdraw their kids from these communist indoctrination centers and collapse the system. We are being forced to pay for the destruction of your own future and culture. Take responsibility for your own family’s education. It’s not rocket science, especially all the excellent homeschool curriculum and vocational training available online these days.
Take a look at curriculum standards in the 1920-30s compared to today. It’s demoralizing. It is an evil system originating with the transplants from the Frankfort School Marxists and their fellow travelers in the US, i.e. Dewey, Mann, etc. It is an exceptional person that can overcome the mind control they have built over generations. I will vote for anyone courageous enough to fight to eliminate public education.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” — Ronald Reagan
Well, Vermont he we go again, if you need more money to support whatever just raise the property tax, yes sucker your boxed in and easy pickings, your elected officials taking the easy way out instead of doing there jobs, but then again you elected these clowns.
Your so-called Governor standing with and supporting funding for schools, are these the same schools that have the current enrollment body ” failing ” on all most every level, but they need more money and seeing that the state is already in debt from all the foolish liberal spending, unfunded liabilities and overtaxing everything in sight and your Governor needs more money so lets hit the home owners on there property tax sucker again………………………. wake up people, have you had enough yet !!
Vermonters aren’t fooled by by these charlatans, it is the fools from out of state that think money buys smarts, it only buys an education without the smarts.
Is this increase is much for the teachers as it is every state employee except the police? The pension fund is overwhelmingly underfunded.
While the pension funds are grossly underfunded, that doesn’t mean taxpayers aren’t on the hook to make the required payments. If, for example, your school board passes a budget that creates an operating loss (i.e., is underfunded), the school board has the authority to add the deficit to the following year’s budget. And even if the electorate refuses to pass that budget, taxpayers are required to continue paying at the previous year’s cost of operation – which includes the deficit.
On other words, in the current system, voters can’t stop a school district from spending money they way it wants to spend it. Even if the budget passed by the electorate allocates a certain amount of money to a specific line item (e.g., sports, foreign language, whatever), once the budget is passed, the school board can spend that money any way it chooses.
I thought all the lottery money went into the education fund? And what about all the new cannabis tax – where is that going? Middle working class can barely afford their taxes now, thanks VT for driving out more people. We are one of the highest taxed states in the country!
I want a refund. Enrollment has been flat since 2005 while spending has increased and test scores have steadily decreased. You want more of my tax money? Call me when more than 50% of all kids are proficient in math, science, and English.
way past time to start holding the line on school spending especially with below average results our generosity brings
Simply put, you can shove that idea!!!
I smell a conspiracy
Hey folks settle down it takes a lot of money to teach the girls have pee-pee’s and boys can get pregnant
Also don’t forget the public schools highest mandate:
Teach kids to be activists for the destruction of their own culture. If parents only knew.
If the projected real estate tax increase is adopted by the supermajority progressive socialists, the projected increase would give Vermont one of highest property tax rates in the nation, following Illinois, New Jersey and Connecticut. It appears that the school administrators used all those free COVID bidumbbucks to launch new programs and are insisting now that homeowners pick up the tab. Maybe we shouldn’t just tax homeowners but renters too since rental properties have gone up exponentially especially in Chittenden county because no working Vermont residents can afford a home in Vermont especially in chittenden coounty.
What do colleges, health care providers, and Vermont public schools have in common? Their services are all (or mostly) paid by third parties – Federal student loans (grants?), government and private health insurance, and the Vermont school financing system. And they all have increased spending and cost disproportionate to every other economic sector. This is not a coincidence.
I’m moving to Arizona!
Let’s see, the Globalists want Vermont to be owned by them in these amounts:
1. 30% by 2030
2. 50% by 2050
Look up the Legislation, it was passed this year, I believe in June or July.
It seems they are moving as fast as they can. Taxing people out of the State. Globalists want Vermont for themselves with a low population of serfs for a labor force.
You get what you vote for.