Vermont

Vt. lawmakers scour for Ed Fund revenue following Town Meeting Day massacre

Published

2 months ago

March 14, 2024

Vt. lawmakers scour for Ed Fund revenue following Town Meeting Day massacre

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – How can Vermont find more funding for education, and are new education-financing reforms needed? School superintendents who saw the voter backlash to double-digit property taxes on Town Meeting Day say they can’t cut their budgets anymore and instead want lawmakers to find additional money for the Education Fund, to offset the need for higher taxes.

Superintendents across Vermont are still digesting last week’s Town Meeting Day results, where voters rejected an unprecedented one-third of local school budgets.

“Our communities have told us we need to make cuts, but they have also told us that they want the best education possible for their children,” said Flor Diaz Smith, chair of the Washington Central Unified Union School District.

Thirty districts voted down their school budgets and school administrators say costs across the state are spiking with schools absorbing more costs that don’t involve academics.

“The reality is our school funding system is disguising the true cost of mental health and social services and other costs in the state,” said Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union Superintendent Lynn Cota. She says many districts are re-warning school budget votes for the spring that could include laying off staff and cutting programs.

“This is all crystalizing, school districts are in a tough position,” said Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D- Brattleboro, chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means. She says lawmakers plan on raising other tax revenues to help ease the pressure on property taxes. That could include taxes on streaming services, software, sugary soft drinks, and the sales tax. “When we’re making decisions around the Education Fund, we want to make sure it is a more progressive revenue source than the property tax.”

Governor Phil Scott opposes raising any taxes and says lawmakers need to focus on cost containment. “That’s $225 million; 20% increase; 30% of the budgets fell. That’s unheard of in Vermont. We’ve got a problem on our hands,” he said.

State lawmakers are also looking to find efficiencies including letting districts join in transportation and mental health contracts together and by putting more funds toward community schools. They are also advancing a bill to create a school construction aid program, which was a big driver of school budgets this year. Some say it’s also time to resume discussions about school consolidation from where the Act 46 school merger measure left off.

But while districts go back to the drawing board, they say that they can’t take on more programs or expenses. “We need help. What we don’t need is new obstacles or mandates from the Legislature that reduce our funding or stretch our budgets even further,” said WCUUSD’s Flor Diaz Smith.

It’s still too soon to see what the exact tax rate will be because there are still over a dozen districts that need to hold votes, in addition to the 30 revotes.

Vermont

Outright Vermont finalizes purchase of former Benson scout camp

Published

8 mins ago

May 16, 2024

Press Room

Outright Vermont finalizes purchase of former Benson scout camp

BENSON, Vt. (WCAX) – Outright Vermont has officially acquired a former Boy Scout property in Benson known as Camp Sunrise.

The purchase will allow the organization to expand Camp Outright, an overnight summer camp tailored to LGBTQ+ and allied youth.

Talks to purchase the camp began in December and were made possible with the help of a grant from the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board.

Officials say they will need to make some design changes before they can open.

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Vermont

DEC outlines wetland building policies

Published

7 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Press Room

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Buying land is a big decision. With so much wetland in Vermont, state leaders are making sure you don’t end up in a soggy situation.

It’s American Wetlands Month, and Vermont’s Department of Enviromental Conservation wants buyers to be informed before they buy.

Regulations can impact whether a property on wetlands can be developed or require a special permit. Some parcells known as swamp lots are mostly wetlands and may not be allowed to be developed under state rules.

You can visit Vermont DEC’s website for a map of Vermont’s wetlands and development and permitting policies.

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Vermont

Community cat earns honorary ‘degree’ from Castleton

Published

14 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Press Room

Community cat earns honorary ‘degree’ from Castleton

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Back in 2022, the UVM women’s club lacrosse team made it all the way to the WCLA D2 National Championship game before falling to Loyola Maryland. Last year, the Cats finished third in the country. But this year, Vermont finally got over the hump.
“It was awesome,” said senior attacker May Cassidy. “I mean our first time that we went, we were all sophomores. And we went in #14 seed, like not really expecting to do well. So finishing secnd was awesome for us. And then we were just super excited to come back.”
“Sophomore, junior year, we were like so close to getting the title,” added senior midfielder Annika More. “I think like it being our senior year, we just really wanted to get out there and win.”
The cats earned an at-large bid to the national tournament as the #4 seed, and they had no trouble dispatching rival UNH and Denver in group play to advance to the national semifinals.
“Obviously we played UNH early on, which again we played a lot this season,” said national midfielder of the year Ella Malik. “And it was exciting to play a few other teams we hadn’t played before.”
“Just like having so many teams from all across the country, it’s really cool to see everybody come together,” added senior defender Hayley Zielinski. “Gives you like an insight into how like the different coasts play lacrosse.”
The Cats downed top seed Cal State San Marcos in the semifinals, earning a fourth meeting of the season with Providence in the national title game.
“One of my favorite things about this team is no matter who we play, we just come out ready to play,” said senior midfielder Lilly Egenberg. “And again, we know Providence, they know us, we know them and I think we just were ready to play and we came out harder and I think we wanted it more.”
The Cats fell behind early, but eventually seized control, coasting to a 14-8 win and the program’s first ever national title. It’s especially sweet considering all the challenges this group has had to overcome in their lacrosse careers.
“I think it was really special for all of us,” said senior midfielder Paisley Broadhurst. “Especially being seniors, like in high school, none of us got a senior season. We’ve all just become like super close. And our grade is the smallest on the team so it’s like easy for us all to just like hang out. And to be able to accomplish this all together, I think it’s gonna be a core memory for all of us for sure.”
Head coach Rhiannon Brown is excited for the future of the program, but she also knows this senior class is irreplaceable.
“I’ve played lacrosse for about 10 years before I came to UVM, and I don’t think that I ever had the pleasure of having a senior class like this,” Brown said. “Whether it be my senior classes or ones that I’ve had on my teams. So this group in particular is one that’s going to be near next to impossible to replace. We do have a really strong core on our team that I’m really excited for them to step up and play…but this class in particular is gonna leave a forever mark on our program.”

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