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.

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