Voters say education — and property taxes — are top issues this election season.
Need a refresher? Read on.
Jump to a section:
- The basics
- Changes the Legislature and governor have made recently
- Looking ahead
- The offices that matter most on the issue
- What the candidates are saying this year
Let's walk through it together. This guide tells you how voting can impact Vermont's education system. Or explore another top issue:
The basics
About a quarter of all state spending goes to Vermont’s pre-K-12 system. This year, the state’s education fund, which is funded primarily through property taxes, will spend over $2.3 billion.
People have long debated the cost of education. But there’s a new urgency to that discussion now, in part because of post-pandemic economic shocks.
Schools experienced something of a perfect storm during the last budget cycle, where nearly one in three school budgets failed on Town Meeting Day. Hundreds of millions in COVID-era federal money dried up. Health insurance rates skyrocketed. Wages went up. Special education costs continued to rise. And schools finally started to confront the bill that’s coming due for their aging facilities, which haven’t seen a major state or federal investment in decades.
This upcoming budget cycle is expected to be similarly difficult.
Some, like the teachers union, are emphatic that spending isn’t the issue, and that Vermont just needs to find less regressive ways to raise revenues for schools.
School administrators, on the other hand, tend to argue that costs should be reined in and that measures like consolidation need to be on the table, particularly given dwindling enrollment and the $6 billion Vermont will need to spend on school infrastructure over the next two decades. But they also note that rising spending is also a function of costs well out of their control — like health care — and the growing expectation that schools deliver an ever-growing roster of social services.
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Adding to the pressure for reform: a steady decline in school-aged children.
And test scores appear to be falling, at least as measured by Vermont’s performance on the National Assessment of Education Progress. The test is the only one that’s administered across states, and it’s historically shown Vermont students outperforming regional and national peers. More recent results, however, have seen scores decline to be more in line with national averages.
Changes the Legislature and governor have made recently
Act 127: Each school district’s tax rate is pegged to per-pupil spending, and lawmakers passed this law in 2022 to adjust how we count students for the purposes of tax rate calculations. The intent was to encourage poorer, more rural, and more diverse districts to spend more — and more affluent districts to spend a little less. A temporary tax break built into the law (which has since been removed) contributed to last year’s budget fiasco, because it inadvertently encouraged everyone to maximize spending in the short term.
Act 173: Lawmakers passed this law in 2018 to transition special education funding to a block-grant system. Before, schools simply received partial reimbursements from the state for each special education service rendered. Now, schools receive a direct payment from the state based on their number of students. (Reimbursements remain in place for exceptional cases.) The idea was to streamline the notoriously complex bureaucracy tied to special education, and hopefully rein in costs. The law’s rollout was delayed, but it is finally in effect. It’s too soon to say yet whether or not it’s worked or not, although special education remains a ballooning line item.
Act 46: In 2015, lawmakers passed a law that forced school districts to consolidate so that they would oversee at least 900 students apiece. The thinking was that larger administrative entities would be more streamlined, and that schools within larger districts would be better able to share resources. The mandate was deeply controversial in some communities, who saw the reform as a precursor to consolidating small schools themselves. There’s some evidence the law did lead to some efficiencies, trimming administrative expenses and helping to boost things like staff salaries. But overall spending doesn’t appear to have gone down.
Excess spending threshold: Lawmakers reintroduced a tax penalty for school districts that spend over a certain amount. It will be in effect for this upcoming budget cycle.
Looking ahead
All eyes are on the Commission on the Future of Public Education. The Legislature created this special panel during the most recent legislative session, and gave it a broad mandate to explore all avenues for reform.
Technically, the commission has 18 months to complete its work. It is expected to deliver a preliminary set of recommendations this December, ahead of the upcoming legislative session.
The offices that matter most on the issue
The Legislature: Lawmakers pass the tax bill each year that pays for schools, and can enact all manner of laws that shift how education is delivered, governed and paid for.
The governor: The governor appoints the secretary of education, and members of the State Board of Education, which set state standards and also draft the rules that flesh out education legislation after it’s been passed by lawmakers.
Local school boards and voters: Schools in Vermont are also one of the clearest examples of direct democracy left in America. The elections that matter the most often aren’t in November — they’re in March, when you select your school board members and vote on your local school budget. At the end of the day, you and your school board decide how much you’ll spend, what kind of programming your schools will offer, and whether or not you’ll even maintain a school in your town.
What the candidates are saying this year
“Years of deferred maintenance have allowed our schools to fall into disrepair, driving up maintenance costs. I support state investment in school construction that can reduce these costs for taxpayers.” - Mike Pieciak, Democratic candidate for treasurer
“One avenue to addressing the health of our schools is further district consolidation. Most importantly, however, is deciding how to spend precious federal dollars for education.” - Pat Brennan, Republican candidate for Vermont Senate, Grand Isle district
“We also need to take a hard look at the current physical stock of schools. With declining enrollment and increasing childcare needs, can a portion of our schools also be used for new childcare centers where operators pay rent? Can some schools also support some senior and/or low-to-moderate income housing?” - Eileen Boland, Democratic candidate for Vermont House, Caledonia-3
“Less money should be spent on studies and consultants and more spent on building and renovating schools.” - Taylor Craven, Independent candidate for Vermont Senate, Chittenden-Southeast District.
“We need to look at basing school taxes more on Vermonters' incomes, instead of adding burden to average Vermont homeowners.” - Sabrina Morrison, Democratic candidate for Vermont House, Caledonia-2
“We have one of the highest student-teacher ratios in the country, and it is well established that there are no educational advantages to this beyond the early grades. This is the clearest way that we can re-prioritize spending to be able recruit and pay for our valuable educators, and address deficiencies in infrastructure.” - Anne B. Donahue, Independent candidate for Vermont House, Washington-1
Find more candidate responses to questions about housing, taxes and affordability, climate and environment, health care and education in Vermont Public's candidate guide and debates.
How to vote in the general election
Eligible voters can register anytime up to and on Election Day, Nov. 5.
You can register online, in-person at your town clerk’s office, or on Election Day at your polling place.
Voting
If you received a ballot in the mail, you can return it by mail or take it to your town’s dropbox.
You can also vote early, in-person at your town clerk’s office or on Election Day at your polling place.
If you get a mail-in ballot but plan to vote in person, bring the ballot with you to your polling place.
Learn more
Find your registration status, ballot information, polling place info and more at your My Voter Page.
Get more information about the voting process in Vermont Public’s general election guide, and learn about who’s running in our candidate questionnaire.
This story is part of Vermont Public’s Citizens Agenda approach to election coverage. We’re asking a simple question: What do you want the candidates to be discussing as they compete for your votes? Front Porch Forum is our lead outreach partner for this project.
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