Lola Duffort

A Washington County judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the town of Roxbury against the Montpelier-Roxbury Public School District, which sought to block an upcoming vote on a school budget that would close the Roxbury Village School.

A former strategist for a for-profit charter school company headquartered in Florida, Saunders has come under fire for her scant experience in traditional public schools.

Property tax burdens are forecast to spike amid rising school budgets. What state lawmakers are — and aren’t — doing to draw down tax burdens. And how Gov. Phil Scott is responding.

Every year, lawmakers must pass a bill that sets the property tax rates necessary to pay for school budgets. For this week’s edition of the Capitol Recap, we explore how lawmakers in the House want to use this legislation to respond to double-digit property tax hikes.

Roughly one in three school budgets failed in Vermont on Town Meeting Day this year. School districts across the state are now entering second and third voting rounds to get budgets approved by voters.

The latest estimates project the average homestead tax bill to go up 15% while the average non-homestead bill will rise 18%. That’s not much lower than the 18.5% tax increases initially forecast.

The bill had not received support from the two-thirds majority of the House and Senate that would have been required for a veto override.

The fast-moving legislation, which was initially set to receive a committee vote Friday, had been met with immediate pushback from the field.

A key tax-writing committee in the Vermont House on Tuesday unveiled the outlines of a major education finance overhaul that would fundamentally alter the state’s tradition of local control in school budgeting.

Vermont has 10% fewer educators than it did before the pandemic. That’s the worst mark in the country, save Alaska, according to a recent U.S. Department of Education report. The decline is prompting some Vermont principals to hire teachers with fewer qualifications — and is, in some cases, forcing schools to send kids home for the day.