Lawmakers work to curb property tax increases by rethinking education funding

How education is paid for is a hot topic for Vermonters and lawmakers in the statehouse, with steep property tax increases set to hit people’s pockets. This is because education, in part, is paid for by property taxes, which has raised the question of whether education funding needs to be looked at.This is also all happening because we’ve seen an unprecedented amount of school budgets failed by voters since March some on their second and even third vote. “The last six months have been excruciatingly difficulty for public education in the state,” said Jeff Francis, the executive director of the Vermont Superintendent Association. “We know that we had 30 school budget defeats, we know that seven or eight have been revoted not one of the revotes has been successful.”The House Ways and Means Committee spent the week rethinking how the education system is funded, at one point giving it a complete overhaul and giving the state spending control over municipalities, which garnered mixed reactions. The thinking behind it is if the state was given control over spending they could prevent overspending and similar situations in the future, something school associations were very much opposed to.”There were a lot of questions, and the questions were so significant, and the pace of the process was so fast that we had tot respond,” Francis said. The committee eventually backtracked, siding with school associations, saying it was too quick, but the Scott administration was intrigued. “That would have been an out year change but was one that was interesting,” said Craig Bolio, the state tax commissioner. Either way, that idea wouldn’t have affected the now, something the administration gave some thought on Friday morning like deferring payments. “That would have the opportunity to reduce the spike coming this year and give districts time to plan on how to address those deferments,” Bolio said. Back to the long-term a study has been planned for giving the state more spending control and taking away from municipalities, as all ideas have to be considered. “The bill that had a funding formula change that had the acknowledgment from the committee that there needs to be some additional guardrails and controls for finances, the formula is very complicated, and it’s difficult to navigate for on a district by district basis sometime,” Bolio said. Lawmakers are also considering what school budget questions should look like on town meeting day ballots, like adding what the property tax increase would be if approved and compare that year’s spending with the prior for transparency. The bill is set to be finalized Tuesday.