Dear Chair Cummings and Members of the Senate Finance Committee,

Thank you for your ongoing work to address the trajectory of education spending through S.220. We urge the Committee to adopt enforceable mechanisms that align spending growth with the sustainable capacity of the Education Fund and provide immediate relief to Vermont property taxpayers.

Since the passage of Act 60 nearly thirty years ago, Vermont’s per-pupil education spending has grown at a rate nearly triple the national average. This expansion has also doubled the rate of inflation and, crucially, exceeded the growth of the consumption tax revenues that support the Education Fund. Because the Fund is self-leveling, any spending growth that surpasses organic revenue growth creates a deficit that is shifted onto property taxpayers.

S.220, seeks to curb the growth of property taxes by placing temporary limits on school district budget increases.

Everyone wants answers about why property taxes are going up another 12% next year. Some blame small schools, some blame administrative overhead, some blame legislative inaction regarding our education funding system and school governance.

Sadly this news was inevitable. While the Legislature, the Governor, and local Vermonters negotiate over what the next iteration of public education looks like in our state, they bought down property taxes last year using one-time monies. The Governor and the Legislature were both in alignment on this, but these one-time funds[1] created a $98 million hole for property taxes to fill in FY2027 (which is the 2026/2027 school year) before schools even spent a dollar more.

PRESS RELEASE:

Campaign for Vermont Publishes Report on Savings Provided by Shared Education Services

Non-profit seeking to grow VT’s middle class finds education savings while expanding services for students.

MONTPELIER, VERMONT - This week, Campaign for Vermont Prosperity (CFV) published a report titled "Finding Savings Through Shared Services in Vermont Schools." The report focuses on leveraging Education Service Agencies (ESAs) to improve the efficiency of services being provided to students. A policy recommendation the organization put out in March recommended moving to this model, but the latest report put a number on the cost-savings potential. The Act 73 Task Force voted on Monday to advance a similar ESA model as their recommendation to the Legislature.

Dear Members of the Act 73 Task Force,

You have no easy task before you to reconcile all the different perspectives you bring to the table and produce a pathway forward for education reform in Vermont. We were part of the conversations that led to Act 46 and that effort may have just been a foreshadow of this one.

Since 2010, Vermont has consolidated 271 school districts down to 119. During that same timeframe, we have seen spending accelerate and outcomes fall. Today, we are spending 79% above the national average but performing below average when you account for Vermont’s demographics.

Vermont’s education system has long grappled with balancing efficiency, equity, and local control. A recent Yale thesis by Grace Miller, titled Evaluating the Impact of School District Mergers in Vermont: Fiscal Reallocation, Equity, and Community Perspectives, provides a comprehensive analysis of the state’s school district merger initiatives from 2010 to 2020. The study examines the fiscal and operational impacts of these mergers, prompted by Vermont’s Act 153 and Act 46, and offers insights into their implications for educational equity, community dynamics, and future consolidation efforts.

Thank you for taking on such an entrenched issue this legislative session. The bill you are working on essentially equates to Act 60, Act 68, and Act 46 all wrapped into one and the fact that you have gotten this far in one year is already impressive.

There is no doubt more work to do to get this bill to the finish line, and tweaks will need to be made next year and in following years. I do not think it is an understatement to say that Vermonters are relying on you. They are relying on you to arrest skyrocketing education costs. They are relying on you to bring stability to a chaotic tax structure. They are relying on you to reverse the declining student outcomes that are jeopardizing the futures of so many young Vermonters.

The bill proposes comprehensive reforms to Vermont’s public education system, focusing on governance, funding, and quality to ensure equitable, sustainable, and efficient education for all students. The bill redirects commissions, establishes task forces, and imagines new systems to achieve these goals, with specific timelines for implementation.

The Legislature's grand education transformation initiative offers a mixed bag of results but does manage to move forward historic changes to the way we raise funds to pay for schools that should introduce better transparency and accountability for taxpayers while also putting downward pressure on spending. Unfortunately the combined effect of governance and finance changes that create a very top-down educational model.