MONTPELIER – Already January is over and the learning process for a first term legislator continues with volumes of information to read, daily committee presentations from departments under our purview and work on the House floor.
The big picture saw Governor Scott propose a $9 billion budget for the 2026 fiscal year, on January 28, along with his blueprint for spending priorities. Those include tax cuts for social security recipients and military pensions, and tax credits for parents of young children. I agree with the governor when he says we need to do more to make our state affordable for all Vermonters to live and thrive.
A big area of concern affecting affordability is, of course, property taxes. Here the governor insists that there should be no property tax increase for the coming year. I agree. To “buy down” the projected 6% property tax increase resulting from anticipated increased school spending, he proposed using $77 million in general fund revenue surpluses plus eliminating the Covid-era emergency universal school meals program ($18 million). This would not affect free and reduced meal programs for lower income students.
But this is just a short-term solution. Long term, the Secretary of Education Zoie Saunders, put forward the administration’s dynamic plan for restructuring how we deliver and pay for Pre-k to 12.
The first key aspect of this proposal is that Vermont would switch to a foundation funding formula (basically a preset per-pupil block grant, a system used by 37 other states) paid for through a uniform statewide property tax. If a district wanted to spend more than the block grant, the voters could choose to do so through a separate, local property tax. Structurally, nearly $200 million in savings would come from consolidating our over 50 supervisory unions and over 100 school districts into five districts supported by advisory boards, similar to our local school boards now. There is an alternative proposal that would create 16 supervisory districts, each tied to tech centers. All of these ideas come with supporters and detractors.
Our local press does a good job of explaining the details of these proposals in far more detail than I have space for here. My concern is that we find the right balance between efficiency and local control of our schools. We create a funding formula that is simple to understand and implement. The end result being something we all can afford. Your feedback on this issue is most appreciated.
Other priorities for Governor Scott, which will impact my Committee on Energy & Digital Infrastructure directly, are repealing Act 18, the Clean Heat Standard law passed last year, reforming the Global Warming Solutions Act to reflect more realistic goals, timelines, and costs regarding greenhouse gas reduction, and to remove the lawsuit provision allowing anyone to sue the state at taxpayer expense if we don’t meet those mandates. Two bills have been submitted to do these things, H.16 and H.52, which I hope we will take up for full consideration very soon.
Also in my committee is discussion over the state’s various IT systems. Many departments require new IT systems as their current ones are over 40 years old: so old vendors no longer provide technical support. Governor Scott created the Agency of Digital Services in 2018. This department is overseeing and working with all these departments as they begin the process to replace their computer systems. However, these new systems come with hefty price tags in the many millions of dollars.
Most of the activity has been gathering background information on policies, agencies and ten-minute pitches on bill proposals. This coming week we will be taking up bills for in depth discussion and consideration.
Unexpectedly, the House had to decide what to do regarding the election of a Representative in the Bennington 1 district. In that race errors by election officials gave incorrect ballots to 56 voters. The race was decided by 26 votes, so the errors might have resulted in an incorrect outcome. The Secretary of State immediately recommended a re-vote, but the Government Operations Committee recommended seating the declared winner from November 5th. The majority agreed on a vote of 91/yes – 42/no. I voted no, because I believe everyone deserves the right to vote and every vote counts. In my opinion, there should have been a revote.
It is an honor to represent the residents of the Lamoille 2 District in the Vermont Legislature. My email is [email protected], and my text number is (802) 760-0405.
Richard Bailey is a state representative serving Belvidere, Hyde Park, Johnson, and Wolcott.
Rep. Richard Bailey
