MONTPELIER – Last week as I left Montpelier on Friday night, the Senate had adjourned till 2 p.m., Saturday. Then, an hour later, The House of Representatives adjourned until June 17. We all got told then that both the House and Senate wouldn’t be coming back until then. Now we’re in limbo waiting for the conferees on the Education funding bill (H. 454) to bring us a compromise to consider. It speaks to the lack of clarity in the Legislature and among the six House and Senate negotiators that are working to make changes to the Education Funding system. Education Funding is now the only thing holding the Legislature from adjournment.
The Governor proposed moving toward a foundation formula funding system for Education early in the session. A majority of all states in the country fund Education using some form of a foundation funding system. Under a foundation formula, districts would receive a standard amount per pupil adjusted for factors like, for example, non-English learners, poverty level, or having a high school.
The problem, as Lola Dufort at Vermont Public pointed out in a story a couple of weeks ago, is that this may mean that current high-spending districts may see lower taxes, but less money, while lower spending districts may see higher taxes but more money for their schools. The shift toward a standard funding amount with weights or factors would be an abrupt change from our present education funding formula.
Locally the Morristown-Elmore school district is a clear example of a lower spending district with good student performance. They presently spend significantly less than the state average and could potentially see a significant increase in taxes. In some versions of H. 454 it has been estimated that the Elmore-Morristown District could see as much as a 19% increase in their taxes. Under the present version being considered, while they would see more money for their schools, they wouldn’t be able to lower tax rates. This is a problem and I raised that issue on the Senate Floor during debate on H. 454. In the negotiations being held on the Bill, I know this very issue is being discussed. If something came back with a solution to this problem it would be a major improvement for districts like the Morristown-Elmore District.
Another issue that hasn’t received as much attention as I believe it should is the changes being considered to income sensitivity. It’s the system designed to recognize a household’s ability to pay their taxes. In my view, the problem with the present system is that it only considers household income. A household’s ability to pay shouldn’t be based on just income but should also consider a household’s total net worth. Income alone doesn’t produce a true picture of the ability to pay. For example, a family with a trust fund may have the ability to pay but because their income might appear to be low we reduce their taxes. On the other hand, a young family with college debt, car loans, a mortgage and children may have incomes above the limits and have less ability to pay. So far none of the versions of H. 454 have done anything to correct this problem. Income alone isn’t a true measure of ability to pay.
School governance is another major issue being considered in H. 454. The bill sets up a process by which we would reduce the number of school districts and supervisory unions. The present 52 supervisory districts and around 120 school districts, when compared with other places in the country, is out of step.
I wish, in this process, that we knew what the district lines might look like ahead of the funding changes but so far that hasn’t been considered. The hope is that larger districts would allow us to even out disparities in the different districts’ ability to pay. How that might play out may be problematic. In numerous proposals thus far Lamoille County has been grouped with Washington County in school district proposals. Lamoille is the third smallest county in the state. My concern is that, by folding us into a district with the much larger Washington County, our issues might not receive the attention they need. Knowing governance districts ahead of these changes would ease lots of concern for many of us.
Needless to say, it’s good that the Legislature took a break. The bill under consideration has lots of areas that needed to be addressed from those mentioned above to what to do about small schools.
With that all said, the present funding system isn’t working. It’s not working for students or our communities. As the Superintendent in Lamoille South said in an interview with WCAX in May of 2024, well before any consideration of H.454: “Our system is built around an assumption that if you give people a tax incentive, that they will support their schools. Unfortunately, a lot of the decisions that people are making are not based on a tax incentive. The question is, who is winning here? Because it doesn’t feel like anybody is winning with the current system.”
We need change because the present system isn’t producing better results for our communities or our students. The question is: Will the conference committee make smart changes to address the many concerns people in areas like ours are having?
Richard Westman is a state senator from the Lamoille District.
