WOODBURY – The January 12 regular select board meeting had a mixed agenda, with Darren Usinowicz and Heather Meacham of the Mountain View Union Elementary School District (MVU) informing the board of concerns for the longevity of Woodbury Elementary School, arising from the ongoing budget talks.
According to Meacham and Usinowicz, the board was faced with an 80% increase in costs that came from “sources that were out of the control of the MVUESD board”, teachers health insurance being the main item of the cost increase.
To offset these increases, the Hazen Union and MVUESD boards have dropped $500,000 from their proposed budgets by placing most capital improvements on hold for all its campus buildings.
For Woodbury, this means work to replace the fire escape and put in a fire egress in the lower level of the school, as well as an upgrade to the elevator, will not be completed this year. However, the placement of the fire escape and additional egress is mandated; not replacing them in the required time frame would mean the third floor, which contains the gym, cafeteria, and kitchen, will be off limits.
These cuts in the school budget were also made to keep the school budgets within a state imposed threshold. A budget over the threshold would have triggered a further increase in the school taxes. Woodbury’s lack of an updated property appraisal, which results in the Common Level Appraisal (CLA), will affect the education tax rate. The town had planned to start a new town-wide appraisal in 2026, but that has been postponed to 2028 due to a backlog in the availability of appraisers.
Also of concern for Woodbury’s school is that some members of the MVUESD board want to close the school. They feel that all elementary students in the district could be placed in Hardwick’s elementary school and they think it would save money to close the school.
The matter of the ownership of the building (the town still owns it) has been a point of contention for some people in Hardwick. When the schools were forced to merge by Act 73 several years ago, the issue was negotiated at length, and it was decided that the town would lease the building for $1 a year, rather than sell it to the new school district for $1.
According to Meacham and Usinowicz, this issue has never set well with the other towns in the district and continues to be a source of contention within the MVUESD board and some of the public in Hardwick.
Another concern is that class sizes at Woodbury barely meet or are just under some proposed mandates within the latest changes brought by Act 73. Meacham and Usinowicz say all this is compounded by the confusion and disagreements now ongoing as the legislature attempts to remedy the longstanding property tax issue.
The full minutes of this meeting are available at woodburyvt.org.
Raymonda Parchment is a Hardwick Gazette reporter. She recently graduated from Vermont State University - Castleton with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She is a strong supporter of freedom of speech, and the right to publish information, opinions, and ideas without censorship or restraint. She is a lifelong lover of the written word, and is excited to join the team as a staff member.
