The Vermont education system, and in particular, its funding mechanism, appears inextricably broken.
As a new board member representing Rockingham on the Bellows Falls Union High School board, I have watched how the budget sausage is made and it isn’t pretty. I have developed the following opinions and insights as a member of the school board and as a lister in the town of Rockingham. I do not speak for either organization.
Fiscal responsibility up and down the chain is missing. I sat in a recent BFUHS budget committee meeting and listened as our administration’s budget proposal deteriorated into “Why should we hold the line on spending if the money is just going to go to another district that won’t control theirs?” It’s human nature to think, “Hey, if the money is going to get spent anyway, why shouldn’t we get our share?” — a beggar thy neighbor economic concept.
This argument is being made in school districts across the state, leading to Commissioner Bolio’s projection of an outsized 12% year over year (four times the rate of inflation) increase in fiscal 2025.
Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is misleading us all. Act 60 was implemented in the late ’90s to ensure equal education opportunity and resources for all students. The original goal was lofty and well-intended; however, as so often centralized processes go, they devolve over time as politicians tinker.
As pointed out in a Feb. 17 Joint Fiscal Office report, Vermont has continued to see a decline in student count and relative academic performance, yet spending per student continues to grow at a rate greater than inflation.
The original sales pitch for a centralized funding scheme was “classic divide and conquer,” flatlanders, business and “gold” towns were going to foot the bill, wink wink. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. The state has many pockets from which it funds the $2 billion education fund. As costs have grown, the number of pockets have continued to multiply. The bad news is all those pockets are your pockets.
This year when the Legislature presented the latest unfunded mandate Act 127, the administration asked, “How are we going to pay for this?” The Legislature’s pat response: “we need additional funding sources.” Unlike the federal government, the state of Vermont cannot print money, so that leaves two options, more taxes or more borrowing. In both cases, those additional dollars come from you, or eventually your children’s pockets in the case of borrowing from the future. I find it ironic we are willing to spend without regard to the financial damage we do to the children we look to lift up through education.
The housing affordability crisis is real in this state and across the country as unchecked spending makes the dream of home ownership unattainable for many.
This year’s budgeting process, which takes place in December for next year’s school budget, and goes before the town in March, has been undermined by Act 127. Act 127 receives an “A” for headlines (supporting students for whom English is a second language), and unfortunately, an “F” for implementation.
The schools are just now receiving key student count metrics based upon the “rule changes.” A skeptic might make a comparison to corporate behavior. When corporations face challenging optics, they restructure, eliminating the ability to compare metrics over time.
Under Act 127’s recent issued metrics, the BFUHS student count has climbed from a few more than 300 students last year to more than 700 this year. While the BFUHS has not seen 700 students gracing its hallways since the school opened over 50 years ago, the new weighting methodology would have you believe the headcount is approaching a level twice reality.
These counts are critical because they directly influence a school district’s locally adjusted homestead property tax rate and impact the critical cost per student ratio which, as pointed out in the above-referenced JFO report, continues a black eye for the state.
Vermont’s education budgeting process is broken. There is no fiscal discipline and very little accountability for declining results. The real disaster I believe is the lack of awareness by the participants of the unintended consequences that double-digit spending increases wreak on current and potential future community members.
If we have learned anything post-pandemic, based upon the hundreds of millions of ESSER dollars dumped, our challenges are not going to be solved by simply throwing money at the problem.
If Vermont’s out-of-control spending continues unabated, this will create more problems ahead for all.
Michael P. Stack lives in Saxtons River.
