Just days before Town Meeting Day, Vermont teachers with the National Education Association testified before lawmakers, many of them opposing forced consolidation under Act 73.”Our current funding constraints often force schools to make reductions that directly affect students day to day,” said Lilith Blackwell, a teacher at U32 Middle School. She and other teachers encouraged lawmakers to do their best to preserve local control. Their statements come as Town Meeting Day is on the horizon. According to the current data from the Agency of Administration, property taxes are expected to increase by roughly 10%. That’s if all of the budgets are passed next Tuesday. Then, if lawmakers agree to buy down that rate, it would be reduced to 4%. Vermont Governor Phil Scott thinks that figure is still too high. “I have a feeling that this is going to be an awakening in some respects,” Scott said when asked about Town Meeting Day. Scott said he plans to vote “no” on his own district’s budget. He’s doing it because of the property tax impact to other towns in the district, not his own. With that, he’s encouraging Vermonters to have a full understanding of their district’s budget impact before going to the polls. “I can figure out pretty quickly what impact it would have on me, and I think others can as well,” he said. “So need to do their homework and figure out what that will mean to them.”The governor and fellow Republicans think the idea of letting the property tax rise ride out without the use of state funds to push for consolidation is unjust to taxpayers. “I think most Vermonters feel the same way,” House minority leader Rep Pattie McCoy said. “Our tax dollars are doing the most they can possibly do to get our students a level playing field with other states, and we are not seeing that right now.”Gov. Scott believes that lawmakers can come through with a consolidation mapping plan to move Act 73 forward by the end of the session.
Just days before Town Meeting Day, Vermont teachers with the National Education Association testified before lawmakers, many of them opposing forced consolidation under Act 73.
“Our current funding constraints often force schools to make reductions that directly affect students day to day,” said Lilith Blackwell, a teacher at U32 Middle School.
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She and other teachers encouraged lawmakers to do their best to preserve local control. Their statements come as Town Meeting Day is on the horizon.
According to the current data from the Agency of Administration, property taxes are expected to increase by roughly 10%. That’s if all of the budgets are passed next Tuesday.
Then, if lawmakers agree to buy down that rate, it would be reduced to 4%. Vermont Governor Phil Scott thinks that figure is still too high.
“I have a feeling that this is going to be an awakening in some respects,” Scott said when asked about Town Meeting Day.
Scott said he plans to vote “no” on his own district’s budget. He’s doing it because of the property tax impact to other towns in the district, not his own. With that, he’s encouraging Vermonters to have a full understanding of their district’s budget impact before going to the polls.
“I can figure out pretty quickly what impact it would have on me, and I think others can as well,” he said. “So need to do their homework and figure out what that will mean to them.”
The governor and fellow Republicans think the idea of letting the property tax rise ride out without the use of state funds to push for consolidation is unjust to taxpayers.
“I think most Vermonters feel the same way,” House minority leader Rep Pattie McCoy said. “Our tax dollars are doing the most they can possibly do to get our students a level playing field with other states, and we are not seeing that right now.”
Gov. Scott believes that lawmakers can come through with a consolidation mapping plan to move Act 73 forward by the end of the session.
