[A]s the budget season begins, school board members are wondering if they need to trade in their pencils for sharpened scythes. The Scott administration has made clear that school boards will have to grapple with a hole in the state education fund that could be as high as $80 million and drive up taxes statewide by 8 cents.
At their annual retreat, school board members expressed concern tempered with hope that the Legislature will find a way to reduce their pain.
Local school boards say the $200 statewide tax increase per $250,000 of property value is a result of legislative decisions.
Kim Gleason, a board member from the Essex Westford School District, said she wants residents who vote on school budgets in March to know that the the tax impact is not the fault of local budgeting choices.
“It is a challenge every district in the state will face. So much of this is out of our control,” she said.
Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe spoke to school board members and superintendents at their annual meeting in Lake Morey on Thursday. She explained that the state’s education fund has a $50 million hole that could grow to $80 million if school district spending remains on a normal growth rate of 2 percent to 3 percent. Holcombe reiterated the need to think strategically and find cuts that will not hurt student learning.
Some board members said they won’t know for sure what the tax increase will be until well into the legislative session.
“We are very aware of it and very concerned, but we have to see where the pieces fall,” said Rep. Martin LaLonde, a Democrat who is a member of the South Burlington school board.
Each year, a chicken-and-egg back-and-forth commences as Vermonters wait to find out what their tax bill will ratchet up to. In December, the tax commissioner sends out a letter saying what school spending is expected to be in the next fiscal year. Lawmakers convene in January, but don’t set the tax rate until April or May, mainly because they must wait for towns to vote on school budgets in March.
“The Legislature waits until they know how much money they have to raise to fill the education fund,” said Rep. Kevin Christie, a Democrat who is a member of the Hartford School Board. Sometimes lawmakers find they don’t have to raise any extra money; other times they make little adjustments to try to lessen the burden on taxpayers, but, he added, “the ed fund will fund the budgets that passed.”
Rama Schneider, a Williamstown school board member, said that those adjustments could mean the state will have to raise only an extra $10 million in taxes to fill the $50 million hole. But he equally fears the $50 million could become $80 million.
“The Legislature is not going to decide what the hole really is until April, if we are lucky,” Schneider said. And that is too late because school boards have to budget for next year now as teachers’ contracts are signed, contracts with vendors are approved and expenses are locked in, he added.
In the meantime, LaLonde said, the South Burlington School Board is paying close attention to the number of full-time employees on staff, since that is the costliest budget item. Staffing makes up 80 percent of school budgets.
Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, a board member in the Addison Central School District, said the board is still in the early stages of budgeting but it has asked for a level-funded budget. That means cutting $2.2 million out of a $37 million budget.
“We are at the initial stages of budget work and our first task is to find what level funding means for our district,” he said. The board is also examining the financial impact of teacher retirements.
LaLonde said his board also asked what level funding, a normal increase and an ideal budget would look like. Last year, the South Burlington board cut $1.2 million from the budget before it passed on the third try.
Christie said Hartford is ready to deal with whatever financial challenges may lie ahead. The board has been planning for a few years, he said, and the district’s large size makes adjustments easier.
Schneider agreed, and said, “Act 46 will do more to help than people think.”
