Shumlin says, "Reign in on Education Spending"
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- Created on Thursday, 04 December 2014 19:25
- Written by Camille DeLongis
VERMONT - Governor Peter Shumlin says the state of Vermont has to cut back on school spending, while still improving the quality of students' education.
Shumlin announced this week that due to steep school spending estimates, the statewide school property tax rate is going to face a two-cent increase. According to tax commissioner Mary Peterson of the State Tax Department, education spending is projected to rise by 3.09% in the 2016 fiscal year.
The increase in education spending demands a 2 cent hike for both residential and non-residential statewide property taxes. This increase is lower than last years though, which fell at 4 cents for residential property taxes, and 7.5 cents for non-residential property taxes. Peterson's report stated that the increase is lower this fiscal year because of the slight rise in property values across Vermont.
According to Vermont.gov, Peterson said, "An increase in value, even slight, is a welcome change from the decreases over the past several years that exacerbated the pressure on the property tax rate and reflected the effects of the Great Recession."
Shumlin added that even though the increase is half of last year's, that's no comfort to residents of Vermont who have faced increasingly higher property tax year after year.
He says that other state funds also contribute to public education. For every dollar in General Fund revenue the state collects, 30 cents goes to funding education. Parts of income taxes, sales taxes, vehicle purchase-and-use taxes, as well as lottery proceeds, also contribute to funding public education.
Shumlin stated that school spending in the state is supported by a large outlet of revenue sources, not just property tax.
He said, "That’s why I do not think simply shifting more education spending to other sources will address the burden Vermonters feel. We need to tackle this first as a spending challenge because education costs have continued to rise faster than Vermonter’s ability to pay for it, even though our student count has declined.”
According to Vermont.gov, Shumlin has pledged to work with communities and school boards to reduce burdens on local districts. He has formulated a number of steps that include:
-Clarifying demographic and fiscal challenges
-Identifying and sharing strategies different boards have developed to address these challenges
-Giving support for districts who explore options for creating "rich and deep" educational opportunities at a lower price
-Collecting staffing and retirement data that Boards can use to assess teacher-to-student ratios and regulate staffing costs
-Work with the Agency of Human Services to see if collocation of services to children and families could support better outcomes at a lower total cost
In St. Johnsbury, new State Representative Scott Beck also plans to focus on cutting back on education spending right here in the Northeast Kingdom. Beck agrees that Vermonters just can't foot the bill of education taxes anymore.
St. Johnsbury School Superintendent Ranny Bledsoe believes that school spending continues to rise too quickly, and schools around the state and in the Northeast Kingdom need to be more frugal.
Bledsoe said, "I don't think a great education is all about money... Studies show that low spending districts, like ours, can have really great records."
Shumlin thinks that communities in Vermont need to work together to create a school system that "efficiently" gives Vermont student's a higher quality education.
