Info. meeting offers a final look at Harwood’s 25-26 budget
March 3, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti Tonight is the Harwood Unified Union School District's annual meeting and final informational session pertaining to the proposed 2025-26 budget that is on the ballot in all six district communities tomorrow.
HUUSD’s 2024 Annual Report is available online on the district website. See link below
The meeting is at 6 p.m. at Harwood Union High School or online via Zoom. Details are on the warning here. Find more in the district's annual report.
The proposed budget for 2025-26 is $49,209,927, up 2.75% from the current year. Only Fayston is expected to see a school tax increase; the other towns likely will see school taxes drop slightly. Waterbury, Waitsfield and Warren are expected to see a drop of less than 1% in their school tax rate. For a Waterbury home valued at $250,000, that would mean a reduction in its school tax bill of $27, according to school district officials. The reduction is similar for Waitsfield while Warren’s works out to $18 less than last year.
Moretown and Duxbury are poised to see a reduction of about 9% in their school tax rates. For a home valued at $250,000 in Moretown, that would mean a property tax drop of $465; in Duxbury that would be a reduction of $299, according to district figures.
Fayston is the only community in the district expected to see a property tax increase. District Finance Manager Lisa Estler has met with town officials to review the data that show a significant fluctuation in the town’s grand list of property values. The result is that the school tax rate for Fayston is likely to increase by 10.5%. On a $250,000 home in Fayston, that would mean a school tax increase of $538, according to Estler’s analysis.
The final tax rates will not be known until later this spring when parts of the funding formula are finalized by state officials.
A second ballot question from the Harwood district asks voters to put a $500,000 surplus from last year into the Maintenance Reserve Fund.
In order to keep this year’s budget to an increase under 3%, school administrators and school board members have discussed a number of spending cuts, the largest of which is likely to be $2 million from 16-20 full-time staff positions across the district. Those specific cuts have not yet been announced, however Estler and Superintendent Mike Leichliter have outlined the staffing areas they envision trimming. They include classroom teachers, school nurses, central office and student support positions, art and librarian positions and leaving vacancies open. Details on those cuts will be shared later this month, school officials have said.
Another significant cut is the elimination of summer academies which will trim $325,000.
And while school officials are looking at ways to trim transportation costs, Estler stresses that no cuts are planned to middle school or high school sports programs for the 2025-26 school year. Some changes may be proposed for the following school year after more review by administration and school board finance committee members, she said.
Find more details about the proposed budget, the district’s annual report, and even a spot to send questions or suggestions for spending cuts to school district leaders on the HUUSD.org website under the Budget tab.