School budget public info meeting set for Thursday

December 10, 2024  |  By Lisa Scagliotti 

UPDATE Dec. 12: Mad River Valley Television will have a livestream from this meeting and a recording posted afterward. Use this link to view it here.

Crossett Brook Middle School. File photo by Gordon Miller

The Harwood Unified Union School District School Board will host a special public informational session on Thursday about the process to build a proposed 2025-26 school budget that voters will consider next spring. 

The meeting is scheduled for 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria at Crossett Brook Middle School. 

The district’s Chief Financial Officer Lisa Estler will share a slide presentation with information to date. The preliminary draft budget scenario shared with the school board last week shows a proposed 2025-26 budget of just over $49 million, representing an increase of 2.75% over this year’s budget. 

Community members will have a chance to ask questions and offer comments. The input will be considered as school officials including administrators and the school board draft the 2025-26 budget. 

Vermont’s Commissioner of Taxes Craig Bolio on Dec. 2 last week issued a letter outlining the state’s best forecast for property tax implications from education taxes in the coming year. 

It shares estimates for the anticipated homestead and non-homestead tax rates for fiscal year 2026 which starts July 1. 

Bolio’s forecast estimates that property taxes will increase by an average statewide of 5.9%. 

The increase is markedly less than the 2024 statewide average increase which came to about 14%. In the Harwood district, voters in 2024 took three votes to approve this year’s nearly $48 million budget which relied on more than two dozen job cuts to win voter approval. The result was increased education property taxes around the district between 10% and 19%; Waterbury’s increase was 14%. 

Gov. Phil Scott commented on Bolio’s forecast, offering his hopes regarding FY26 education funding ahead of the legislative session convening in January. In a statement on Dec. 2, Scott emphasized that the affordability issue will be a top issue in the coming session. “With an already high tax burden, the last thing Vermonters need is yet another property tax increase,” Scott said. 

Even the projected tax increase of less than 6% that Bolio announced is too high, he noted. “I know many will claim victory, and celebrate this increase being limited to single digits,” he said. But over the past three years, that would mean Vermonters will have seen education property taxes rise by 33%, the governor said, pointing out that the trend is fueled by high costs, an aging population that results in declining enrollments and a smaller workforce.

Scott said he hopes his administration and lawmakers will be able to work together in the upcoming session to keep education taxes from increasing. 

“I am hopeful legislators will take a moment to reflect on how difficult any increase will be and work with my administration to reduce the tax burden on Vermonters who simply cannot afford more and make changes necessary to achieve long-term sustainability,” the governor said. “This increase could have been substantially more – and still could be – so I want to thank school administrators and school boards who have made difficult decisions because I know it’s not easy.”

Legislators weigh in

Legislative leaders last week also weighed in following Bolio’s announcement. 

House Speaker Jill Krowinski and the chairs of the House Education Committee and the Ways and Means Committee issued a joint statement. 

“While we are relieved to see a decrease from last year's projection, the continued growth in our property taxes is unsustainable and unaffordable for Vermonters across the state,” Krowinski said. “I look forward to working alongside the governor and hearing his plans. We agree that tough conversations and decisions are ahead and it will only be possible if we work together.”

Krowinski suggested that both short- and long-term measures would be needed. “ It will take a variety of changes to make a difference and we must be united in our mission to make sure that our public schools have the resources they need to support our kids, at a price that Vermonters can afford,” she said. 

Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, chairs the House Education Committee and is on the Commission of the Future of Public Education formed after last session. The commission is expected to share a report this month policy recommendations for reducing the cost of education. 

“The Commission’s report will include strong policy proposals, including strategies for class size management and addressing the rising costs of healthcare for schools,” Conlin said. “We are committed to ensuring that Vermont’s children receive the support they need while easing the burden on property taxpayers.”

House Ways and Means Committe Chair Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, serves on the commission’s finance subcommittee. She stressed the need for continued collaboration on reforms. 

“We need to continue learning from the lessons of previous reform efforts. It has taken us 30 years to get to this point, and we're going to continue learning from our past and diving deep into what's possible right now, in this moment of crisis, for so many children across our state,” Kornheiser said. “It's going to be a significant undertaking for committees throughout the legislature to make a difference this year, to make sure that we can have the quality education that all of our kids deserve at a price that Vermonters can afford.”

Republican legislative minority leaders from both chambers also added their voices. They pointed out that spending on public education in Vermont has increased faster than growth in the state’s tax base, inflation, and wage and economic growth. State Senator-elect Scott Beck, a St. Johnsbury Republican, and Rep. Patricia McCoy, R-Poultney, issued a joint statement. 

“Vermonters clearly voiced their opposition to increasing education property tax rates in the most recent election and House and Senate Republicans are committed to working with Gov. Scott’s administration and our legislative colleagues to reform the Education Fund so that it is transparent, understandable to Vermonters and establishes a closer connection between district spending decisions and local tax rates,” they said. 

Beck and McCoy said “fundamental systemic reform to the Education Fund” is needed, not just increasing state funding for education or creating new benchmarks and penalties for school districts to navigate. 

They, too, pledged to work with the Scott administration and colleagues in the majority to craft some form of education property tax relief  in the upcoming session. “House and Senate Republicans are resolved to do our part to ensure Vermont children receive an excellent education at a price Vermont taxpayers can afford.”

Local meetings

The Harwood School Board plans additional public informational meetings about the budget process in January. 

Also, given this week’s weather forecast with a flood warning for Thursday, this post will be updated should there be any changes in the schedule or format for Thursday’s meeting. The Harwood Union website HUUSD.org homepage with the meeting information also will be updated.