On the third try, voters put Harwood school budget over the finish line
May 30, 2024 | By Lisa ScagliottiThis post was updated on May 31.
With turnout of 35% across the school district, voters have approved a $47,892,873 million budget to run the schools in the Harwood Unified Union School District for the 2024-25 school year.
Scroll over to see vote percentages. Source: Harwood Unified Union School District | Chart by Julia Bailey-Wells
The vote of 2,429 in favor was 61% of the total with 1,567 or 39% opposed, according to school district officials following the ballot counts Thursday evening.
This was the third attempt to lock in a budget for fiscal year 2025 after voters rejected a $50.8 million budget proposal on Town Meeting Day in March and a $48.8 million revised budget on April 30.
Around 9 p.m. school officials shared the results of the ballot hand count done at Harwood Union High School after the polls closed at 7 p.m. Ballots are combined from each of the district’s six towns for a single tally, although clerks do record the number of ballots cast in their town.
Scroll over to see voter data. Source: Town clerks. | Chart by Julia Bailey-Wells
Turnout across the district was 35% — higher than the 29% for the April vote but comparable to the 36% that participated in the March 5 vote, which was held on Town Meeting Day along with local elections and the U.S. Presidential Primary.
According to figures shared by town clerks, Duxbury with its drive-through voting format logged the highest turnout with 469 or 40.4% of its registered voters casting ballots. Waitsfield was a close second with 39.3% voting (594 of 1,513 registered); Moretown saw 37% of its 1,477 voters participate; Warren had 35.5% turnout; just under 34% voted in Fayston and Waterbury had the lowest percentage turnout with just under 32% of the 4,435 registered voters participating.
The budget that passed on Thursday relies on more than two dozen job cuts for the coming school year, most of them from attrition. The final round of cuts between the April version and the latest proposal included 11 positions cut: layoffs of four teachers in the elementary World Language program and two administration positions; four interventionists are to be transferred to other open positions, and another administrative job currently vacant will be eliminated. In all, the district will be operating with 27.5 fewer full-time positions next year compared with the current school year. The spending plan also contains reductions in operating expenses including teacher training, facility maintenance, transportation and supplies.
Signs opposing and supporting the third Harwood school budget proposal sit along North Main Street in Waterbury on Wednesday. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Superintendent Mike Leichliter along with School Board Chair Ashley Woods of Warren and Cindy Senning of Duxbury sent out a message to school staff and local news media reporting the results and thanking voters for their “strong support for our schools and the important job that all of our employees do each and every day for our students.”
They acknowledged the challenges of the past six months to build a budget for next school year. “Going into this budget season, the school board and administration had to make some difficult decisions regarding programs, services, and personnel knowing that, among other factors, our federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund money was expiring while the lingering academic, social, and emotional impacts from the pandemic are still a reality for many of our students. These difficult decisions only grew after the second vote failed on April 30,” they wrote.
In addition, changes in the state education funding formula in Act 127 that assigns new weights to student counts affecting the distribution of funds meant a reduction in funding for the district in the overall scheme. Relying on the revised formula in the years ahead will continue that trend.
“We are aware that we still have challenging decisions ahead of us,” they said.
The school board has formed a finance committee which has met twice so far and intends to work over the summer. Its aim is “to explore thoughtful long-term solutions to reducing costs and operations while ensuring our core mission to provide a free and appropriate education for all students,” the district leaders said. The committee meets next on Wednesday, June 5, at 4:30 p.m. Agendas and minutes are on the HUUSD.org website under board committees.
The successful budget vote comes just two weeks before the current school year comes to a close and a month before the new budget year begins.
Duxbury voter Andy Metcalf has a clipboard with his ballot to vote in his truck with his dogs Teddy and Loba late Thursday. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Based on the most recent information from the state Agency of Education, Harwood’s Finance Director Lisa Estler prepared estimates by town of anticipated property tax increases that will be needed to support the budget voters approved on Thursday. They range from a low of 10.5% for Duxbury property owners to 19.3% for those in Warren; Waterbury will see an increase of 14%. That works out to an increase of $199 for every $100,000 of assessed property value in Duxbury, $378 in Warren and $267 in Waterbury. A home valued at $300,000 in Waterbury, for example, would see a tax increase of $801, according to the estimates.
These may change once the state finalizes the “yield” portion of the funding formula which represents the per pupil share of state funding that will be distributed to school districts. As of Friday morning, Gov. Phil Scott had not yet signed H.887, the bill passed by the legislature containing the yield.
Below is the full letter from Leichliter, Woods and Senning.
We are pleased to report that the Harwood Unified Union School District community voted in favor of the 2024-2025 school budget by a vote of 2429 (61%) in favor and 1567 (39%) opposed.
The last few months have been challenging for our schools and our community. Going into this budget season the school board and administration had to make some difficult decisions regarding programs, services, and personnel knowing that, among other factors, our federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) money was expiring while the lingering academic, social, and emotional impacts from the pandemic are still a reality for many of our students. These difficult decisions only grew after the second vote failed on April 30.
Additionally, with changes from Vermont Act 127 having a negative impact on our district finances we are aware that we still have challenging decisions ahead of us.
In spite of these challenges, our community expressed strong support for our schools and the important job that all of our employees do each and every day for our students.
The school board’s finance committee will continue to meet in order to explore thoughtful long-term solutions to reducing costs and operations while ensuring our core mission to provide a free and appropriate education for all students.
With the successful passage of this budget we are now able to focus our attention on bringing the 2023-2024 school year to a successful conclusion in just two short weeks.
Thank you again for your ongoing support for our schools.