LETTER: H.850 deserves Gov. Phil Scott’s veto
February 22, 2024Dear fellow Vermonters,
We are a group of Vermont residents concerned about the unintended consequences of Act 127 and the grave risks posed by H.850 to communities across Vermont. The hardest-hit towns are facing 30 to 40% property tax increases just to maintain modest school budgets that keep their teachers employed and their schools operating safely. Meanwhile, other towns are seeing taxes decrease, while their budgets increase 40% or more.
Our education system is under extreme stress, primarily because of steep increases in labor and healthcare costs and crumbling school infrastructure. Act 127, and the last-minute changes in H.850, have added fuel to the fire, pushing costs up even higher and removing accountability. Remember, Act 127 was approved with an understanding that additional revenue sources would be identified. They have not! This moment calls for austerity across the board. Vermonters must rise to these challenges with common sense, shared sacrifice, and empathy.
Instead, the legislature has just pushed through a divisive, zero-sum law that removes the only accountability mechanism in Act 127, the mandatory review of districts increasing per pupil spending by more than 10%. This legislation promotes excessive spending in “winning” towns while placing a tremendous burden on homesteaders in “losing” towns to pay the costs, and ignoring the fact that all Vermont towns have residents with varying degrees of wealth and income. Towns don’t pay taxes, people pay taxes!
Source: Agency of Education data
Note: This graph labels a selection of school districts that both gain and lose pupil count under the new pupil weighting formula. Harwood Unified Union School District loses 9% of its equalized pupil weighting.
Vermonters are facing an affordability crisis. Longtime residents, many with roots stretching back generations, suddenly find themselves with housing costs that far surpass their ability to pay. Adding skyrocketing tax bills to those conditions is a recipe for disaster. Make no mistake, increasing the tax burden will force some Vermonters out of their homes. Meanwhile, throughout Vermont, out-of-state second-home owners and short-term rental operators will be paying a lower tax rate than the very people who are the backbone of those communities.
We ALL need to advocate for change to get spending under control and bring fairness to the system. Our legislators tell us that they are only hearing from a handful of towns, making it easier to push through this amendment. Please don’t stay quiet!
Our best hope now is for Gov. Phil Scott to veto H.850 and send it back to the legislature to add provisions that will address this crisis.
We implore our neighbors to SPEAK UP. For meaningful change to happen, we need towns across Vermont to DEMAND better legislation NOW.
The best solutions we see to the crisis at hand are:
Tackling the non-homestead tax rate: creating new tax categories for short-term rentals and second homes owned by out-of-state residents designed to increase revenue. And doing this now! Not next year as our legislators are suggesting, when it will already be too late for too many Vermonters.
Education spending cap: Every district must be flexible during our current crisis. An education spending cap, even one as high as 12 percent, would control costs and ease the financial burden on the average Vermonter. Targeted aid can then be applied for the districts with significant needs.
We believe the intent of Act 127 is the right one – but the funding mechanism, along with the equalized pupil weighting formula, needs to be reimagined and made sustainable for ALL Vermonters.
If the governor does sign H.850 into law, then our work is far from over. Our communities and our schools are worth fighting for. Please join us.
Thank you for your time and consideration. TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER!
Your fellow Vermonters for Education Funding Reform,
Taylor Bennett
Chelsea Bray
Pua Kielland
Stowe