VTDigger held the first in a series of Digger Dialogs on Dec. 11. Digger Dialogs are designed to bring together people with differing points of view to discuss solutions to problems the state and local communities face.
More than 110 people came to hear six panelists talk about how to solve a vexing issue the state Legislature will be taking up in January: the rising cost of public, K-12 education at a time when student enrollment levels, particularly in rural places, continue to fall.
State education spending (not counting federal dollars) more than doubled between 1994 and fiscal 2015 from $554.6 million to $1.25 billion, according to the Vermont Education Department. It ramped up significantly (to the 6 percent annual growth range) from 2000-2003 after the passage of the court-ordered Act 60 education funding law that provided property tax relief based on income, equalized property values and made it easier for many school boards to increase spending.
To bring that trend into sharper relief, consider this: Vermont had 103,898 students in 1997. Today that number is 82,523 – a decline of over 21,000, or nearly 20 percent. Underlining this trend is the fact that on average, Vermont schools employ one staff member for every 4.7 students and a teacher for every 10 students. Some schools have fewer than seven students per teacher, even though best practices cite optimal class size.
Last year, 36 school districts out of 260 voted down budgets. Most of the districts that rejected school spending proposals were in larger population areas of the state and together they represent approximately 178,000 people, according to data from the Vermont School Boards Association.
Vermont has a statewide property tax system. The state sets the tax rate and local schools spend the money. Panelists at the forum talked about how Act 60/68 creates an even playing field in terms of how communities raise money for education across the state, but it also muddies the relationship between spending at the local level and statewide tax rate increases.
Mark Johnson of WDEV moderated the forum. Our panelists included Reps. Dave Sharpe, Oliver Olsen and Adam Greshin, Sen. Dick McCormack, Tom Pelham, a founder of Campaign for Vermont, and Paul Cillo of Public Assets Institute.
Here is a sampling of ideas, comments and questions from panelists and audience members:
- Think more broadly about the vision for education in Vermont. What is it we’re trying to achieve for students?
- Create an education finance system that is less complex and more transparent so that leaders can explain how it works.
- Olsen: “One of the ideas I’ve been thinking about is providing incentives to school districts to negotiate a performance-based reduction system that would allow for an easier transition and a smarter transition to a (staffing) ratio that makes sense.”
- Should we reassess the equalized pupil formula, which increases the student enrollment counts based on weighted factors?
- Set a much lower, fixed statewide homestead property tax and use a variable income tax to adjust for local school spending rates. This plan, which was first proposed as H.680, would eliminate the income sensitivity program and use an income tax variable rate instead.
- Eighty percent of school spending is wrapped up in staff costs. Moderate school spending by addressing staffing levels.
- Greshin: We need to think about how much we want to spend on providing children a good education Vermont and consider whether the state should set spending levels. “I think it’s time for the state to ante up and say this is how much is appropriate to educate (our children) and the rate would be set to raise that amount of money.”
- McCormack: It may be impossible to significantly lower property tax bills. “I don’t think we’re going to be bring miracles to people. I’m sorry to say that, but I don’t think we should be in the business of making promises we can’t keep.”
- Cillo: We do not have an education affordability crisis. “The so-called crisis is remarkable for the stunning lack of information that confirms that it even exists.” We’ve had crises in this state and we know what they look like: Tropical Storm Irene was a crisis. Health care presents an affordability crisis in Vermont and represents 20 percent of the states economy. When we look at affordability of education in Vermont where is the crisis? The state has the highest graduation rate in the country. We typically rate among top 5 percent states. Does 10 percent of school budgets failing constitute a crisis?
- Pelham: Let’s start with leaving local school districts alone, and then create “regional districts that are large enough to pursue economies of scale.” Find Pelham’s slideshow here.
The event was sponsored by Downs Rachlin Martin and Ellis Mills Public Affairs.
Many thanks to ORCA Media for making the complete video of the Dec. 11 Digger Dialog available.
