Editor’s note: This commentary is by Pete Novick, who is a cabinetmaker and owner of Hayama Cabinetmakers. He lives in South Newfane.
[P]lease take this simple poll.
1. I would like both my income tax bill and my property tax bill to go down. (Circle one) YES NO
2. I would like Vermont to deliver the very best K-12 public education for our kids that we can collectively afford. (Circle one) YES NO
A recent report, authored by a group of lawmakers and former state officials, and reported in VTDigger, proposed a three-step approach to controlling education costs:
• A renovation plan to set a per-pupil spending target, streamline hiring, and increase incentives for school consolidation;
• A proposal to repeal Act 60/68 and fund education from income taxes;
• A regional block grant system giving the state responsibility for raising all education revenue.
The Legislature appears ready to consider these proposals. Note that this plan is billed as a method to control costs and not necessarily to reduce costs. That’s too bad, because an absolute reduction in education costs is what Vermont needs today.
It is impossible to have a substantive give-and-take about education funding without jumping right into the numbers, so here goes.
Vermont education budget
All sources (General Fund, Education Fund and federal):
2015 education budget: $1.675 billion
Education Fund component (about 90 percent of total budget):
2014 budget: $1.452 billion
2015 budget: $1.510 billion
Year-on-year growth: $58 million (about 4 percent)
Source: 2015 Budget Book Vermont Agency of Education
Some useful data:
• Labor cost of K-12 public education: $1.34 billion about 80 percent of total education costs)
• 2014 total public school enrollment: less than 80,000 (down from 104,000 in 1997)
• Number of full-time teachers and paraeducators: 12,600 (8,400 teachers, 4,200 paraeducators, no significant change in 10+ years)
• Vermont average student-teacher ratio: 10:1 (lowest in the nation)
• New England average student-teacher ratio: 12:1
• National average student-teacher ratio: 15:1
Source: Vermont School Boards Association and Vermont Superintendents Association: A Situational Analysis of Public Education in Vermont (2014)
Trying to achieve significant savings on the fixed cost side of the budget (school system operations, maintenance, repair and utilities) can never achieve significant savings.
Here’s the text of a letter I am sending to my state senators and representative:
I am writing to seek your legislative support to lower the total cost of providing K-12 public education in Vermont. The only practical solution is to lower the cost of labor (administrators, teachers and paraeducators), which accounts for about 80 percent of total education costs. As you know labor costs rise automatically year-on-year based on formulas built in to the wage and benefit schedules which have the force of law. The 2014-2015 year-on-year increase is about $58 million, or 4 percent. The five-year budget growth estimate, if nothing is done, is about $300 million. To support this increase, my taxes have to go up in real dollars — every year.
Here’s a link to the education budget data.
To save real dollars starting next year, Vermont must commit to a higher student-teacher ratio, and stay the course over five years to achieve the average New England student–teacher ratio of 12:1.
There is no practical way to achieve significant long-term savings on the fixed cost side of the budget (school system operations, maintenance, repair and utilities). Lowering the thermostat and shutting off the lights are environmentally sound practices, but they don’t yield significant cost savings.
To save real dollars starting next year, Vermont must commit to a higher student-teacher ratio, and stay the course over five years to achieve the average New England student–teacher ratio of 12:1.
Vermont’s total student population has declined from 104,000 (1997) to 80,000 (2014), a decrease of a little over 1 percent per year. It is projected to continue to decline.
Using an average student enrollment of 76,000 over the five-year period (2016-2020), and a 12:1 student-teacher ratio as of 2020, we need to reduce the number of teachers by about 2,000 over the next five years, and reduce the number of paraeducators by a proportional number.
That could save Vermonters more than $600 million over five years, assuming a level drawdown of about 500 total teachers and paraeducators per year for five years.
Keep in mind every legislator in Vermont knew, or should have known, a declining student population served by a fixed number of education professionals has sent the cost curve in a fiscally unsustainable direction.
Other New England states have shown it is possible to achieve excellent education outcomes with higher student-teacher ratios.
No one should lose their job in this process, so it is up to you and your fellow legislators to use the state retirement rules – and modify them as needed – to make sure we treat our education professionals with fairness and equity. These are good people: they are our neighbors and friends, they educate our kids, and some of them educated us. They have earned and deserve the very best.
I know that rebalancing school enrollments, moving teachers – some to retirement, some to other schools — closing and consolidating schools is absolutely the hardest work many in the Legislature and the Department of Education will ever have to do.
In sum, I want good schools and lower taxes, and I am counting on you to get us there.
