Editor’s note: This commentary is by Liz Filskov, of East Wallingford, who is a public school teacher in Rutland City. She chairs the Town of Wallingford Democratic Committee and serves as an alternate state delegate on the Rutland County Democratic Committee.
Dear Gov. Scott,
[A]ll Vermonters are interested in managing educational costs within our collective ability to pay for them, and in a way that is fiscally responsible. This is not a partisan issue. This is everyone’s issue, and it is certainly one of affordability.
Ninety-seven percent of local school budgets were passed by Vermont voters. I hear that you, Gov. Scott, voted your school budget down, and you have vetoed the state’s budget designed to fund these school budgets.
There are a lot of Vermonters – myself included – who would like property tax relief. What you fail to understand is that we do not want it at the expense of our children’s educations. This is a non-negotiable. Additionally, Vermonters will not accept a veto against their votes in favor of their local schools and the education of the next generation because you are steadfast in delivering on a campaign promise you didn’t address until the absolute end of the legislative session. Haste makes waste, Governor.
You mislead Vermonters when you claim the Legislature is raising property taxes by $33.4 million. This “raise,” “increase,” “gap” or “chronic deficit” as your administration has called it at various times is largely the result of a “one-time” $47 million funds transfer applied towards lowering this year’s property taxes and taken from – wait for it – the education fund. This maneuver, coupled with a $160 million revenue surplus this year, wreaks of what Ken Fredette dubs “revenue containment” on your end. Your current plan to “eliminate the need for a tax increase” (the increase is negligible, Governor, but you are on the hook to pay back $47 million from last year) hinges on squeezing teachers and state employees for higher premium contributions to high-deductible health insurance plans with greater out-of-pocket expenses, and attrition through retirement. This hardly makes Vermont more affordable, and compromises our outstanding schools to save a buck that everyone else is OK with spending.
The issue, which you fail to address, is that the way we fund education is too burdensome on property tax payers. You cannot realize your promise to hold down property taxes without changing the education funding formula, and we will not allow you to hold the state’s budget hostage in exchange for the collective-bargaining efforts of state employees and teachers, and on the backs of the children.
Earlier in the session Speaker Mitzi Johnson offered a comprehensive plan to change the way we fund education. Her transparent solution lowers taxes, has room to pay back the $47 million you diverted last year, and has plenty of room left over to finance new and exciting initiatives for Vermonters – maybe preserve some of the programs you’ve slashed, or funding of the struggling Vermont State Colleges. Her plan was dismissed as rushed and problematic because of tax complications.
The bottom-line, Governor: Education funding sources need to be examined so as not to fall so heavily on the shoulders of property tax payers, but you cannot shift the burden onto the backs of union members or children or compromise our schools.
Gov. Scott, Vermonters place high priority on children, family and community. We demand funding the structures and services that support thriving communities: schools.
Please reconsider Speaker Johnson’s overhaul of education funding, which boasts a substantial reduction in property taxes, and invests in our most valuable asset: the children.
