With the new school year kicking off next week, Barre hopes to abandon its outlier position among Vermont schools.
The district, which includes Barre City and Barre Town, still doesn’t have an approved school budget, after voters rejected three different iterations this spring.
In a Wednesday night meeting, the school board finalized a budget that would raise taxes less than 1% in Barre City and about 2.8% in Barre Town. Voters will consider the proposal, which would spend $56.8 million, on Sept. 17.
JoAn Canning, the district’s new superintendent, said in an interview Wednesday her focus will be on engaging the community to win support for the latest plan.
“We seem to have a lot of interest on the part of the community to be involved with the schools, which I think is great,” she said. With four decades of experience in the field of education, Canning called such interest “unusual.”
About one in three school budgets failed statewide on Town Meeting Day in March, a stark contrast to the typical overwhelming support granted by voters. In the months following, district after district approved spending plans, leaving only Barre.
Across Vermont, voters signaled that they could not stomach this year’s projected property tax increase. The latest figures show the average property tax payer’s education bill will rise about 14%, down from nearly 20% when schools first proposed their budgets.
But in the Barre district, the latest proposal includes a much smaller increase. And compared to neighboring districts such as Montpelier and Paine Mountain, Barre spends less per student.
Still, just how big the district’s budget should be has divided Barre’s board, with one contingent calling for further cuts and another already uncomfortable with the more than $2 million trimmed since residents first voted in March.
“I understand that my effort and support for a decreased budget proposal is being perceived by some as harsh criticism,” Nancy Leclerc, a Barre school board member, said at Wednesday’s meeting. But if being a critic meant diligently reviewing the budget, “then I accept that label,” she said.
Sonya Spaulding, a board member against further cuts, argued the existing reductions would negatively affect students.
“To say that this isn’t going to impact students is a farce,” she said. “This is a lie you’re telling yourselves.”
For districts like Barre that enter a new school year without a budget, they still receive blocks of funding from the state, and districts can borrow money to operate on a budget up to 87% of their last passed spending plan.
Barre will likely need to borrow money before the upcoming budget vote, Canning said, which would bring additional costs in the form of interest payments.
Canning, who took over the top position in Barre’s schools this year, stepped into a district in flux. About 50% of the administrative team turned over, she said, and departures included the principal of Spaulding High School and co-principal of Barre Town Middle & Elementary School.
Entering at such an uncertain time, Canning said she prioritized “trying to get to know each of the board members on an individual basis.”
She also took her time putting forward a fourth budget for board approval. That plan, which included more than $900,000 in reductions from the previous proposal, relied on nixing funding for some positions and combining the responsibilities of others. The board also previously decided to increase its use of one-time tax stabilization money to bring down tax rates.
Wednesday night, as the board debated whether or not to move forward with Canning’s proposals, tensions were high. School staff spoke to the stress of entering a school year amid looming uncertainty. Some members argued the budget, which spends $56.8 million rather than the initially proposed $58.9 million, needed further cuts.
Ultimately, though, the plan passed by voice vote, moving the decision making into the hands of voters.
“I’m just going to encourage the folks that are in support of the budget,” Michael Boutin, the board’s chair, said, “support the budget. Get out the word to support the budget.”
