Education Reform: Another way is possible
Written By Gene Bergman, City Councilor (Ward-2), Burlington, Vermont
The Governor is demanding that we implement Act 73 quickly, especially the school district closure/consolidation provisions, in order to make education affordable. But as more than 5,000 Vermonters who weighed in last year overwhelmingly made clear, the Governor is wrong. Extreme consolidation will not lower taxes or improve education. We need another way and one is possible.
Public opinion against the harmful provisions of Act 73 spans urban and rural communities. People from all corners of our state spoke out at public hearings last year opposing forced mergers and top down redistricting. Public Assets Institute succinctly summarized the failing of the Governor’s forced merger ultimatum as a failure to address “the two biggest problems we face in education funding: unfairness in who pays school taxes [and] the biggest cost drivers out of districts’ control like teacher healthcare and inflation.” Here in Burlington, the School Board and Superintendent have rightly labelled the Governor’s demand that we consolidate Vermont’s 119 school districts into large, regional districts a “big state takeover” of public education, taking decision-making power away from local communities and concentrating power at the state level.
The Board and Superintendent called out the fallacy that a state takeover will reduce property taxes. They noted there is no evidence that forced consolidation “will reduce costs or fix the cost drivers in Vermont’s education system. We know it will not bring down health care premiums, repair old infrastructure, or support the growing need for student mental health and social services. It will not fix the staffing shortages that districts across the state are struggling to manage. It will not improve student outcomes or honor the work done through ACT 127, which brought equity to districts serving students living in poverty, English Learners, and students living in rural communities.”
But opposing forced mergers does not mean doing nothing to change the status quo. The Act 73- created Redistricting Task Force studied and listened to Vermonters across the state carefully. Despite what Governor Scott says, they looked closely at consolidation options and decided that forced mergers would not work. Instead, they suggested a plan based on successful examples from other states and Vermont itself. Their plan focuses on saving money through shared regional services and voluntary cooperation, while keeping communities in control of key decisions. It is based on evidence and public input. But instead of considering this plan, the Administration rejected it and went back to its original top-down consolidation idea, while suggesting that Task Force members who don’t agree should be replaced.
The Legislature faces a choice: bend to the Governor’s will or choose the path charted by the public comment-informed Redistricting Task Force. Fortunately, bills have been introduced by Vermont Progressive General Assembly Caucus members that would effectuate the task force’s path. They would eliminate Act 73’s harmful provisions, address the real drivers of high education property taxes, maintain our equitable systems for distributing education funds, and create an equally progressive way of raising education revenues so that working families do not continue to pay a higher share of their income for education than the wealthiest Vermonters.
S.244 and H.809 would advance the evidence-based recommendations of the task force and repeal mandates, widespread forced redistricting, and the foundation formula. They would maintain important provisions in Act 73 like the new second-home property tax classification and restrictions on independent schools. S.104 would eliminate the primary homestead education property tax and shift to income-based funding while reining in healthcare and other cost drivers, thereby providing immediate property tax relief across the state.
Politics is the art of the possible but, to really solve people’s problems and build the community we need, politics has to be based on values.
Funding our schools equitably so that the vast majority of Vermonters do not pay more of their income for education than the wealthiest Vermonters is one such value. Distributing those funds based on the real needs of Vermont kids, their families, and our communities is another. Focusing on the real reasons education costs are rising and actually addressing them is one too. Add to the list being evidence based, maintaining local control, and really valuing public input and you have the formula for transforming our education system and the ways we pay for it. Another way is possible. It is within our reach if we enact S.244, S.104, and H.809.