Governor Douglas has also proposed a spending freeze, asking school
boards to level fund for next year, until he and the Legislature can
come up with an alternative to Vermont's education funding formula. But
this may not be legal either. First, in some school districts,
insurance costs are going up and schools do not have the option of not
funding those increases -- ditto for legally negotiated wage increases
that are part of teacher contracts. Secondly, it may violate the
principles of Brigham, the Vermont Supreme Court ruling requiring that
all children in the state receive substantially equal educational
opportunities.
The governor is correct that Vermont's educational funding mechanism is
beyond flawed, it is a train wreck, and it must be replaced in its
entirety. And this time, rather than re-invent the wheel (which
Legislators did when crafting Act 60), let's ask our elected
representatives to look to states where two-tiered statewide property
tax programs are in place, are simple, equitable and where they
actually work (Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado and Florida to name a
few).
Act 60 with its impenetrable and unyielding Common Level of Appraisal
(CLA) and its convoluted ratio of per pupil spending to equalized
number of students is broken. Act 68, meant to simplify it and get rid
of the "shark pool," made things worse. Follow that up with a "credit"
to taxpayers of their income-sensitized property tax rebate that shows
up on tax bills and allows anyone to calculate anyone else's household
income.
And finally, now Act 82 will require towns to hold two votes if their
rates of increase in per pupil spending (based on an algebraic formula
that might stump Stephen Hawking) exceed mysteriously calculated
amounts based on CLAs that cannot be made to accurately reflect the
true fair market values in 2009.
The system is unwieldy, does not work and should be thrown away
completely. But in the meantime, it's a waste of time to suggest that
school boards and towns abandon their legal obligations and it's
ethically wrong to suggest "bridge" or "level funding" that circumvents
the intent of the Brigham decision.
{loadnavigation}
