Adopting a budget proposal for the coming fiscal year was not an easy decision for Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) board members.
Last week, at a January 22 meeting, a motion to present a school budget that hews to a 2.75% increase cap failed until board chair Ashley Woods, Warren, cast a tie-breaking vote to advance it.
At issue for some board members were plans to potentially cut school nursing staff as part of plans to bring in a budget that was a lean as possible. Outgoing board member Life Legeros, Duxbury, challenged his fellow board members to consider keeping budget increases to the 3% advocated by Vermont Governor Phil Scott.
Legeros argued that Vermont’s education secretary Zoe Saunders had announced a change in education funding that would get rid of an excess spending cap (and penalty) that HUUSD budget-makers were trying to avoid, as well as homestead and no-homestead education tax rates.
Nursing staff is one of the areas the board has identified for 16-20 full-time equivalent position reductions, totaling about $2 million. Other potential cuts include student support, classroom teachers, librarians, art, and open positions. About $400,000 is targeted in program and service, including reducing instructional resources, library and technology resources and summer academies.
SEEING 500 STUDENTS A DAY
Legeros, board member JB Weir, and others pointed out that cutting nursing staff at a time when access to health care is difficult for some and getting more difficult for others. They noted that some school nurses are seeing 500 students a day. At the beginning of last week’s meeting, during the public comment section, board members heard impassioned pleas from parents about the importance of school nurses and the roles they play in providing care but also assuring and calming kids and keeping kids literally and emotionally well.
Prior to approving the budget and the data for the school district’s annual meeting on March 3, the board worked through the final components of the budget, which comes before voters at Town Meeting on March 4.
That budget will be $49,209, 927, a $1.3 million increase over last year’s budget. The budget’s 2.75% increase is offset by revenues that increase 6.72%.
“What we’re asking the state to fund for the coming year is a 2.1% increase year over year which is phenomenal,” HUUSD finance director Lisa Estler said.
She explained that the proposed budget will result in per pupil spending of $15,485.88. The state’s excess spending threshold is $15,926. Spending above the thresholds results in 100% penalties. For example, if a district spends $500 above the threshold, that district’s per pupil spending increases by $1,000.
The HUUSD tax rate is impacted by the state’s changes to each town’s Common Level of Appraisal. The state added a factor of 72% to each CLA which results in local CLAs that range from 143.38 in Moretown (which underwent a reappraisal last year) to 72.46% in Warren and 75.72 in Fayston. Corresponding tax rates from those state-tinkered CLAs range from $1.193 in Moretown to $2.3607 in Warren and $2.2591 in Fayston.
The state-impacted CLAs result in lower tax rates in all district towns except Fayston where taxpayers will see a tax increase of $465 per $100,000 of assessed value.
