By the Harwood Union School Board
As most of you know our school budget failed on Town Meeting Day. There is another vote that closes on April 30, on a revised number that reduces spending by almost $2 million dollars.
The new budget represents a 7.63% increase (down from 11.94% in the original budget) in education spending and an approximately 2.1% increase in the tax rate prior to the state applying the CLA (Common Level of Appraisal) to each town. Please remember that the district school board only has control over its own budget. We have no control over how the CLA math is applied to tax rates, as that is set by state statute. The CLA is a statewide comparison of homes’ appraised values to recent sales in each town. This has resulted in additional tax increases for our communities due to sale prices of homes in our towns. It is a system that clearly is not working for our towns.
The reasons for the budget failure are clear. People have had enough with endless tax increases year after year and feel that the education funding system in our small state is not working, needs to be overhauled, and should not be built on the backs of homesteaders or to the detriment of our students. The state is scrambling for solutions right now, but the reality is, it will take some time to figure out long-term solutions and should not be rushed. The message has been sent to Montpelier with the failure of the first budget.
Now is the time to vote on the budget as absentee ballots are already available.
If the budget does not pass this time (vote April 30) we will be looking at cutting a lot more jobs, which will have major impacts on educational programming for our students. The HUUSD School Board and administration are working hard on solutions to lower our cost per pupil spending. We are taking steps to make this a focus of the year to come. Please cast your vote on the budget now or by April 30 in your town. For more information on polling places and budget information visit https://huusd.org/ and click on the link for “Budget Vote April 30.”
Please join us at our next budget information meeting on Thursday, April 25 via Zoom at 6pm. Here is the link: https://huusd.org/budget-vote-april-30
Editor’s Note: The revised budget vote takes place April 30 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The proposed budget is $48,888,319. Voting is open already in all district towns at each town clerk’s office.
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