I apologize if I have offended anyone and/or everyone in the education system by my poor choice of colorful nouns and adjectives. That certainly was not my intention. It is more important to be kind than to be right. Mr. Dean has honored his profession by teaching me a lesson: be careful what you print, because the written word can be misinterpreted, even if constructive criticism. However, along with thousands of other taxpayers, my opinion and position on the subject remain the same.
My comments are based on mathematical calculations and analyses. Numbers speak louder and more accurately than words.
Yes, I am frustrated. It’s been one of my pleasures and skills to fix broken things; including teeth, to which I had dedicated my life and career. Beyond my control, however, is our broken education system. (That label has been assigned by so many others.) I cannot fix it and neither can the people of Vermont. In spite of pleading with our Legislature for decades, nothing has been done; except, allowing it to worsen. Sadly, very many others feel that way, including our governor. We have been ignored and exploited by our Legislature.
The primary function of schools is to educate its students. Those on the frontline, i.e., teachers, coaches, advisors, etc. do earn and deserve better-than-fair compensation for their efforts and achievements.
FACTS FROM RECENT REPORTS
- Phil Scott sounded the alarm in late 2023 when the yearly tax letter was sent with news of an average 18% increase to education property tax bills. He warned school districts to pay attention to this when developing their budgets.
- Vermont has the dubious bragging rights of claiming the fourth highest cost per student in the country in spite of ranking 25th from the bottom in per capita income. Perhaps we could justify that expense if SAT scores were in sync, but Vermont ranks only average. So, clearly those dollars do not go toward educating students. [i]
- Lawmakers attempt to justify next year’s tax increase due to the escalating cost of healthcare. “So, an example for a worst case scenario: The school district, i.e. taxpayers, will pay $9,000 for every eligible employee’s premium cost, deductibles, and HRA contributions, while he or she will pay less than $2,000 out of pocket.
- Another interpretation: as funded by the Vermont Employers Healthcare Commissioners to pay premiums, and deductibles, “the employee will have received $5,300 in medical and prescription benefits for $300.” Those benefits raise our property taxes without teaching students how to add, subtract, multiply, divide, read, write, think, analyze, develop relationships, choose careers, etc.
- Vermont pays the third highest rate as a percentage of taxpayers’ income.
- With a population of about 645,000 Vermonters, the state’s human services budget serves one-third of that number. With 80,000 students statewide, the state’s education fund serves a dwindling student population. Yet this year, the state’s education fund will outspend the human services budget.
- We now spend more to serve 80,000 students in our K-12 education system than we do the 200,000 Vermonters in the human services system. And if we do nothing, this gap is going to grow larger and larger.
- In late December, Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth assured Vermonters the average property tax increase would be limited to 1.5 or 2%. In reality, it is 14%, on average.
- Health care costs for school districts are expected to increase by 16.4% between the current and 2024-2025 school years.
- Roughly 80% of that increase will be borne by taxpayers, according to the union. The other 20% will be paid by those employees.
- Vermont allocates 15.8% of its education funding to research, agriculture, and medical (RAM) purposes. This is above the average for other states.
- Vermont’s 83,500 students account for approximately 13% of the state’s population, yet the state spends 20% of its entire budget on their education while other public services shrivel.
- Vermont has a student/teacher ratio of 12:1. The national average is 15:1; so, that places us at the upper edge of the bell-shaped curve. Statistically, we have the right to expect better performance from our school system, but we’re not getting it.
- Don Tinney, president of the Vermont-National Education Association, has said ‘the education fund is a beast,’ as Vermonters continue to have to feed it monetarily without looking at true, structural reform to the education system. If the state was delivering not only topnotch education to students but good test scores that rivaled other states, then I am all in. Our state, however, continues to show an annual decline in both student populations and student outcomes while the cost to educate these students increases each year.”
Rather than waste readers’, Mr. Dean’s, and my time responding to every point made, I will address only one. Yes, I combined all our financial woes into one basket because our tax dollars go into Montpelier’s bucket, hoping and expecting that our tax dollars will be spent wisely and effectively.
Clearly, that is not happening; and, yes, I remain frustrated!
Zonies lives in Fayston.
