House Democrats look to take cautious approach to education funding reform
Republicans expressed their frustrations Thursday at a press conference with the lack of progress on system reform with the session nearing an end.
Republicans expressed their frustrations Thursday at a press conference with the lack of progress on system reform with the session nearing an end.
Republicans expressed their frustrations Thursday at a press conference with the lack of progress on system reform with the session nearing an end.
Vermonters have been staring at staggering property tax increases for months now due to the state's education spending formula; the latest predictions hover around 15%, and this has led to a slew of school budget failures.
Republicans expressed their frustrations Thursday at a press conference, with the lack of progress on system reform as the session nears its end.
"We have time, and if we don’t have time we need to make time; this is serious business," said Rep. Scott Beck, a Republican from St. Johnsbury.
They are now pushing for serious change because they say the current formula isn't working.
"In the current system when the district decides to spend a dollar on average, that district is going to pay 25 cents on that dollar. All the other property taxpayers in the state of Vermont are going to pay 75 cents," said Beck.
Beck and his fellow Republicans had a plan to give more power to the state, which would require districts that over spend to come up with the money on their own and not through taxpayers.
"You make that dollar to a dollar, so if that district decides to spend another dollar on average, that district will have to generate that dollar, and that will force districts to make those tough decisions we've been expecting them to make," he said.
Democrats said such a drastic policy change so quickly at the end of the session
was not smart, opting for a study of what the future of education spending should look like.
"We want to be really careful that we don’t create unintended consequences. We want to fully understand what we’re walking towards as we do it. We want to make sure that we have both the best and brightest folks thinking about this," said Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, a Democrat and chair of the House Ways and Means committee.
The house's education chair echoed a similar sentiment.
"It took us over 200 years to get where we are in this moment. Change won’t come immediately, not with all of us together rolling towards a common goal. We can create a system all Vermonters can be proud to support," said Rep. Peter Conlon, a Democrat and House Education Chair.
The governor has said he will not roll over and have Vermonters accept the tax increases and looking into deferring payments, which has received mixed reaction in Montpelier.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t seem likely anything will be making it’s way out of the State House to help ease the property tax burden this year, barring any major late changes in the senate.