802 News Podcast: School taxes sticker shock

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Lawmakers and Vermonters are bracing to see what happens on Town Meeting Day when proposed school budgets are projected to cause an eye-popping 20% average increase in education property taxes. In some cases, the jump could be closer to 40%.

Officials say rising health care insurance cost increases, mental health needs for students, aging school infrastructure, along with an end of federal pandemic funding are among the reasons why taxes are expected to soar. Another factor is a change lawmakers made to the Byzantine funding formula that provides more for schools with students from low-income families, our English language learners, or from rural areas. That law — Act 127 — capped tax increases for homeowners at 5%, with the intent to soften the impact for communities not receiving the boost in funding. However, whether by design or for legitimate reasons, budgets went up so much that homeowners in more communities than expected would’ve qualified for the 5% cap. In response, lawmakers and the governor recently voted to remove the cap and replace it with a less generous circuit breaker to create an incentive for communities to go back and cut their budgets. H. 850 also gave communities the option to push back their school budget votes after Town Meeting Say, which some have decided to do.

Mark Johnson spoke with Vermont House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, and other lawmakers who say they are taking the tax increases quite seriously.