MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermonters in at least 10 school districts will hit the polls on Tuesday for school budget revotes.
It comes after an unprecedented one-third of the school budgets voted on last month on Town Meeting Day were rejected because of concerns over rising education costs contributing to a double-digit increase in property taxes.
From Rutland to the Champlain Islands, school officials are hoping voters will approve a second attempt at school budgets after cuts across the board. Those districts include:
- Barstow Union SD
- Champlain Island UUSD
- Enosburgh-Richford UUSD
- Harwood UUSD
- Holland SD
- Missisquoi Valley SD
- Montpelier Roxbury SD
- Northern Mountain Valley UUSD
- Otter Valley UUSD
- Rutland Town SD
Voters in at least one district, Addison Northwest, are voting for a third time Tuesday.
Residents in the River Valley Unified School District are voting on their school budget for the first time after state lawmakers gave districts the option of postponing budget votes.
Under state law, districts must pass a school budget by July 1 or begin the new year on a budget that is 87% of the current year’s.
Meanwhile, House lawmakers last week signed off on the “Yield Bill,” which sets property taxes. It includes new taxes — a cloud tax on business software and short-term rentals — in an attempt to contain property taxes to a 15% increase. Commercial properties and second homes would increase by 18%. The measure also creates a new commission to plan for the future of what public education should look like.
But Governor Phil Scott last week again said the bill doesn’t go far enough to provide immediate relief to taxpayers. He has pushed for a plan to loan school districts state reserves, despite a risk to the state’s credit rating. He says not acting on relief this year could have consequences.