BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The school year may be winding down, but school budget season is still in full swing for 20 districts across the state.
Slate Valley Unified Union School District voters will hit the polls again on Thursday to decide on the $30.8 million budget. The district is keeping the budget the same as the one that was shot down last in hopes of getting a higher turnout from those who haven’t voted yet.
Phil Stannard of Fair Haven says the Slate Valley Unified Union School District is too big after districts merged over the years.
“At some point, we need to water that down because it’s extremely expensive,” said Stannard.
With another budget vote on the horizon, he wishes a community conversation happened earlier in the year.
“I’d like to see them become more proactive and work with the people to develop their budgets in advance,” he said.
Superintendent Brooke Olsen-Farrell says this budget season has been unique, with more people attending in-person meetings in support of the budget, and more conversations against the budget taking place online – in some instances creating confusion or misinformation.
“Only about 20% to 25% of registered voters are actually voting. The other piece is many of our parents are not registered voters. And so there also has been some effort within the district to get parents registered to vote ahead of the date,” said Olsen-Farrell.
Olsen-Farrell says the $30.8 million budget equates to a decrease in pupil weighting spending, but tax increases range from 5.5% to 18.5% for residents in the 6 towns voting.
The district notes these increases are mostly less than the state average of 13.8%, and it’s a budget Olsen-Farrell says is already slim.
“We can’t continually take resources away from students and teachers and expect better outcomes – it doesn’t work that way,” she said.
They’ve held out on cutting sports for some grades and any more staff – noting class sizes are around 26 kids already. But Olsen-Farrell says the concern with a continually postponed budget is that programs could get cut by default.
Kindergarten teacher Jared Danyow says some of these conversations surround school supplies and summer courses.
“We’re beginning preparations for the next school year right now. And a lot of those conversations are largely contingent on having a budget,” said Danyow, “there are things that simply can’t happen until we have a budget approved, and we desperately want those resources and we want those answers, and it’s been challenging.”
There’s an informational meeting on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. at Fair Haven Union middle and high school.
Rutland Town School District is also voting on Thursday.