In 2024, the Green Mountain State saw education costs, aka property taxes, rise more than 13%. All while academic performance continued to decline. The 13% rise could have been higher had the tax rate not been bought down with one-time funds.
The low staff/student ratio, increased compensation costs, the Legislature’s incentivizing local school spending, and aging infrastructure are among the suspected culprits.
$27,537 per student?
Political Commentator Rob Roper in 2023 wrote, “Vermont’s public schools are a hot mess,” which broke down some of the sobering trends when it comes to spending per student.
“For the 2021-22 school year, the average per pupil spending rate was $23,299 compared to the national average of $14,360 and the New England average of $21,535. Since 2001, Vermont has climbed from the eighth highest per pupil expenditure in the country to the second highest,” he wrote.
An August 2024 report from the Agency of Education indicates that spending per pupil is only continuing to rise. It says that from 2020 to 2024 the cost has risen from $22,782 to $27,537.
Poor student performance?
The same report highlights a concerning report from the Joint Fiscal Office indicating that Vermont’s historical advantage in testing performance over the national average has nearly disappeared even as spending keeps increasing.
A JFO statement notes, “While Vermont has traditionally been better than the national average, over time it is moving down and closer to the national average.”
The report notes that this trend is occurring while spending is increasing. It states, “These figures are particularly striking when considering the continued increase in education expenditures per pupil in Vermont without a commensurate change in student performance when compared to national trends.”School funding formula incentivized school spending2024 school boards built their local budgets under a school funding system approved by the Legislature that ‘socialized’ paying for school funding statewide, thus encouraging some districts to add big ticket items, knowing that the cost wouldn’t all fall on local school district taxpayers. That feature of the statewide funding formula was reformed late in the 2024 session and is up for further review and improvement in the coming session, some legislators say.
Aging infrastructure
One of the pressing issues is that Vermont’s school buildings are overdue for repairs. The state mandated a report on the situation via Act 72 passed in 2021.
The report concluded that the state needs about $300 million for school repairs per year ongoing for the next two decades. They also concluded that a new state fund just for that purpose will likely be necessary.
“In summary, an effective school construction aid program should act as a policy lever so that the state can ensure that smart decisions are made about how money is being spent,” it states. “In the absence of a state school construction aid program, districts must ‘go it alone,’ with the result that Vermont’s taxpayers pay for projects over which they have no control and do not necessarily align with state goals.”
Chris Rupe, an Associate Fiscal Officer for the State of Vermont to the State Aid for School Construction Committee, said in November that the key to making the repairs work for taxpayers is to try and keep the impact away from the property taxpayers.
“The crux of the issue we are wrestling with is how to shift some of the cost for school construction off of the property tax,” he said.
Too many staff?
A recently republished commentary from nearly two decades ago by political analyst and former Reagan Administration advisor John McClaughry foreshadowed that the student/staff ratio was already back then unsustainable for Vermont’s taxpayers.
McClaughry first wrote in 2006, “In 1997 the public schools employed 10,857 licensed teachers and aides, yielding a pupil/teacher ratio of 9.74 to one. In 2005, as the pupil count steadily dropped, there were 13,089 licensed teachers and aides, a ratio of 7.48 to one. This is by far the lowest ratio in the fifty states. [The ratio in 2024 is now 4.4 to one.] No wonder education costs – and education property taxes – are shooting through the roof.”
New Education Secretary
Despite getting voted down by the State Senate earlier in the year, Zoie Saunders, whose background includes being vice president of strategy for Charter Schools USA and more recently the chief strategy and innovation officer for the sixth-largest school district in the nation, has recently been confirmed the next formal Secretary of Education.
“Zoie’s exemplary resume, fresh perspective, and impactful experience as a public school leader will be invaluable as we move forward,” Gov. Phil Scott wrote back in March before she was initially voted down.
Permanent programs started with temporary money?
The Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce issued a warning at the start of the year that the public education finance situation in Vermont did not look good. They noted that a lot of school districts treated COVID-19 relief funds as an opportunity to fund new programs.
The report states, “Many districts used one-time, pandemic-era ESSR funds for positions in schools that they are now seeking to retain. As an employer, you are well aware that healthcare costs are climbing for everyone, including the large education workforce.”
