What factors led to some of VT's largest school districts having school budgets rejected

School districts across Chittenden County are regrouping this week to quickly put together school budgets that voters will approve.

About one-third of school budgets failed across Vermont during Town Meeting Day, including half of districts holding votes in Chittenden County. Of the budgets that were rejected, towns were anticipating education property taxes to rise between 15% and 30% year-over-year, if approved.

Among those districts going back to the drawing board are the Champlain Valley School District − the largest in the state with around 4,400 students − and the South Burlington School District, which is the fifth largest, representing about 2,850 students. Milton Town School District also voted down their budget, which they have historically done half the time over the past decade.

How will school districts move forward?

Champlain Valley School District rejects budget for the first time

Since its incorporation as a consolidated school district in 2017, CVSD voters had yet to reject a school budget until this year. The district represents five towns: Charlotte, Hinesburg, Shelburne, St. George and Williston. Each town would have been impacted differently by tax rate increases, but because of the way ballot counting is done, it is impossible to know if one town skewed results for the district. That's by design, according to Bonnie Birdsall, who heads communication for the district. She said ballots are supposed to be "co-mingled" before counted.

Williston makes up almost 50% of residents in the CVSD district. Williston interestingly rejected its town budget and all town items brought to voters during Town Meeting Day, which is unusual for the town. Among the other towns, Charlotte rejected one (of three) of their ballot items, but approved the town budget, and the other towns passed everything put before them. The rest of the school district ballot items passed.

All of the CVSD towns were facing a steep percentage increase in education property tax rates this year, according to a budget document from the school district. The projected increases were: Hinesburg, 29.9%; Charlotte, 28.1%; Williston, 26.5%; Shelburne, 26.4%; and St. George, 21.4%.

CVSD was among districts in the state most disadvantaged by pupil weight changes to the funding formula this year that resulted in a decreased tax capacity. The area also saw steep rises in property value versus assessed value of homes, which added to the tax rate increase. The school budget, itself, also rose by around 10%.

Superintendent Rene Sanchez sent a note to families saying while the district was disappointed the budget failed to pass, it gained valuable insight from voters.

"With your vote, and through various other methods, we heard that the community overwhelmingly supports our schools," he wrote on March 6. "However, the state education funding formula, which caused our property taxes to increase dramatically, was a bridge too far for most."

He said the next steps are for the school board and administration to look where they can make cuts that would have the least impact on students and the six district schools. He said because votes need to be warned 30 days in advance, that likely puts a re-vote in mid-April.

South Burlington School District

A revote on the school budget is something with which South Burlington residents are familiar. In both 2020 and 2017, it took three rounds to get a budget approved. Other issues were at play in both instances. In 2020, voters turned down a $209 million bond for a new high school/middle school/athletics complex. In 2017, the district was undergoing a controversial mascot change.

This time, however, residents − and even the school district itself − were chafing against the 23.5% increase to the tax rate. The school budget was rising by 13%, but education formula changes and Common Level of Appraisal impacts on property values meant education property tax increases were among the highest in the state.

"This has been a truly unprecedented year for school budgets with the passage of H.850, repealing the 5% cap of Act 127 occurring so close to Town Meeting Day. Accompanied by the drop in the CLA and a 23.25% tax rate increase, the FY25 budget has not passed," wrote Superintendent Violet Nichols in a statement. "As we are now in a position to revise our budget, the changes implemented by the state with H. 850 allow us to make alterations that are not as significant as originally projected but the budget will need to be reduced."

South Burlington School District quickly regrouped, and by two days following Town Meeting Day had adopted a new budget of $69,530,000 (compared to $71,192,891 that was rejected) with a projected tax rate increase of 14.5%. The district plans to hold a community revote on Thursday, April 4.

Milton Town School District budget fail no surprise

Milton wasn't facing as great an increase as the other two districts in the county that had their budgets voted down. The proposed school budget was 7% higher than the current one and the tax rate was supposed to increase education property taxes by around 15.3%.

In 12 years, Milton voters have rejected their school budget in the first round of voting seven times. Generally voters have approved budgets where the increase was in the 5% range or below. However, in 2020 and in 2014, voters rejected a 0.5% increase. Before this year, the budget had made it through the Town Meeting Day vote for three consecutive years.

A special school board meeting was called for the evening of March 7. Presumably that meeting may be to make plans for a budget rework and revote.

Contact reporter April Barton at abarton@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1854. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter @aprildbarton.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: What's next for Chittenden County school districts after budgets fail