Education Funding

Vermont’s education system is one of the most expensive in the country, yet the way we fund it is overly complicated and confusing for everyday taxpayers. Terms like Long Term Weighted Average Daily Membership (LTWADM), Common Level of Appraisal (CLA), Education Spending, and Property Yield create a tangled system that makes it difficult to understand how our tax dollars are being spent. Despite spending roughly 20% more per student than neighboring New Hampshire, our student outcomes have not improved — which begs the question: why are we paying so much without seeing better results?

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The current funding structure encourages runaway education spending, with annual increases sometimes reaching double digits, placing an unfair burden on property taxpayers, including those in Barre City. Meanwhile, our schools struggle with declining enrollment and a system that doesn’t put students first.

That’s why I supported H.454, a major education reform bill in the 2025 session. This bill was not perfect, but it moves us in the right direction by:

• Tying education spending growth to inflation, ending the cycle of uncontrollable increases.

• Simplifying the funding process to make it more transparent and easier to understand.

• Directing resources more efficiently toward students rather than through a complex, inefficient funding model.

• Providing relief to Barre City property taxpayers by lowering the homestead tax rate compared to the current system.

 

If we do nothing, we risk locking ourselves into a broken status quo with higher taxes, shrinking enrollment, and fewer opportunities for our kids.

 

I believe it’s time to fix the foundation of Vermont’s education system with clear, fair policies that prioritize academic excellence and respect taxpayers. H.454 gives us a chance to bring real reform, stabilize costs, and improve outcomes for students across our state. I will support education reform legislation because our children deserve an education system that works — and our communities deserve a system they can understand and afford.