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School budget vote stays on track
FEBRUARY 15, 2024
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
The Champlain Valley School Board Finance Committee isn’t interested in reworking its proposed 2024-2025 budget or pushing back the date for residents to vote on it, despite a bill being fast-tracked in the Legislature to encourage school districts to do so. The legislation, H. 850, is lawmakers’ attempt to amend last year’s Act 127, which redistributed the state’s education fund toward districts with more higher-needs students. Act 127 also protected districts with comparatively less student need, including the Champlain Valley School District, by limiting their annual tax rate increase to no more than 5 percent a year. But lawmakers have realized, as school districts prepared their budget proposals this
year, that the 5 percent cap was creating an incentive for school districts to increase spending without associated tax rate increases. The $106 million Champlain Valley School District (CVSD) proposal, for example, increases spending by about $10 million over the current fiscal year. H. 850 would eliminate the 5 percent cap and instead give districts negatively impacted by Act 127, including CVSD, a tax rate discount in line with the impact of Act 127. School board chair and state Rep. Angela Arsenault said the bill “is on a fast track” and is expected to become law. One intent of the bill is that school districts consider reducing their budget proposals and pushing back their budget votes into April, instead of at Town Meeting Day, March 5, as is currently planned. “Not taking anything out (of the budget) is definitely not in line with the spirit of H.850 and the wish of the Legislature at this point,” Arsenault said Tuesday during a meeting of the CVSD Finance Committee. But committee members stood
behind the district’s current proposal. “It’s the finance committee’s suggestion that we move forward with the budget as is,” finance committee chair Meghan Metzler said. The committee plans to recommend that course of action to the full board during the full board’s Feb. 20 meeting. District Facilities Director Chris Giard said a delay in budget voting from March to April would risk the district’s ability to complete school infrastructure projects that are planned for this summer. Chief Operations Officer Gary Marckres said voter turnout is more likely to be higher on Town Meeting Day, when local municipalities and the presidential party primaries are also being held, than at a standalone election in April. “I’m not concerned about the Legislature’s intent,” said finance committee member Brendan McMahon. “They shouldn’t be doing this at the last minute. I’m only concerned about what’s best for our students and teachers.”
The chemicals can be released from building materials used in older buildings and are linked to a number of negative health effects, according to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). They have been illegal to manufacture in the U.S. since the late 1970s.
“It may be months before we receive the results because the contractors are so overloaded due to the state requirement for testing,” Williston Lead Principal Greg Marino said Tuesday. The DEC plans to have testing in schools completed statewide by 2027. Testing began last
spring. If PCBs are found above actionable levels — measured in nanograms per cubic meter — state health officials will work with school administrators to reduce exposure for teachers and students, while finding and see PCBs page 5
Finance committee members unswayed by legislative proposal BY JASON STARR Observer staff
Wild win Williston Central’s Jordyn Goodspeed gets free for a layup during the Wildcats’ win over Shelburne 25-16 in middle school hoop action on Tuesday afternoon in Williston. See more photos, page 10. OBSERVER PHOTO BY AL FREY
WWW.WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
Williston Central School awaits air quality test results State searches for PCB contamination BY JASON STARR Observer staff Do not expect quick results from air quality tests conducted
earlier this month at Williston Central School. The tests were done to detect polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in accordance with Act 74. The 2021 law mandates remediation if PCBs are found to be above levels that indicate exposure to teachers and students.
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