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JANUARY 16, 2025
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
‘Too good to be true’
Schools propose property tax decrease BY JASON STARR Observer staff
School taxes are going down. Problem solved, right? A year after local voters balked at a double-digit percentage increase in property tax rates, and rejected a school budget for the first time in the nine-year history of the Champlain Valley School District, school leaders have finalized a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that comes with an estimated decrease in property tax rates of roughly 4 percent for Williston property owners. “I’m a little shocked by the tax rate,” Williston resident Bruce Roy told the school board during a Jan. 7 budget meeting. “It seems too good to be true.” But, as with everything in public education finance, it’s more complicated than that. It’s true that the $102.7 million budget the school board is planning to present for
voter approval on Town Meeting Day in March will result in an estimated tax rate of $1,870 for every $100,000 of assessed property value in Williston, which is $80 less than the current rate. But it’s also true that in order to achieve that decrease, the district is proposing $4.2 million worth of staffing and programming cuts. This, despite the fact that the budget has an increase in spending of nearly $1 million over the current fiscal year. “We got a really strong message from our voters and taxpayers last year,” Superintendent Adam Bunting said. “I really don’t want to cut any resources for our students, but we have to be mindful of the time that we are in.” To carry forward all current school programs and staff would have required a $107 million budget, according to district Chief Operation Officer Gary Marckres. That’s because the cost of teacher salaries and benefits is projected to increase by roughly $5 million (see related story on teacher contract negotiations below). At the same time, the district is receiving less state funding due to a 2022 law (Act 127) that is intended to redistribute state
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education dollars generally away from affluent school districts and toward more rural and lower-income areas. It is an effort to improve equity in education across the state, and one that has negatively affected CVSD. “I feel like Act 127 has put us in a position where we are essentially dismantling what was a fantastic school district,” school board member Keith Roberts said. “I feel terrible about having to make all these cuts. This is a horrible position for our district, our board, our students, faculty and administrators to be in, but we have to do it because we saw what happened last year with an unbelievable and unsustainable increase in property taxes to our communities, and we just can’t keep that going.” The cuts come in the form of nearly 40 positions across the district — a reduction of about 8 percent of staff districtwide that includes teachers; diversity, equity and inclusion coaches; academic support staff; special education support staff; and school counselors. It’s worth noting that enrollment in the see SCHOOL page 8
Teachers, school board begin talks on new contract Leaders of the Champlain Valley School District teachers’ union held an initial meeting with members of the Champlain Valley School Board on Jan. 6 to begin negotiations on a new employment contract. The teachers’ current contract expires at the end of the fiscal year in June. Without a contract in place for the coming fiscal year, school district administrators are forced to make an assumption about the cost of salaries in their budget proposal for Town Meeting Day (see related story above).
The budget proposal shows a salary increase assumption of $3.2 million. It also shows an increase in the cost of employee health insurance of $1.4 million. Health insurance plans are not settled locally. They are negotiated between the Vermont Commission for Public School Employee Health Benefits and the Vermont Education Health Initiative (VEHI) on behalf of all Vermont teachers. VEHI is projecting a 12 percent increase in health insurance costs over the current year, with the same 80-20 cost split in premiums between school
districts and teachers. The expiring contract had salary increases averaging 5.25 percent a year. District Chief Operation Officer Gary Marckres declined to specify the annual increase the district assumed in its budget proposal. “That really would disadvantage the district if we published our assumptions,” he said. Negotiating meetings are expected to continue through the winter and spring.
CVU Band
CVSD celebrates its artists
The Champlain Valley School District’s Celebrate the Arts Night was held last Thursday at CVU. Visitors were treated to an evening of performances and presentations highlighting the musical, theatrical, artistic, business and technological learning of students from across the district at all grade levels. OBSERVER PHOTOS BY AL FREY
Shelburne Community School display
Parker Chappelle ceramic
Howard Anderson oil pastel
Lainey Campbell Mixed media with paint.
Three members of the CVU Madrigal Singers
— Jason Starr CVU Robohawks
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