Senate Finance debates foundation formula, holds base at $1.88 billion and phases in changes

Chair Cummings convened the Senate Finance discussion of the committee's education reform approach, saying the panel must find a path that avoids the months of work being overturned later: “I think most of us agree that something needs to change,” the chair said.

The Senate's draft of a foundation formula would begin from the state's present education spending level, $1,880,000,000, and apply a three-year phase-in, according to presenters and committee discussion. The draft keeps many of the weights in place (poverty and English language supports were cited) but explicitly chose the lower base to keep the overall price tag nearer to current spending while scaling formulas to fit that base.

Why it matters: the base and the policy choices determine whether towns'tax rates and school budgets rise or fall, how small or rural schools fare, which independent schools remain eligible for tuition support and how quickly a governance restructuring could reshape districts across Vermont.

Most of the committee's debate centered on four linked questions: (1) whether the Senate bill underfunds an empirically derived cost to meet educational standards; (2) how to treat independent schools in a new system; (3) whether consolidation should be driven locally or by a faster, legislatively directed map and fallback; and (4) what rules (class size, district governance,…