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Lawmakers press for modeled roadmap before wholesale school funding overhaul
Summary
Senators told staff they will not support sweeping school-funding changes without modeled fiscal outcomes that combine funding formula, taxation and governance reforms; members called for a roadmap and rigorous checkbacks before major statutory changes.
Members of the Senate Finance Committee urged staff and the administration to provide modeled scenarios and a clear roadmap before advancing major reforms to Vermont’s school funding system.
The chair and several senators said a funding formula, taxation changes and governance restructuring must be modeled together so the committee can project district funding, tax rates and impacts on students. “We are going to have to have some idea about what we’re looking at,” one senator said, adding that without models she “can’t vote on something that I haven’t seen modeled out.”
Committee members recounted prior work on weights and models and said the Agency of Education (AOE) has not presented a complete set of analyses. Julia (surname not specified in the transcript), who the committee expects to provide a fiscal analysis of district grand lists, was described as planning to appear to provide more data. Senators emphasized that reforms should be sequenced carefully and include “check back” accountability measures so the state can verify intended outcomes.
Discussion covered trade-offs: potential savings from administrative consolidation and central office changes versus risks of forced consolidation and impacts on small/rural schools. One senator noted Maine’s experience with forced consolidations during its Act 46 process, while others cautioned that closures and consolidation have complex local effects and that health-care costs and personnel are major cost drivers. Committee members asked staff to identify technical witnesses and to seek interstate comparisons, with one member suggesting Maine or other New England states as contacts.
Members agreed on the need for a multi-year roadmap rather than a single-session push; they also signaled openness to interim steps such as moving certain line items off the education fund to lower the education tax rate, but said any shifts must be modeled to avoid unintended consequences. The committee did not take votes during the discussion and asked staff to refine agendas and bring back technical analyses and witnesses for further deliberation.
The committee scheduled subsequent meetings to continue technical review and modeling work.
