Vermont Brigham decision requires state to ensure substantially equal educational opportunity, Ways & Means counsel tells committee

John Grama, of the Office of Legislative Counsel, told the House Ways & Means Committee on Jan. 16 that the Vermont Supreme Court's Brigham decision requires the state to ensure "substantial equality of educational opportunity" across school districts, because a system that relies heavily on local property taxes produces wide disparities in revenues available to districts.

The court, Grama said, found that the Act 84 foundation plan in place since the late 1980s set a single foundation tax rate and a separate foundation cost; where the single rate left property-poor districts short of the foundation cost, the state provided aid to make up the difference. But the record showed wealthier districts could (and did) raise revenues above the foundation amount, producing large spending disparities that the state conceded deny students in property-poor districts "the same educational opportunities" available elsewhere.

That is the significance of Brigham, Grama told the committee: the Vermont Constitution recognizes a right to education and a…