Education secretary urges planning before major school-construction spending tied to estate tax

Secretary of Education Zoe Saunders told the Ways & Means Committee that while the governor has proposed reallocating estate-tax revenue toward school construction aid, the state must follow an "order of operations" before making large capital commitments.

Saunders said the agency’s priority is to understand the future configuration of districts and to finalize the foundation funding formula so that investments in buildings align with long-term enrollment and operational plans. "We have to understand first the future configuration of our system in terms of the larger districts, before we're making significant investments in buildings," Saunders said, stressing that investments without that planning risk underutilized or misaligned infrastructure.

She described preparatory work the agency is undertaking: recommending permanent staff positions to support facility planning and school-construction implementation, developing facility master-planning guidance and identifying a facility-risk index to prioritize urgent needs. Saunders said some positions and a master-planning grant mechanism would be needed to do substantive rulemaking and to manage the grant programs effectively.

Committee members pressed on the timing mismatch: some districts face immediate deferred-maintenance issues and upcoming local bond votes, while the agency’s staffing and planning work will take longer. Saunders pointed to emergency funds that can address immediate problems but emphasized that a full construction-aid program requires clarity on staffing and a funding stream aligned with the broader education funding formula.

On the proposed use of estate tax revenue, Saunders cautioned that the estate tax is "one of the most unstable revenue sources in our entire portfolio of revenue," and that money currently funds scholarships for low‑income Vermonters. She framed the estate-tax proposal as a conversation starter and said the agency is working to identify trade-offs and alternatives while developing the operational capacity needed to manage a construction-aid program.

What’s next: The committee asked the agency to provide more precise timelines, cost estimates for the proposed staffing and master-planning grants, and detail on how emergency funds are used for critical building failures while long-term planning proceeds.