Mike Prynheiser outlines multi‑year property‑tax and school‑funding plan in Ways and Means amendment

Representative Mike Prynheiser, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, told the House Appropriations Committee on April 14 that the committee’s amendment to the education bill H 9 55 is designed as a multi‑year package of changes intended to reshape how Vermont funds K‑12 education and how property taxes are applied.

The amendment pairs deep changes to property‑tax law with updates to the education foundation formula and the roll‑out of regional structures Ways and Means calls CSAs and regional assessment districts (RADs). "Unless we line up the changes in the foundation formula, the implementation of the CSAs, the changes to the property‑tax credit system, and the changes to the homestead/nonhomestead system, all in the same year, we'll see this wild variation year over year," Prynheiser said, urging the committee to avoid what he and staff called "tax whiplash." He said the approach is intended to spread savings equitably so that…