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tive Reports
available online for the mostup-to-date information.Broadly speaking, both sides are propos-ing cost shifts from the State’s GeneralFund to the Education Fund; the debatecenters around what to shift, at whatamount, and for how long. The Governor has proposed, once again, to shift thestate share of the teachers’ retirementsystem to the Education Fund. He is alsocalling for a freeze in education spendingfor
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scal year 2011 at
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scal year 2010per pupil amounts. The Legislature’sbill did neither of these things, but itdid contain significant short-term costshifts and their tax rate-setting bill wouldfreeze the base education payment in
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scal year 2011 at the
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scal year 2010amount ($8544). Overall, the Legislature’sproposal involves less of a total cost shiftand no structural change as permanentand signi
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cant as moving teachers’ retire-ment into the Education Fund.
Education Organization and Manage-ment Study
A provision in the H.441 creates a commit-tee to “examine potential improvements tothe structure and funding of the Vermonteducational system in light of the state’slimited
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nancial resources.” Among other related charges, the committee would:
Examine the role and the effective- ness of the policy-making, manage- ment, and administrative structure that creates and implements Ver- mont education policy, including consideration of the functions of the legislature, the governor, the state board of education, the department of education, supervisory unions, lo- cal school boards, parents, students,community members, and other enti- ties and individuals…Identify and evaluate the long-range sustainability of current and poten- tial funding sources and mecha- nisms…
The committee will be comprised of 15members including eight legislators, theCommissioner of Education, and six other appointees from outside state government(four appointed by the Legislature and twoby the Governor).
Mailing Insert Repealed
The Tax Department will immediately stopincluding the insert “About Your 20XXTaxes: The more you spend the more youpay” in property tax bill mailings.
Exceptions to Divided Question / Ex-cess Spending
H.427 also identi
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ed certain categories of school spending that could be excludedfrom the formulae that calculate whether a district is subject to the Act 82 dividedquestion law and the excess spendingthreshold. Spending for school construc-tion, including interest paid on bondeddebt, and costs associated with planningthe merger of a small school can now beexcluded from both calculations.H.427 makes three more exceptions for the Act 82 divided question formula only:1) Anticipated tuition costs for studentsin grade levels for which the district doesnot maintain a school (this exception isoptional); 2) Spending attribution to thedistrict’s share of costs for 21st CenturyCommunity Learning Centers after-schoolprograms; 3) “Spending… attributable tothe costs of providing alternative educa-tional opportunities designed to encour-age at-risk high school students to remainenrolled in and to graduate from highschool, whether offered by the districts or a contracting entity.”
H.427: Omnibus Education BillAct 82 Budget Language
Although the Legislature was hesitantto even considering a repeal of Act 82during this session, members of theGeneral Assembly did agree to includenew required ballot language for districtssubject to the divided vote law in H.427.The new language removes prejudicial
LEGISLATURE continued from page 1
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