By JEFF EPSTEIN
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SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Springfield school district voters narrowly approved a 2019-20 school budget Tuesday. The budget of $30,645,214 passed by a vote of 499 to 402.
Out of 7,207 registered voters, 908 went to the polls, about 12.6 percent. Seven ballots were spoiled, leaving 901 ballots counted, according to official election results.
The first budget was defeated in town meeting voting March 5, and school district officials decided to reduce salaries and benefits for staff by an estimated $75,800. In addition, the school board eliminated Springfield High School teaching positions in both English and math, which school officials say will result in increased class sizes. A special education position was also cut, as well as a part-time custodial position.
The new budget is an increase of a little more than $1 million over the current year’s budget. This increase is about $400,000 smaller than the increase in the original budget, school officials said.
“We are thankful to the community to put us in a position to take the steps we need to take,” School Superintendent Zach McLaughlin said Wednesday.
However, he said, both he and the board still need to better understand why people vote against school budgets. Many people may have legitimate motivations, such as tax impact or the value of items in the budget, but many complaints in the run-up to this vote were “just plain factually wrong,” McLaughlin said.
Some voters, he said, had incorrect estimates of the number of teachers or athletic coaches in the district, or did not understand how some labor is mandated, as for special education. Voters “must get to well-informed value judgments” in order to have productive discussions over the budget, he said.
The district made an effort to get out accurate information through several channels, talking not only to mainstream media but to Facebook and other social media, and civic and school groups, McLaughlin said.
In addition, the way the state of Vermont funds schools, with formulas for equalized pupils and other calculations at the end of the budget cycle, may be well-intentioned but is difficult for families to understand, he said. Much of McLaughlin’s presentation at the April 25 public information session was to try to clarify how that process works.
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