By Jim Sabataso
Staff Writer
A new joint task force of lawmakers is exploring how to update the state education-funding formula.
The eight-member group, dubbed the “Task Force on the Implementation of the Pupil Weighting Factors Report,” has been given the job of proposing a more equitable way to distribute money to school districts across the state.
Currently in Vermont, school budgets are developed at the local level by school boards and approved by voters. Funding, however, comes from the state education fund, which is funded in part by property taxes.
Those local tax rates are determined by spending per equalized pupil. A higher equalized per-pupil count means lower tax rates for a district.
To calculate per-pupil spending, the state applies a weighted formula that reflects the resources a district needs to educate students based on certain characteristics, including students living in rural areas, students from low-income backgrounds, students with different learning needs and students for whom English is not their primary language.
Yet a 2019 report commissioned by the Legislature found the existing formula to be “outdated,” with weights having “weak ties, if any, with evidence describing differences in the costs for educating students with disparate needs or operating schools in different contexts.”
The task force met for the first time late last month, electing Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, and Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, to serve as co-chairs.
Additional task force members include: Rep. Scott Beck, R-St. Johnsbury; Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall; Rep. Kathleen James, D-Manchester; Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin; Sen. Cheryl Hooker, D/P-Rutland; and Sen. Andrew Perchlik, D/P-Washington.
At its inaugural meeting, the group got a primer from analysts on the current status quo of the state’s education funding system, as well as an overview of the 2019 report’s findings.
In his presentation, Mark Perrault, senior fiscal analyst for the Legislature, cited a report by Education Week that put Vermont first in the nation for per-pupil spending when factoring in regional costs. Additionally, it found that the state has the second-largest gap between highest- and lowest-spending school districts at $12,865 per pupil.
Perrault noted the report was based on 2017 school finance data and did not reflect the full impact of school district reorganization under Act 46, which he posited has helped to somewhat close that spending gap.
The takeaway: Despite a high degree of spending, resources aren’t necessarily going to the districts that need them the most.
Alison Notte, Rutland City Public School Board commissioner, stated she has seen her district’s needs increase “significantly” in recent years.
“We saw our first real spike when children born into the initial opioid epidemic hit school age. And as these children grew, so did the challenges to meeting their needs,” she said.
As student needs have increased, Notte explained that RCPS has been forced to reallocate resources, resulting in decreased staffing, increased class sizes and fewer enrichment opportunities.
“One of the biggest challenges we face is the readiness gap. Children coming into school from economically challenged homes have not had the same early learning opportunities and developmental opportunities, and are often not as prepared as their peers,” she said.
Notte argued that an increase in resources would allow the district to expand programming and increase student engagement and, ultimately, boost graduation rates.
Burlington School District Commissioner Martine Gulick has experienced inequity in funding between school districts firsthand as someone who works in an overweighted district, but lives in an underweighted one.
“For years, I was really baffled by the discrepancies that I saw in funding between the two districts — the one I lived in and the one I worked in,” she said. “I came to realize that my library budget where I worked was 10 times larger than the library budget at Burlington High School.”
She explained Burlington’s needs are “great,” noting a number of English language learners and more than 50% of students being eligible for free and reduced lunch — with some schools as high as 71%.
Mark Schauber, executive director of the Coalition for Vermont Student Equity, which represents 21 mostly underweighted school districts, maintained that an overhaul of the formula is necessary.
Notte and Gulick are members of the coalition.
Schauber cited examples from around the state of districts that are understaffed, can’t afford sufficient busing services and lack adequate HVAC systems.
“We are saying it’s high time to fix the flawed formula by implementing the recommendations in the report,” he said.
Schauber dismissed the notion that categorical aid — that is, federal or state funds granted to districts for specific purposes such as transportation or special education programs — is the solution, arguing that it “doesn’t provide struggling districts with any certainty.”
“Using categorical aid also doesn’t get to the root of the issue, which makes it hard, if not impossible, to measure differences and student needs throughout the state,” he said. “The weights are how we map our students. Simply put: Categorical aid is not equity.”
The task force will meet throughout the summer and fall. Public hearings are tentatively scheduled for the fall. A full report is due in December.
jim.sabataso @rutlandherald.com
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