Although it is still early in the
session, the Vermont House has already done some noteworthy work.
Faced with a revenue shortfall for the current fiscal year of $51
million, the House Appropriations Committee made adjustments to the
budget adopted in May of last year. The data on which the original
budget is built reflect estimates and projected trends that are made
several months prior to the start of the fiscal year on July first.
The budget adjustment process allows the impact of actual experience
to be incorporated into the appropriation levels for the year. The
action taken in January brings the budget back into balance. This was
accomplished by moving some funds from areas where spending was less
than expected, by the addition of non-budgeted federal funds paid to
the Agency of Human Services, and by tapping some of the reserve
funds set aside for budget adjustment purposes. The budget adjustment
bill (H.125) passed on a tri-partisan vote of 141 to 0.
Despite the unanimous agreement on the
budget adjustment issue, other issues presented more of a challenge.
In his budget address Governor Scott laid out a plan to revise how
Vermont pays for education. The proposed changes included level
funding all school budgets and moving several programs from the
General Fund to the Education Fund. Payments to the Teachers'
Retirement Fund, higher education support, and child care support as
well as PreK-12 education would come out of the Education Fund which
would also see an increase in Innovation Grants. The total
additional cost to the Education Fund would be about $136M which the
Governor would offset by a transfer of $86M from the General Fund,
leaving a difference of $50M. To make up this difference, he
proposed using one time funds and requiring all teachers to pay 20%
of their health insurance premiums, up from an average 16% currently.
Furthermore, he proposed deferring voting on school budgets from Town
Meeting day to May 23rd. Coming only weeks before school
boards had to finalize their budgets, it left little time for the
Legislature to review and evaluate the proposal, and threw school
boards around the state off balance. These changes would also come
just as many school districts are implementing consolidation under
Act 46. Adding an additional $50M in costs to the Education Fund
will have the effect of raising the statewide property tax rate by at
least 5 cents according to the Joint Fiscal Office.
The plan for education as proposed by
Governor Scott is going to require a lot more analysis that is going
to take several weeks. We have taken steps with Act 46 to address
education costs, and we need to give those steps time to work before
more major changes are made. The Legislature now has to do its job to
make sure all the consequences are apparent and determine whether the
proposal should be adopted in the future.
I encourage you to let me know your
concerns and opinions. I can be reached by phone (802-233-5238) or by
email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).
