Greetings from the School Board. At this week's board meeting, our administrators presented the first draft of our 2024-25 budget which is based on many factors including Vermont's Education Quality Standards, key projections and trends, Board-established parameters and themes from community input. Given steep increases in operating expenses and declines in revenues and student enrollment, we are facing many challenging budget decisions. Our first draft contemplates a 13% increase in net spending despite nearly $900,000 in staffing reductions throughout the district. The board is working to better understand the impacts of this model while considering other potential changes. One silver lining is that the State's new formula for measuring student counts which is based on various equity factors should result in a one-time reduction of tax rates in our district.

The budget will be a primary focus for the board over the coming weeks given our January 17 deadline. On December 20 we will host our next community budget input forum at U-32. Our next meeting on December 6 at East Montpelier Elementary School will include discussion of our committee's school configuration study. We invite you to attend these events or contact a board member to share your perspective. Thank you for supporting our schools; we hope you have a safe and happy holiday.

Amelia, Zach and Flor

Event Info

Sep 20, 2024, 4 to 7 PM

Sep 20, 2024, 7 to 9 PM

Sep 21, 2024, 7 to 11 PM