Hello Roxbury,

We want to be certain all are aware of anticipated legislative action we expect to affect our Montpelier-Roxbury school budget work. MRPS School Board has a meeting this Wednesday, 2/7, 6:30 p.m at Montpelier High School. Our Montpelier-Roxbury House and Senate representatives have been invited to this week's meeting. We hope many community members will attend in person or virtually.

Please see below to read the letter sent to the MRPS community from MRPS's Superintendent, Board Chair, and Vice Board Chair. Please consider attending Wednesday's meeting in-person (Montpelier High School) or virtually using the link or phone number here:

Join Zoom Webinar: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81824531108
Or Telephone: +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) Webinar ID: 818 2453 1108
Agenda: https://www.mrpsvt.org/2024-agendas-meeting-documents/tag/02-07-2024

If the legislature moves ahead with removing the tax cap, we will be faced with the big question of moving forward with the approved budget and newly increased tax rate or reopen the budget and achieve changes that will lower the tax rates. We know this feels like a roller coaster ride. We are on it with you. We will greatly appreciate folks participating at this important moment.

Best,

Kristen Getler and Rhett Williams
kristengetler@mpsvt.org
rhettwilliams@mpsvt.org
—-----------
February 4, 2024

Dear MRPS Community,

Since late October our School Board and Administration have been working to craft a budget to propose to the voters. There are several pressures facing MRPS and districts around the state this budget development cycle. If you need some background information, our budget page (www.mrpsvt.org/budget) has tons of information including: board meeting notes and videos, short informational clips, a podcast episode explaining the dynamics of this year, and a FAQ doc.

One of the most significant changes to the budgeting process this year was the passage of Act 127 by our legislature. At its most basic, the law changed how our students are weighted to account for the funding that meets their educational needs. It's an important component to ensuring educational equity statewide. This weight is one of the four factors in developing property taxes. Because of the new weights, we have known since the beginning that MRPS would be in a disadvantaged position that would require us to significantly decrease our budget and/or increase the tax burden over time. The law also had a capping mechanism for districts like ours so that any tax rate increases would not be felt all at once. On January 17, the board finalized a budget for the coming school year that considered all four factors and the capping mechanism.

As districts around the state began developing their budgets, it has become clear that this capping mechanism was not working as intended. Because of factors both inside of our control (eg. educational programming) and outside of our control (eg. health care increases), proposed district budgets were coming in much higher than the legislature anticipated, causing a significant strain on the education fund's ability to cover educational costs statewide.

Last Thursday, Representatives Representatives Emily Kornheiser, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Peter Conlan, Chair of the House Education Committee, met with superintendents to share their intent to eliminate the capping mechanism for this year's budget development cycle. We have not seen their proposal in writing and the specifics are not yet known. What we do know is that if the legislature acts as is now anticipated and the Governor signs this action into law, the capping mechanism will be done away with and they will replace it with something else - most likely less beneficial to tax rates in disadvantaged districts like ours.

Once we have more information, the school board will need to react to this legislative change as it directly impacts what we will be asking you to be voting on. Our goal is always to be as transparent as possible to ensure people have all the information they need to make decisions for their family. Unfortunately, because of a poorly conceived piece of this particular legislation and the legislature's late-minute attempt at correction, we are in a position of wait and see. We can anticipate that the board will need to revisit the budget and will have further difficult decisions to make before our communities vote on Town Meeting Day.

Our school board has invited the Central Vermont legislative delegation to their meeting this Wednesday, February 7th at 6:30, at Montpelier High School. The public is welcome to join and provide public comment, both to the school board and the legislative delegation. You can also reach the board and superintendent with your comments and questions at schoolboard@mpsvt.org.

Sincerely,

Libby Bonesteel
Superintendent

Jim Murphy
Board Chair

Mia Moore

May 13, 2024, 6 to 7:30 PM

May 16, 2024, 9 AM to 12 PM

May 18, 2024, 10 AM to 12 PM