Please take time to vote on the school budget this Tuesday, April 2, from 7 am to 7 pm at the Underhill Town Hall. Information can be found at https://budget.mmuusd.org.

Thank you to all of the town officials for your help in conducting this special vote.

Here is a summary of the proposed budget:

Enrollment in our school district is forecasted to be at the same level as in recent years, and no new programs or services are included (or removed) in the proposed budget of $60,123,048.

The proposed budget is 8.77% higher than last year, driven primarily by salary and health insurance inflationary increases.

Due to changes in how the State is calculating the tax rates this year, Underhill's education tax rate increase is estimated to be 13.44%.

Compared to surrounding school districts, MMU's cost per pupil and homestead tax rate, are both lower than most and are lower than the State average.

From my perspective... this year, the State's changes to the education funding system, combined with increases in the cost of labor and services, have made it more challenging than ever for the Board to find the balance between delivering quality education at a reasonable cost. Before cutting any programs or services, the Board has offered the community a "status quo" budget, and the Board has tried hard to explain how the budget and other drivers contributed to the overall tax rate increase. This has been especially difficult given all of the changes.

Our community has been very supportive of our school budgets over the last decade, and I do hope we continue to do so. However, if we do not approve the proposed budget on Tuesday, it sends a message to the Board that budgetary cuts are needed. How deep those cuts are and where they are made will become the focus of the Board until a budget is ultimately approved. For anyone who is considering voting "no," I would genuinely welcome your feedback on where those cuts should be made. Feel free to reach out to me directly with any such feedback.

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