Dear Champlain Valley School District Staff, Families, and Community,

Given our proximity to the CVSD budget revote next week, I wanted to share a few thoughts before next Tuesday's election. As a reminder, residents can vote early at their town offices or in person on April 16 until 7 pm.

Since the board's approval of the district's proposed budget on March 12th, both the district and the school board have actively listened to the input, feedback, and perspectives of our valued community members. Throughout this process, our focus has remained on the well-being and success of our CVSD students.

Since the beginning of the budget process in October and again after Town Meeting Day, the process that campus and district administrators followed involved offsets and reductions to meet our student and district needs for the 2024-2025 school year. After the first vote, we heard frequently that the "No" votes intended to send a message to Montpelier. Since then, many of our legislators have responded that they heard their constituents' voices after the voters rejected higher property taxes. Even as we prepare to vote and I write this letter, the legislators are beginning the process to review Vermont's school finance structure.

The district, too, has heard our constituents. In our proposed budget, we cut the average tax rate by nearly half from our original budget. Moreover, only a little more than a third of the total increase results from increased district spending. Given the intersection of our comparatively small spending increase of 5.8% (compared to Vermont’s average of 12%) and the effects of the new education finance system, the resulting average property tax rate is higher than it has been in several years. This higher tax rate may be difficult for many of our neighbors. The cost of the estimated property tax increase is not lost upon us as many of our educators, too, live within our five towns. Please know that with this proposed budget, our goal was to find a middle ground that benefited both students and taxpayers.

The board and the administration listened to community feedback before and shortly after the Town Meeting Day. Out of this feedback, the administration made four million dollars in reductions. We withdrew one million dollars from our fund balance to reduce our ask from the Education Fund to bring the tax rate down further. Please know that these reductions were challenging because, as I wrote in an earlier letter, these reductions affected our colleagues, students, and schools. CVSD administrators achieved the reductions through measured and thoughtful changes and offsets. When making these challenging decisions, the campuses and central office considered retirements and vacancies as much as possible instead of directly impacting current employees. We considered many aspects of the district's programs and services and intentionally spread the reductions across all schools and offices to produce the least impact on students and programs. Whenever reductions in education are needed, it is always a difficult and somber process.

Feedback from this year and our CVSD Strategic Plan will guide our budget discussions and preparations next year. Should the legislature not change the educational finance system or find other methods to relieve districts and their taxpayers, this will be our first of five years in a difficult budget environment. Between now and 2030, the district must find efficiencies to balance students’ and taxpayers’ needs. To share your voice in the next budget development, please mark October 2024 on your calendar to participate in CVSD's budget-building process. Planning for the 2025-26 school year will provide the district and the community with more time to develop a budget that will keep property tax increases at a modest rate. Together, we can achieve the two goals of placing students first and building a budget our community can support.

The district's budget page provides specific details about reductions, estimated tax rates, and more. We hope you join district administrators and school board members at the Budget Informational Meeting on Monday, April 15, at 5:00 p.m. If you have questions or thoughts about education funding in Vermont, please contact your legislators directly.

Thank you for engaging in this process. Please vote on or before April 16!

Sincerely,

Rene