Bill to Increase Student Equity in Vermont Holds Promise for Winooski Schools
Winooski School District, Aug 11. 2020. Photo by Laura Meyer.
The Vermont House of Representatives approved a bill to update Vermont’s pupil weighting, a metric that determines how much money is allotted to districts based on student need. It passed 132-11.
The act to update Vermont’s pupil weighting formula was sent back to the Senate with amendments, before moving to the Governor for approval.
For years equity advocates, teachers, and researchers have pressured the state legislature to reform Vermont’s education weighting mechanism, which doesn’t sufficiently account for English learners, students in poverty, and other classes of pupils.
Districts across Vermont approve their school budgets on Town Meeting Day. The approved ‘per pupil’ number, the cost it takes to educate one student, is sent to the Agency of Education and it distributes the funds based on what it costs to educate one student.
A study was conducted on pupil weighting factors in the state by researchers at the University of Vermont in 2019.
It found that the current formula failed to properly account for student need across different districts, and that districts paying the same property tax rate had worse educational outcomes.
So the updated weights hope to take additional factors into account. Those recommended in the study included increasing the weights for students learning English, students in poverty, students in middle and high school, small schools, and rural districts.
The Senate, having passed S. 287 at the end of March, will vote on House amendments to the legislation before sending it to the governor for approval.
The House amended the funding mechanism slightly from the Senate-passed version.
Where the Senate proposed a slow transition into the new weights, the House ways and means committee proposed setting the new weights for the 2024/2025 school year, according to Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, Vice Chair of Ways & Means.
In a district like Winooski, tax capacity will increase immediately. “With that tax capacity, they can significantly increase their budget without their tax rates changing, or they can lower their tax rates,” she said.
So a district like Winooski will see benefits from the formula change, regardless of whether voters approve a higher budget on Town Meeting Day.
The committee felt pushing a quick transition would allow districts to prepare for broader changes that schools might need, according to Kornheiser.
Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott has advocated for the updated formula from Winooski city council, though she questions whether a quick transition would be difficult for some schools:
“Those of us with higher needs would be getting more resources in the long run. So I think a rapid implementation would mean some communities would pay more initially. So I think it has to be phased in over a couple of years,” she said.
Though Alex Yin, a member of the Winooski School Board, pointed to the importance of setting the bill in motion soon:
“School districts like Winooski cannot handle another year of making tough decisions,” he said, “basic need decisions like bussing or actually having a building that doesn’t leak water.”
33% of Winooski students are multilingual learners, and 62% live in low-income households, according to a presentation by Nicole Mace, finance manager of the Winooski School District.
Mace estimated that with the original recommendation from the 2019 pupil weighting report would provide nearly $1 million more in funding for English learning students in the district.
The presentation also mentioned Winooski could use the additional funding to support, “Year-Round Busing, Pre-K Programming, Director of Early Learning, Director of Equity, Additional Multilingual Liaisons, Anti-Racism Work, Guidance Counselor, District Registrar, Technology Technicians, and Facilities/Custodial Staff.”
“Winooski has built a health center so that students can get proper dental and healthcare,” said Yin, “but we need the infrastructure to allow those students to have those resources in our schools,” Yin said, describing how Winooski could use the funds.
Not to mention, more available financial resources through the capital project construction could help the school to muscle through the disruptions that come with the construction zone.
Mayor Lott also pointed to the importance of codifying these weights so that support for students doesn’t fluctuate.
She feels the updated weights would help to create a more equitable system by which resources can be properly and reliably allocated to students based on their need.
Though, members of the legislature have cautioned that this is not an end-all-be-all.
“Just because we're shifting tax capacity, doesn't mean that we're either shifting spending, nor does it necessarily guarantee that we're shifting what money is spent on,” said Kornheiser.
“We really need to continue to keep our eyes on ensuring that kids' needs are actually met, and their educational outcomes are equitable,” she continued.
If it passes the Senate, the bill faces its last obstacle at Governor Phil Scott’s desk.
“The governor has not engaged on this topic at all, to my knowledge. However, both his Secretary of Education and his commissioner of taxes have come in support of it,” said Kornheiser.
Scott’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
With broad support in the House, and the Senate approving the bill via a voice vote last month, it's possible this legislation could override a veto if necessary.
