 Hi, welcome to the school board commissioner corner live at 525. My name is Claire wool I'm chairperson of the Burlington school board, and I am here today with School board member Gary Golden Gary Thank you so much for representing wards one and eight in our district and For your work thus far in the school board. I appreciate our partnership This past month you wrote for the North Avenue news column We'd like to follow up this program with what commissioners or school board members wrote about in that column to give us a live Update take the print out of the newspaper and bring it here so people can watch a link if they Choose to and we can distribute that link out to the citizens of Burlington So today you want to talk about your column and what you what you discussed and welcome. Thank you for being here, of course So I'm back trying to figure out what there I am. Yep Was here 11 months ago to the night of the election, so I'm I'm the newbie on the board and so one of the reasons I Offered to write the the article was really good at a better understanding of the budget after attending meetings and trying to Understand a very convoluted process I've worked in schools for many years retired public ed teacher But looking at it from the inside rather than sort of working within the budget after it's been passed has been I opening to to say the least so with that in mind I knew my Ward one and eight constituents would also Have some of the same struggles around understanding. So I really tried to break down the the process of the of the budget itself and so Back in the fall we started talking about the fixed cost and obligations that we have So there are things like wages, which are negotiated costs The benefits that go with the teacher and administration and staff contracts And already we're looking at Some difficult numbers 16 to 18 percent healthcare premium increases to start and then inflation affecting almost every other Cost that we have So breaking tried to break that down some into the the major costs So as I said wages about five percent increase we try to be competitive with the schools that neighbor us and I think Tom and the administration Sorry superintendent Flanagan the administration have done a good job of really trying to be in the middle of the of that range We really don't have the resources to be At the top we just you know, we're We're a town with a lot of nonprofit property Taken up and if we're talking property taxes, you know, that's a difficult equation so with that in mind we also don't want to be Below the median because then we lose people to other districts that are quality But still need to take care of their families and they're going to move they you know need to Rent facilities, you know, we're paying a ton of rent because we're out of our high school and What's the figure of million and a half for just the downtown property and we're not talking about the other scattered? Tech programs that are at the airport or out Wilson Road for machinery or for the auto programs And we are branching, you know, we're adding some facilities for Our alternative programs because we decided they probably would do better standing alone So the Rock Point property that's being developed is part of that and then we have some Some of our couple our main school IA is being has a HVAC program or a Rehabilitation yes, and so those students going to have to be housed So all those are additional costs, and then the others are transportation foods, you know services and those are you know At least a 5% Inflationary bump from last year. So those are all at play. It's hard to break those down and a little bit more of a You know where those monies are going To go back late, you know to what you mentioned earlier if you would like to see any of these documents more or Contact me You can either look me up on front porch forum, and you'll see the links or please ggolden at BSDVT.org if you'd like to to talk further. So I went over these costs earlier many shocks in there to us but Coming out of it. Oh, okay. Let's do act 127 Which is not you need to look this up if you or look at my article. Yes, I try to explain some of what's going on with this I was in the district 20 years ago when we had a large influx of The Somali Bantu population the state commissioner came through Notted kindly, but no money came of that even though we had a dedicated classroom at every school In the district for that population with two new teachers You know everything that goes with the asons. Yeah, so now finally 20 years later That's being taken into account with the weighted student The 5% cap, which is the flip side sort of of that is a transition tool for The districts that will not benefit from that weighted student It was added on very late in the process and has now Proven to be a complication for the process and so everything that you're seeing in the news is really around the 5% cap We're hoping it stays the search and stays there We can weather that but to if they were to try to look at the weighted student formula now It would be not so good for us and we talked about that last month with Martin Gullick Senator Gullick who's also a school board member and that was you know, you know 2019 study done by UVM Tammy Colby and Wreckers and It found that it's you know the way Vermont weighted their pupils was Indefensible that there was no empirical data that showed why we did what we did how we did it and to your point More rural communities or more urban communities suffered with that weighted pupil. And so for Act 127 to pass legislation Many districts throughout the entire state gave testimony on Examples of weighted pupils throughout New England throughout the United States how it's done With an equity lens, but also fairness knowing what school districts what it takes to educate certain pupils and support staff needed so To see that legislation You know right now be in the news. What are your thoughts about that? I mean, do we want as a as burling Tonians and and and do you feel the state did the right thing like at the end? Passing the legislation and you know, it should not be under attack Right. I I'm biased. Yeah, you know, I had many students on my caseload who were a gold majority I Made many student friends within particularly at Evans Middle School the years there that You know, we love that we have our students and we love who our students are the reality for us though is There are services they need, you know and we want to provide those services. We should be At least offset for our cost to what point we can so the weighted student is definitely what I'm hoping will hold on to At the state level the five percent cap was always it was the last minute probably not very well thought through Decision and I think and that's why it's being reviewed right now Yes, so that you know, they felt that that was you know, they're Right now waiting to potentially revise what that looks like. Yes, okay, but to do it on the fly again Yes, you know, well, we'll be here again next year. True. Which is well said. Yeah, edible because at that point What else could happen, right? Okay, so we're hoping that one percent Discount which just the wording is not I think helpful. I don't either So, you know that could be an okay solution as a transition tool But blaming 127 I think is what I would love all of our school districts throughout the state not to do Yes, you know so to be unified because you know to stand for a way to pupil You know legislation that actually makes sense and is similar to you know surrounding states that Give give you know credibility to those to real costs. I guess is what I'm saying so I'm glad You know, I'm glad you addressed that. I'm glad you're able to you know We can follow up like you said and offer people because it is a longer conversation But when we talk about what you started with the fixed costs, you know being The true labor and health care double-digit health care Is something that we have no control over so what's next after 127 and Other other just want to give the administration credit after looking at our fixed costs adding in the weighted student Formula we they came back to us with a minus two percent tax rate adjustment Which I was amazed by when saw that number and I appreciate their efforts So at that point we were in pretty good shape. Yeah, but we have obligations so the big one from a year and a half ago the The BHS BTC bond and so we had this we need to start figuring in The bond servicing because we're using that money and that means we're paying interest on that money so that was it came out to about a 8.7% increase of the tax rate Giving us a plus 6% tax rate at that point. Got it, which is phenomenal. I think Certainly we're assisted by weighted student, but you know, this is an obligation that we made I've in Being elderly I sometimes wake up in the middle of night and I sometimes roll over around how else could the bond be Done in a way that we're not having to vote on it every year because it was an obligation done It really comes down to each new population Has to have a say in that bond because they're the ones paying for that servicing and just wish there was some sort of automatic way of That being figured in there's not and I think to your point many people the success of last November 2022 passing a bond for the city of Burlington many people thought that meant we received the money That the vote green light go you've got it go ahead and start building when it was actually just the passing the bond For the authority to borrow so as you said and I let I appreciated what you said that each year Within our school budget there will be costs associated with building this high school This being the largest percentage because at this time, what was the total amount we borrowed at this time? We're at a hundred and thirty million Yeah, that's what I understand so at a hundred and thirty million for the bulk of the project of which we had the authority to Borrow a hundred and sixty, so this this would be our largest Ask our percentage. Okay, yes, but I think you're right so each year whatever if we're going to borrow the remaining 35 Then we'd have to go back to the voters again in the budgeting include that cost where this year It it will be 6% of that increase and no other school district in the state We'll have that extra 6% increase no due to capital a capital project Yes, or or handling it differently was in Wilson the other day taking the EMS B team girls to their game and past Allenbrook and I've Wondered about how Wilson financed that so I'm gonna kind of go back, but you know no help from the state They were after that point and that's another Thing I kind of mull over how could the state add some sort of mechanism of per student fund that High schools could then draw off per student To pay for the offset some construction costs right that's another. Yes. Yeah and now oh the The bully in the room Common level appraisal this this one's tough So the from their website, this is how the state describes this process So the state adjusts local tax appraisals based on current sales to create a uniform tax burden across towns What is this a result from if you want to go back and look? Brigham in the 90s was a family down Bennington County think Whiting Whiteham took the state to court and said our kids don't get what other Students get in their schools because of the local funding set up What came out of that has been a series of laws act 127 is the last and trying to equalize what students are offered in their local schools and Because we're a property-based Funding for schools it all comes down to what's the property worth What are you taxing that property for and that's where common level appraisal comes in is trying to create a Level playing field for all towns So if your home in Burlington, let's say you're seven three hundred and seventy thousand dollar home in Burlington Ver and your three hundred and seventy thousand dollar home in Bennington, or your Three hundred and seventy thousand dollar home in St. Albans. We're all getting taxed the same Based on your common level of appraisal. Yes, so that's the attempt. I mean there's still local decisions being made about The amount of funding being asked and the services being offered But for the most part it really is an attempt After failed attempts foundation funding, you know pre-Burigam to Make this as fair process as possible. Okay, but there's a huge hit particularly Depending on your appraisal time ours is twenty twenty one and it was You know it did not go. Well No one wants to go through it But in looking at other towns sort of in our Similar high school stow and you know, they are at a sixty seven percent CLA because they haven't appraised in 12 years so our Recent adjustment helps us, but it was still a shock So the goal is for you to be at a hundred percent The state wants all municipalities to your home be assessed at market value at a hundred percent We did an assessment city-wide along with South Burlington in 2001 Everybody bemoaned that process, but it hadn't been done over the course of however six years I think or less or Something like that. So your property values go up. Therefore your taxes go up Then with the recent real estate boom due to COVID people migrating to Vermont home price prices of homes went out been Vermont are Then where we were at 95 close to a hundred in 2001 from the reappraisal We had to catch up again. Yes. Okay, so dropped it. We were Adjusted another I'm trying to use very their words. Yeah 7.8 7 7 and eighty seven hundred percent my math teacher. Yes growing up. Yeah, not want me doing point So now we're at eighty seven point four six percent of We're praised at eighty seven point four six percent of the actual predicted value based on sales within the last year or so, okay So we have so then there's a percentage increase to bring us back up to get to the okay. What's that looking like? Oh So, oh, yeah, yeah, it really you know that leads us to our Up until whatever the state decides. We're at thirteen point nine seven percent tax rate increase So Again, you know the the CLA is the biggest hit But it's also a reality of being a property-based tax mechanism for schools My one little growing up story grew up in East Texas I Had it, you know fairly middle-of-the-road high school. We competed against School districts that had oil wells on their property. Guess what their tax rates were is for kind of like being in Vernon Next door to Vermont Yankee, you know minimal So we do not have that advantage in our case so Again, this is my slide is a recap of all the different costs that we've had to absorb into this almost 14 percent tax rate And this is the adjustments that you were mentioning So as we stand right now if you do have that three hundred and seventy thousand dollar homestead You're looking at a seven hundred and forty nine dollar increase if you're an income taxpayer You're looking at a hundred and thirty four dollar increase for a fifty thousand dollar income Okay, so that's where Our numbers are So again, it's it's complicated, but if you go back and look at it step by step it makes Some more sense. Yes. They're really all comes down to how we as a state have chosen to fund education And we've chosen to fund it through a very the most volatile piece of our lives or you know with real estate is Not helpful, you know, and we're the education fund is also funded through Commercial real estate, but at a much lower percentage The bulk of the money is still coming from Residential property taxes. Okay. Well, thank you for explaining that. I know superintendent plan again Also came on CCTV and talked about the budget as did commissioner Gullick and I the The month before but your graphics, you know, we're going to be sending these out to NPAs May all of our neighborhood planning associations school board members are going to be using it As a tool because I do believe people, you know, we we do our budget one pager that we send out and people understand the pie chart But it is useful to be able to Connect back with a constituent and say let's walk through your slide deck again So thank you so much for creating that and distributing it to the board. That was incredibly valuable Let's talk about the What we are investing in and I I know we'll have a show dedicated to our BTC BHS 52 Institute Road Campus update we've been so excited to do that In this short time what we have left. We do want to share with the public Pictures of our demolition of our property plans You'll see some overview now. That's just the general Landscape of where we are Whiting Turner is on site as you've seen and over the course of the last Nine months that has been an incredibly active site. We are on schedule With the demolition the last building That's the Whiting Turner trailer. If you've gone by Institute Road, you see the trailers We have a team of people that work and meet weekly on the scheduling and production of this enormous project Before us and Everything is going like we said on schedule. Our goal is to open the campus in fall of 2026 And right now you're seeing the actual as of February Where are we February 10th? The updates we have the foundation the concrete has been poured You're looking at to the right side of the picture. That is the entrance to the Buckhardt field so we're standing where The parking lot was for the back entrance of the cafeteria and we're looking to North Avenue from this shot So incredible amount of ledge that we went through. That's the arms forest behind BHS and The different tiered so we begin with the lower foundation Of the concrete that you saw up to where you see those steel rods That is the second that'll be your main floor entrance and then it goes up to the second floor entrance Which that road leads to and then beyond that where you see the building in the crane That would be the parking lot. So the staff and faculty come around the building and they park behind the building And you would enter on the second floor. That is the old F building That was the Burlington Technical Center. That was our and is our most contaminated building So we had to save that for last one because of its location And it was not in the way of the the new building that we're building but it is Excitingly just this month is being demoed that you see the F building is half of the building it was From the demolition that is being done So we're really excited one with the site plan and the scheduling and I have to say the weather has been incredibly Helpful to this overall project. I did have older pictures. I'm not sure if we're able to show The original site to what it is. We only need to look at it level, but that was again just in the last part of this last spring that was the old BHS and just seeing the evolution of all the things that it takes just to create you know a parking area for all the trucks coming in and out of that venue and and stabilizing it with the chain link fence and You can't look you know seeing it you you know public can't go in it because of its construction zone, but We have an incredible amount of area to work with in fact when you realize the old building our square footage You know, we are not building a Significantly larger building it will be a more efficient building with the same you know relatively square footage footprint, but Utilizing it in a way that Like I just said that is You're not having seven buildings attached by glass always. You're having a Something that we also learned from being back downtown In our downtown BHS location as well as our BTC locations that how effective it is to be in a building with other classrooms and disciplines or academic areas that it's a cohesive and Productive learning environment at cross collaboration is happening within schools and Departments that you know, we're never together are able to work together as students and the travel time You know to be able to get to class and be more efficient with your time so it really exciting exciting to show the public more to come but This is where that investment comes in and like we talked about before We are Citizens volunteers we're taxpayers as well. We are very concerned about our school budgets And the the state of the state right now. It's in the news and we want people to know that We have been a fiscally responsible board for the last Seven budgets that I have been on We at our board meeting went over our audit and finance our finance and facility meeting that you were at and so We have been a fiscally responsible school board having a surplus that has been In comparison to our overall budget something that would be Common a percentage of that that is common that we put and invest into our capital projects as needed But you know, we are as I've shared the only school district that and city that is Shouldering the burden of such a large capital expense And we will be working with our state legislators to talk about Lifting that moratorium of construction aid that was once there and paid 30% of a school's capital project to school districts need So I did have a slide just for the public so that if you have follow-up questions And it talks about, you know, who to contact and that one slide Can have it it said the header is the school budget support information Your questions can be answered. The first thing would be to reach out to your school commissioners We have eight school board commissioners and three district commissioners for excuse me for district you being one of them That can support your questions. We are asking for you to advocate for Act 127 to your As school leaders, we will be to your state legislators because we believe in a Sound a weighted pupil formula and it's enactment And we don't want to see that be Taken apart all that hard work that went on throughout the entire state and the next would be to Talk about your talk about this to your city counselors tonight counselor Traverse is going to be presenting to city council a resolution regarding the CLA Exactly what you talked about how we're funded through Property taxes is that the right way and is the CLA at this time something that you know, we can Vermonis can afford with that so reach out to your city counselors about your concern for CLA and taxes and then lastly is your state representative. Thank you Your state representative as noted we talk about I know we have representative Tiff Blumen Blumenel and also Representative Stebbins They're deeply engaged in these conversations and welcome hearing from our constituents with concerns about the CLA the lack of state funding in school school construction and Equally as concerned about Act 127 So we ask for your vote of support on town meeting day and when the ballots come they say before February 14 we Can answer any questions at any time, but please vote yes for the Burlington school district school budget this year and Thank you Commissioner Golden for your work on Educating the public and our board on this year's difficult school budget. It was greatly appreciated. Thank you My pleasure. Thank you