Back of the Envelope
It was an easy vote in the Vermont House on Friday. Fifteen years ago, it would not have been so.
Without a single nay, the House voted to use future budget surpluses to restore General Fund support for education. For the last three years, the Legislature has cut the annual transfer from the General Fund to the Education Fund, which covers all pre-K to 12 education costs in Vermont. The…
Continue reading The vote: 138 to 0Gov. Peter Shumlin mentioned the middle class in his State of the State speech last week—once. That’s exactly the same number of times he mentioned the middle class in his inaugural speech last year; and exactly one time more than he mentioned them in his 2011 Budget Address.
The governor has the opportunity tomorrow when he presents his budget to the people of Vermont, to again speak about the plight…
Continue reading The middle class needs the governor’s attentionNo. Declining enrollment doesn’t drive up costs. It’s true that Vermont’s student enrollment has been declining at a rate of about 1 percent per year. But, school costs have also been declining for the past two years.
If you listen to some who are weighing in on Vermont’s school spending lately, you’d think that a lower student count is causing increased spending. In fact, VTDigger fell prey to this fallacy…
Continue reading Is Vermont’s declining student enrollment driving up costs?