Questions were raised Tuesday about whether a proposed funding formula change at the ConVal School District was the right move this year, given the discussions about consolidation and the work being done at the state level.
The ConVal School Board held a public hearing Tuesday evening regarding a warrant article that if passed in March, would change the school district’s funding formula from 50 percent of each town’s average daily membership and equalized property valuation to 60 percent property valuation and 40 percent student count.
The change is being proposed because of the disparity in what taxpayers in different towns pay into the district, said Antrim board representative and board vice-chair Rich Cahoon.
“If we are one ConVal and this is one district, towns don’t pay property taxes –property taxpayers pay property taxes. Right now there is a disparity in the rates,” Cahoon said. “That is what’s causing, in my opinion, a fair bit of ill feeling towards the smaller schools. The smallest and most expensive schools also have the lowest tax rates associated with them.”
Under the proposed formula change, towns that have an elementary school with less than 55 students – Dublin, Francestown, Hancock, and Temple – would see the largest increases.
Towns with the largest populations of students – Antrim, Bennington, Greenfield, and Hancock – would see a decrease in their tax bills, contingent on that there were no changes to the proposed budget.
John Jordan, a Hancock Selectman and chairman of the district’s Selectmen’s Advisory Committee, said Tuesday that he didn’t think the change in equity amounted to all that much.
Jordan pointed out that the district’s former business administrator Marian Alese completed a study of the district’s funding formula in December 2017, a study that concluded the district’s funding formula was the most equitable.
“I think right now what we have is a formula that is about as good as you are going to get,” Jordan said.
Jordan said the district should be focusing its attention on the bills being proposed at the state house – bills that are proposing changes to adequacy aid and other state funding mechanisms for local education – rather than trying to change the district’s funding formula
“If we are talking equity here, we aren’t moving much at all,” Jordan said.
Hancock resident Dan Harper asked the board why such a proposal was being brought before voters, saying the proposal seemed “like a bit of a shell game” to him.
“You are still going to have winners and losers in the district if something like this passes,” Harper said. “And I feel like there’s some animosity towards the small towns because they want to keep their small schools, so this is what’s been put on the table.”
Cahoon responded to Harper, saying that increasing the formula’s reliance on equalized property values – the funding capacity of a town, Cahoon said – would help to better distribute the cost of funding the district.
“If we are one ConVal and this is one district, towns don’t pay property taxes – property taxpayers pay property taxes. Right now there is a disparity in the rates,” Cahoon said.
Hancock School Board representative Pierce Rigrod said he took issue with the board’s approach to proposing the funding formula change, noting that the discussion began later in the warrant-forming process.
“I think that as a procedure, that process didn’t meet the obligation of what we have to do to put something in front of the voters,” Rigrod said.
The funding formula article was placed on the ballot as an alternative to warrant articles that would have asked for a reduction of schools in the district from 11 to five, and to create a surcharge for towns that have elementary schools with less than 65 students.
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com.