Manwaring said that the budget passed by the Legislature would eliminate any increase in the state’s education block grant over the next two years.
“They just don’t get how this hurts little schools, do they?” said TVSB chair Ed Metcalfe.
Board member Tom Manton said he was concerned that the budget passed by the Legislature “uses state property tax revenue for non-education spending.” He suggested the amount could be as much as $84 million. Manwaring said the number was closer to $18.4 million, but agreed that it was a case of allowing the “camel’s nose under the tent.”
But Manwaring said she and fellow Deerfield Valley representative John Moran had been able to push through legislation that would require every piece of legislation that comes to a vote on the House floor to be accompanied by a fiscal note. The note will identify any impact the legislation may have on property taxes. “Right now, there’s nothing that tracks the impact on property tax,” she said. “Stuff slides through all the time without people realizing the impact on property tax.”
Twin Valley High School Principal Frank Spencer asked if there were any legislative “surprises” on the horizon. “The two-vote procedure (for budgets that exceed a certain threshold) appeared all of a sudden at the end of last year,” he noted.
Manwaring said she wasn’t aware of any specific initiatives under discussion, but she said that cost containment continued to be one of the issues on the table. The framework of Act 60, she said, encourages a steady increase in spending and an increase in tax burden as lower spending districts “catch up” with high-spending districts. “Act 60 was a tax grab, pure and simple. And now, even the Republicans won’t let go of a billion dollars in taxes,” she said.
Spencer noted that the Legislature and the governor have both suggested schools reduce their spending, but he hasn’t heard any solutions from those in Montpelier. “I don’t think I have any real sense of what cuts they would like to see,” he said. “Eliminate extracurricular activities? Class sizes of 25? I’m frustrated to keep hearing that we’re spending too much, but there’s no focus on what the actual solution might be.”
“That’s stepping into the issue of local control,” Manwaring said. “One of the things that has to be looked at is the connection between the policymaking structure and the money. It doesn’t connect anywhere, and it has to.”
In other matters, board members accepted the resignation of high school math teacher Kevin Feal-Staub, who will be going to Putney School. Feal-Staub’s resignation prompted Manton to call for a review of Twin Valley’s math program, to ensure that the district has a cohesive program of curriculum and materials from grade six to 12.
In policy discussions, the board approved a change in the athletic training rules for students who violate the school’s drug and alcohol policy. Spencer explained that the current rule requires a two-week or two-game suspension, whichever is longer, if a student is determined to have violated the policy. If the student “self-refers,” or reports the violation before an investigation can begin, the school administration typically reduces the suspension to one week or a one-game suspension. Under the change, the suspension would be for three weeks, and administrators may reduce the term of the suspension to two weeks for students who self-refer.
“Why not make it six weeks?” asked Metcalfe. “Why the change?”
Policy committee member Carrie Blake said the change would bring Twin Valley’s policy in line with those in place at other nearby high schools, and would be a more significant deterent.
Manton abstained from the vote, saying he objected that the policy doesn’t delineate between the use of banned substances (illegal drugs) and illegal behavior.
In fiscal matters, the board approved the expenditure of $3,450 in technology money, the remainder of $28,000 from the settlement of a class action suit against Microsoft brought by Brattleboro resident Richard Elkins. The suit alleged that Microsoft overcharged customers for several of its products. Under the terms of the agreement, any money that remained unclaimed from the $9.7 million settlement would go to Vermont public schools.
The money will be used to purchase two hard drives to back up the school’s data, two smaller hard drives for computer setup, and fiber optic equipment to speed up the school’s system. Board member Dennis Richter said the purchases made sense from his perspective, particularly the backup drives. “If there’s a power outage and we lose our PowerSchool data, it would be a catastrophe,” he said.
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