LETTER: Taking a close look at cost per-pupil in Harwood’s budget

February 20, 2026

To the Community:

Vermont has an extremely complicated education funding system. My goal here is to examine another small aspect of the system in a bit more detail. The phrase “cost per pupil” is used regularly, and my opinion is that it may or may not mean what the public thinks it means.

On Feb. 4, the school district held a FY27 Budget Public Forum via Zoom format; the recording can be viewed here. The slides used in that presentation can be viewed without the video on the district’s budget page under Budget Forum Slides. 

In the presentation, the HUUSD School Board and administration explain that they are requesting voter approval to spend $51,884,847 for the FY27 proposed school budget. That amount, they say, would result in education spending per LTWADM (Long-Term Weighted Average Daily Membership) of $16,228.78 The HUUSD Finance Director refers to this simply as “our cost per pupil” at 20:57 of the forum video linked above. They arrive at this number using the state-sanctioned methodology and calculations, and I am not accusing the administration or School Board of doing anything shady.

For my own perspective on the cost per pupil, I will use the data they presented and the math that a layman might employ. 

The amount HUUSD is asking voters for approval to spend is $51,884,847. This is the request on the current budget warning and on line 1 of slide 18 of the Budget Forum Slides. The FY27 student enrollment (actual student body count) is shown as 1,787. This number appears on the third line/right side of slide 18.

Divide $51,884,847 (budget request) by 1,787 (actual students, or pupils) = $29,034.61 per pupil.

Quick recap: Cost per pupil according to the HUUSD Budget Forum presentation is $16,228.78; cost per pupil as common sense might suggest we calculate it is $29,034.61.

For voters who may wish to form their opinions based on data and not just emotions, it is important to understand the meaning of the data presented. You can determine for yourself which “cost per pupil” number is most transparent and which you believe best represents your own view of reality. 

Steve Martin

Waterbury