Op-Ed: Don’t wait till later to talk about school funding

June 30, 2026  |  By Jack Hoffman

The education reform train the Legislature assembled a year ago finally left the station when Gov. Phil Scott signed Act 170, but it is still a long way from its final destination. 

Even the bill the governor just signed, “An act relating to next steps in transforming Vermont’s education system,” is only the start of a vitally important process of local community engagement to shape control and management of Vermont schools going forward.

Despite the immediate demands of the next several months, it is not too early to start talking about the future of education funding. The governor and some legislative leaders act as though the new foundation funding system described in last year’s education reform bill (Act 73) is a done deal. But Vermont voters and taxpayers will have the final say, and they don’t have enough information yet to make that decision.

Last year’s education reform train was designed by people in Montpelier who assumed they would be driving it. First came the engine—a new governance structure comprising a handful of large, consolidated school districts and run by boards whose role would be to administer funds collected and distributed by the governor and the Legislature. Behind the engine, the rest of the cars in the train—distribution of funds, the tax system, school construction aid, performance standards, and others—would all just fall into place.

People weren’t having it. They already had endured years of education reforms, including forced school district consolidation, that did not produce the savings or educational results they were promised. They wanted tax relief, not a Montpelier takeover of their schools. 

Thanks to the diligent work of the School District Redistricting Task Force, which actually listened to people in community hearings last fall, the reform train wasn’t derailed, but redirected. A new approach recommended by the Task Force—Cooperative Educational Service Areas (CESA)—has a real chance of achieving savings and improving education services without denying Vermonters the role in local decision-making they want and deserve.

The push for consolidation will continue because some powerful forces still view it as a silver bullet. The threat of forced school district mergers is off the table—at least for now. But local communities will have to endure another round of district consolidation studies, which will divert time, energy, and resources from the process of establishing Cooperative Educational Service Areas.

As noted above, the reform train is really just now leaving the station, and there is a lot of work ahead just on management, administration, and governance. But discussions and decisions about how we raise taxes for schools and distribute the money can’t be shoved to the back burner. The configuration of school districts can influence the funding system and vice versa. 

The current proposal for funding reform would not only take funding decisions out of communities’ hands but also move Vermont back to a property-based tax system for resident homeowners. Vermonters recognized the inherent problem with property taxes 30 years ago and shifted toward one based on homeowners’ ability to pay—that is, their income. That approach has been allowed to wither, mostly through neglect, leading to understandable demands for tax relief. But income sensitivity served us well for decades, and it can be updated and improved if the public is brought back into the discussion of how they want to fund Vermont schools. 

The governor insists that the only path to tax relief is through cutting school funding, and the only way to do that is to override the will of Vermonters by consolidating power over schools in Montpelier.

The train has pulled away from the station, but it’s not too late to switch tracks. Vermonters proved they have the power to choose which direction they want to go and to decide for themselves what’s best for their schools. 

Jack Hoffman is Senior Analyst at Public Assets Institute, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization based in Montpelier.