Start With a New Leaf
Welcome to the Vermont Local Education Affordability Formula (LEAF) website, and thank you for taking the time to learn more about our education funding proposal. For years, Vermonters have struggled with the oppressive property tax burden brought about by Act 60 and its unintelligible formulae. Virtually everyone recognizes that the system is broken beyond repair, and that continued tinkering only adds to the administrative cost of an overly complicated system.
Vermonters are calling for change. We have answered that call with a fresh new approach to funding Vermont's most important investment - our children's education.
The LEAF proposal will reduce the property tax burden, restore local control, empower local communities to better manage their schools, and ensure the best education for our children.
At this stage, our proposal is a broad outline that opens up many questions for discussion. Our intent is to start an important dialog about how we fund Vermont's public education system. We believe that it would be irresponsible to develop a comprehensive solution in isolation. We hope to engage all Vermonters in this dialog, because we must all work together to find solutions to our property tax problem.
How it Works
In summary, each school district would receive a per-pupil grant equal to 85% of the average statewide per-pupil spending for the prior year (we have used a figure of $8,500 for discussion purposes, which would require an additional $158M in revenues). The grant will be funded through existing broad-base tax revenue sources, the existing non-residential education property tax structure, and cost savings accrued under this plan.
There would no longer be a statewide property tax on residential property, and the CLA for residential properties would be eliminated. However, any spending in excess of the grant would be paid for with a property tax raised on the local residential grand list. Towns that spend less than the grant would receive a credit for 20% of the per-pupil savings, as an incentive to hold spending increases below the grant amount. Non residential property would continue to be taxed under the existing structure.
The LEAF proposal would bring transparency and clarity to the local budgeting process - there would be a direct correlation between the decisions of voters and the impact on their tax bills.
Of course, it is difficult to evaluate any new funding proposal without understanding the impact on individual circumstances. For that reason, we have provided tools to help illustrate the impact of our proposal on individual property tax bills. Using the options in the left-hand column of this site, you can lookup your property and see what your education property tax bill might look like under our proposal. We hope that you find the information provided here to be helpful.
Highlights of the Plan
- Eliminates statewide property tax for residential properties
- Eliminates Common Level of Appraisal (CLA) for homesteads
- Restores local control of school funding
- Eliminates excess spending penalties
- Eliminates the rural acreage penalty by eliminating the 2 acre limitation
- All special education to be paid from the state education fund
- Reduces complexity of current education funding plan (Act 60/68)
- Increases transparency of school funding mechanism
- Directly ties local education spending decisions to local tax liability