Times Argus Aug 23 "School Costs" O'Connor
Is Vermont’s ongoing fight over how to fund schools overshadowing gains in its classrooms? When the Council on the Future of Vermont asked residents about their most pressing concerns, it heard fury about property taxes for education.
“We can’t pay $1.7 million for less than 50 students,” one Champlain Islands resident said. The council heard fear about the fact the average college student-loan debt of $30,000 has leapt by more than 150 percent in the past 15 years. “Will my children’s children be able to afford to go?” one Northeast Kingdom parent asked.
It heard frustration that teachers must instruct some students not only to raise their hands, but also to wash them. “Now the school is trying to be the family,” one Essex County resident said, “but the school can only do so much.”
Then, after surveying almost 4,000 Vermonters at more than 100 meetings over 18 months, the nonprofit, nonpartisan study group reviewed the rest of the numbers...
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