The amount of financial resources spent on students in Vermont is no longer correlated to towns' property wealth at a statistically significant level. Act 60 has significantly improved Tax Burden Equity in terms of the percent of household income needed to pay for education of local students. Prior to Act 60, the poorest families tended to pay the highest percent of their income for school taxes. This relationship is no longer true. The lowest income households now pay the least percent of their income for school tax.
Academic achievement is still significantly related to the wealth of the community.
Students residing in property wealthy towns do better academically, than those residing in poor communities. Academic achievement is still significantly related to spending per pupil. Students residing in towns that spend more per pupil tend to do better academically. Student achievement in all categories of property wealth and in all categories of spending has improved over the past three years. More students are meeting or exceeding standards across all levels of spending and in all levels of property wealth, compared to three years ago.