At recent gatherings in Pomfret, Waitsfield, and Burlington interested business folks and parents heard from the plan s sponsors and architects on how it will help all Vermont children. A legal team has also verified this. Towns with all kinds of property wealth will bear the same tax burden for the same level of spending. Yes, since it equalizes the tax burden of as a percent of income for the same level of spending. Yes, since locals control the spending because as spending goes up, the burden increases for each town equally.
More efficient spending comes from local people scrutinizing the bottom line.
Yes, but it is still up to the local voters to take advantage of the system to vote to spend the funds. It provides access to quality for all children, and hopefully local taxpayers will vote for school budgets and school board directors who will serve the children of the community well. Mission Vermont Parents for Quality Education was formed in reaction to education funding issues and Act 60, and it has always been about grassroots advocacy for quality education for all Vermont children. Act 60 is not the only issue effecting education at this moment. Here is just one of the many issues that may be getting lost in the red-hot rhetoric around Act 60.