Act 82 Summary

I've included the summary for any who is interested in seeing the items covered by the legislation. The full text is available on line (legislature) or I could forward a copy.
Gary

ACT NO. 82
(H.526)

Education; education cost containment; education funding; income sensitivity; special education; governance

This act makes numerous changes to education law, including amendments designed to ensure transparency for voters regarding education spending, to provide more assistance to districts with extremely high and low special education costs, and to help legislators understand educational cost drivers in a more comprehensive and meaningful way, as follows:

Sec. 1. Findings.

Secs. 2-3. Property Tax Adjustment Cap. Amend 32 V.S.A.

§ 6067 by reducing the maximum property tax adjustment available to income sensitized taxpayers from its current level of $10,000.00 to a maximum of $8,000.00 (effective for claims filed in 2008 and after).

Sec. 4. FY08 Education Property Tax Rates. Lowers the 2008 education property tax rate by an additional $0.02 for both nonresidential and homestead property – resulting in rates per $100.00 of $1.36 (nonresidential) and $0.87 (homestead).

Secs. 5-6. Divided Question for Voters. Require that if a school district’s budget exceeds both the statewide average per equalized pupil and a benchmark amount (the previous year’s statewide average spending per equalized pupil adjusted for inflation plus 1%), the district must present its budget to the voters in two articles:

1st article on the budget up to the benchmark amount

2nd article on spending above the benchmark amount

The divided voting requirement applies to budgets for fiscal years 2010 through 2014.

Secs. 7-9. Weighted Membership. Lower the weight assigned to secondary students (grades 7-12) from the current weight of 1.25 to a weight of 1.13 in fiscal year 2009 to reflect the relative cost of elementary and secondary students. In addition, it requires the commissioner of education to review the accuracy of the weights on a biennial basis.

Sec. 10. Fiscal Review of Special Education Spending. Amends 16 V.S.A. § 2974 to require the commissioner of education to review districts with low and high special education spending. The department must help high spending districts (that do not present a satisfactory explanation for their level of spending) to identify reasonable alternatives and develop a remediation plan. Districts that do not make progress on the remediation plan after two years are subject to a financial penalty.

Sec. 11. Excess Spending Study and Exemptions. Requires the commissioner of education to explore reasons that districts exceed the excess spending threshold and to propose circumstances in which it would be appropriate to exempt certain types of spending (e.g. tuition; special education costs).

Sec. 12. Transparency for Voters. Requires that each homestead property bill include a document, updated annually for the taxpayer’s town, that explains the relationship between district education spending and taxes based on property value and on income.

Secs. 13-19, and 27. Studies. These sections require studies regarding education cost drivers; the effectiveness and efficiency of the department of education, special education; human services-related services provided by schools; Medicaid money available to schools; unfunded mandates; financial management of school districts; governance; and “rolling” reappraisals.

Sec. 20. School Construction. Requires the commissioner of education to consider other options when reviewing a district’s request for state aid for school construction.

Secs. 21-26. Special Education. Address special education in several ways, including removing from the calculation of excess spending the special education costs for one student in excess of $50,000.00.

Sec. 28. Small School Grants. Allows for a gradual decrease in grant funds for a small school that results from the consolidation of two small schools if the grant is less than the total of the grants each small school would have received if there had been no consolidation.

Secs. 29-41. Collective Bargaining. Require collective bargaining to occur at the supervisory union level except in certain, specified circumstances. In all cases, a school board retains its current authority to reject a contract negotiated by its representatives.

Sec. 42. Effective Dates. Varied.