On August 6, 2016

Vermont’s spending needs overhaul

Dear Editor,

Bruce Lisman knows how Vermont works and it begins with more taxes. Even the carbon tax idea will put more home heating oil customers into the mix. It is a terrible idea. Now we learn that the Vermont General Fund will drop another $28 million this year. They even want to take more money out of the Education Fund for pre-school daycare. Which brings me to what I want to say.

In spite of losing 20,000 students in our education system over the past 10-12 years, the funding for our schools has increased more than $600 million to $1.4 billion. Along with students disappearing, one has to assume that they did not die. Their parents just left the state for lack of income which leads to less tax revenue.

The Education Fund needs an overhaul as spending just does not stop and property taxes keep on rising. Vermont cannot continue to raise taxes on every thing that moves. We read that in some school districts the cost per student is reaching to $15,000 to $17,000. A lot of this comes from increasing costs to teach our young people. It never stops.

Bruce Lisman has been behind The Campaign for Vermont for years. He was Chairman of the UVM school board in 2000 and turned it around. The CFV has campaigned against the costs in the Education Fund and it has also fought to get a handle on property taxes not to mention municipal tax increases. It seems that the Vermont legislature did not hear Vermonters when they asked for changes in the Education Funding laws in 2015. Everyone who works in government gets a raise every year while ordinary Vermonters have no hope of such increases.

It is important for people in Vermont to realize that having insiders, those who have been in government for years, are not a good template for change. Lisman knows how to change this and with the help of Tom Pelham and others he will cut the spending faster than other insiders. Also, the state pension funds are so far underwater to the tune of $2 billion. Where are Vermonters going to get the money to pay the promises that government officials gave to all government workers? Vermont is in a big, bad: MESS

Edwin J. Fowler, Killington, Vt

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Closing schools doesn’t fix Vermont’s education affordibility problems

October 30, 2024
By Margaret MacLean Editor’s note: Margaret MacLean, of Peacham, is a retired Vermont teacher and award-winning principal. She is the founding executive director of the Vermont Rural Education Collaborative, a past employee of the Rural School and Community Trust, and served on the Vermont State Board of Education.  Roxbury parents can meet most of the…

Making Vermont a place working families want to call home

October 30, 2024
By Rebecca Holcombe Editor’s note: Rebecca Holcombe is a Vermont Representative from Windsor-Orange 2 who served as the Vermont Secretary of Education from 2014 to 2018. Vermonters suffer from unsustainable increases in the cost of everything from property taxes to healthcare. Too many people are working hard and stretching Social Security checks but still worry…

Don’t be fooled by false promises

October 30, 2024
Dear Editor,  There is no simple solution to the challenges that Vermonters face. There needs to be a delicate balance between what, on the surface, seems like appealing short-term solutions to the cost of living for all Vermonters versus the vision for long-term planning that creates financial stability and growth into the future.  Do not…

Context matters

October 30, 2024
Dear Editor, In an October 23 letter to the Mountain Times, Steve Berry wrote, “John Kerry stated at a World Economic Forum panel, ‘Our First Amendment stands as a major block (to getting things done).’”  You may wonder why Mr. Berry uses such odd syntax, placing part of the quote in parentheses. Maybe it’s because…