Teachers, staff push for ‘yes’ on budget

Parents and students heading to or from school this past week may have been greeted by sign-waving teachers, advocating for themselves before their workdays began.

Through these pop-up rallies, nicknamed “visibility events,” teachers, staff members and board members in the Champlain Valley School District have been making a point the past two weeks to advocate and raise awareness for an April 16 budget looming for the district.

Its consequences could be critical for many staff members and the programs they help run within schools throughout Hinesburg, Charlotte, Shelburne and Williston, and for the overall education of students throughout the area.

“What we’re concerned about as employees is voting down the budget will just result in more reductions to positions and programs,” said Emily McLean, a teacher at the Champlain Valley Union High School, and the head of the Champlain Valley Education Association. “That is something that is connected to people — those positions and programs all are staffed by people.”

As the second budget vote looms, anxiety and uneasiness among the district staff is high. Drastic cuts have already been proposed for the newest budget after the first budget failed on town meeting day by more than 1,500 votes.

Some 42 full-time positions would be cut under the newest $101.8 million budget, including seven central administration positions, 15 student support paraprofessional positions, and three paraprofessional interventionist positions that were previously funded by federal grants.

Nearly 15 teaching positions will be cut throughout the five schools. At the high school, cuts will result in reduced classes and support in music, theater, French, Latin, business, library services and other programs.

“Hearing about the failure of the budget felt like a gut punch,” McLean said. “After having gotten through Covid together, feeling like we’re standing back on our feet ... it just feels as though now we’re taking two steps backwards after finally moving with some forward motion.”

If this budget fails, district administrators and school board members will have to go back to the drawing board. District officials have said a third budget may need an additional $500,000 cut, which would likely translate into more cuts to faculty.

“When we get to that point, within that $500,000, there will likely have to be structural change either within the district or at campus level,” Superintendent Rene Sanchez has said. “We would have to find different ways to be able to serve the kids at the same level without positions that could be paraprofessionals or teachers or even administrators.”

In the run up to April 16, dozens of teachers, staff members and board members have been out with signs urging the public to vote yes. School board members like Meghan Metzler and Cassandra Townshend have been out as well.

“I’ve asked board members to be at as many of them as they can,” Metzler said, adding that the school board was not coordinating the events but was in support of it.

Other board members like Keith Roberts have been posting budget information to online sites like Facebook to get people out to vote.

“My hope is that the focus remains on the forest here — that is supporting our schools, our faculty and staff, and our students by passing the budget now presented for a vote on April 16 that allows us to continue to provide a high-quality education to them,” Roberts said in a social media post.

“Of course, if that budget is not approved, we will return to the task of proposing one that will get approved,” he added. “I cannot indicate for certain what that would look like, but it is certain that it would reflect further reductions in expenditures which would have to come from further reductions in positions.”

More than a year and a half of work to craft a budget under Act 127 was tossed out of the window earlier this year when the Legislature decided to scrap a key part of the state’s education finance law and passed H.850, which changed an already complex formula.

The school district was considered one of the most disadvantaged school districts in the state under the formula. District officials had estimated a roughly 18 percent increase for member towns under that formula.

After H.850 passed, district officials opted not to make any changes and move forward with the budget they had warned prior to the law change. But that was ultimately voted down, with just over 5,000 votes cast against budget and 3,391 votes in favor on Town Meeting Day.

Many residents cited the dramatic tax hikes associated with the last budget. Under the current budget, Charlotte would see a 17 percent tax rate hike, Hinesburg would see an 18 percent hike, and Shelburne would see a 14 percent hike.

McLean, after the budget was voted down, said that they realized it “was important to work together with the employees, the administration, and the district to work in solidarity to let people know that the budget revote is happening and then to also encourage people to vote.”

There’s plenty of anxiety among teachers and staff in the schools, and a second budget failure would only further that anxiety.

“I think the employees of our district would really rather be focused on teaching and supporting students,” McLean said, “and not having to worry about their jobs.”