VOTE ON MAY 7th
April 23, 2024
Tuesday, May 7th is the budget revote for South Burlington School District. Below is everything you need to know before you vote. This budget is $68,082,002 with new tax rate increase of 9.55% (down from 14.5% on April 4th).
Budget Public Hearing-May 1
At the Wednesday, May 1st South Burlington School Board meeting, there will be a public hearing on the budget. You can attend in person or join via Zoom. (Zoom link will be found here on April 26) The meeting begins at 6 pm.
Where can I vote?
What is the budget?
The third budget proposal is $68,082,002 with a resulting tax rate increase of 9.55%.
WHERE ARE FY25 INCREMENTAL EXPENSES VS FY24?
What are SBSD’s goals with this budget?
Bolster academic rigor
important school safety enhancements
Provide structured literacy programming
Reduce tax impact based on previously failed votes and community feedback
What reductions were made from the budget since the April 4th votes?
Allocate the full FY23 surplus as revenue
Allocate the full FY22 surplus as revenue
Eliminate the $1.1m in capital reserve fund
Reduce PK-12 Special Education Coordinator (District)
Reduce 1 additional Information Technology Educators (ITE, District) There was 1 reduced for the April 4th vote.
Reduce 1 Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA, District)
What does FTE mean and what was cut?
FTE or Full-time equivalent, is a unit of measurement to determine the number of full-time hours worked by all employees in the business. According to their contract, teachers at SBSD work 37.5 hours per week and are considered full-time or a 1.0 FTE. If a position is assigned to 0.8, this position would work 30 hours per week. Administration and central office staff are considered full-time at 40 hours per week.
How are decisions around what to eliminate or reduce made?
Beginning in October, quantitative and qualitative student assessment results are evaluated to understand what student needs tell us are appropriate supports for programming and staffing. We review this information as a full admin team, then principals and APs work with school leadership teams to get input linked to our Continuous Improvement Process (CIP). This data informs our school and District Continuous Plans, and informs our professional development plans aimed at improving student outcomes. All staff is a part of their school’s CIP process. Our CIP goals can be found here, which inform budgeting decisions, based on student data. This alignment is intentional and important. Our CIP aligns with our ENDS Policy.
Budgets and budget reductions are based on student data and in policy; Equity Policy, Curriculum Policy, and laws such as Act 173. We also take into account funding sources, parent/staff/community feedback, such as from our Equity Budgeting Survey, and Board feedback. Before budgets are brought to the Board, our admin team (Principals, Assistant Principals, Athletic Director, Director of Finance and Operations, Special Ed. Director, Curriculum Director, Equity Director, Literacy Coordinator, Superintendent) prioritize reductions, RIFs and model changes.
What athletic teams at SBSD have been/will be impacted?
ALL ACTIVITIES & ATHLETICS ARE SUBJECT TO REDUCTION or ELIMINATION. ALL 6-12 co-curricular coaches and club advisors will be sent RIF notices on or before April 30.
Further incremental reductions will be made based on enrollment, accessibility, how unique is the co-curricular or activity and is it designed to serve an underserved or academically underperforming population.
What other positions at SBSD are impacted?
The following positions all received Reduction in Force (RIF) notices. These notifications must be provided to teachers by the district on a specific date according to their contract. Seniority and licensure play a part in determining who will and will not receive a RIF notice. Just because someone has received a RIF notice does not mean their job is lost.
SBHS
Art 0.4
Big Picture 2.0
Computer Science Teacher 0.2
English Teacher 1.4
Grade Level Lead Advisors 0.8
Information Technology Educator
(ITE) 1.0
Library/Media Specialist 0.2
Mathematics Coaching 0.6
Mathematics Teacher 1.0
Physical Education Teacher 0.6
Science Teacher 2.0
Social Studies Teacher 1.4
Special Education Teacher 1.0
World Languages-Japanese .08
World Languages-German 1.0
FHTMS
English/Language Arts Teacher 1.0
Health Education Teacher 1.0
Information Technology Educator (ITE) 1.0
Instructional Coach 1.0
Mathematics Teacher 1.0
Music Teacher 0.4
School Nurse 0.8
Science Teacher 1.0
Social Studies Teacher 1.0
RMCS
Health Education Teacher 0.5
Instructional Coach 1.0
Information Technology Educator (ITE) 0.33
Chamberlin
Health Education Teacher 0.2
Instructional Coach 1.0
Information Technology Educator (ITE) 0.33
Special Education Teacher 1.0
Orchard
Health Education Teacher 0.5
Instructional Coach 1.0
Information Technology Educator
(ITE) 0.34
All Elementary Schools
Elementary Classroom Teachers 9.0
District
District Nurse 0.2
PBIS 0.2
K-8 Coordinator, Special Education 1.0
Curriculum Coordinator for
Literacy 1.0
What specific impacts will the schools see?
The South Burlington Educators Association (SBEA) has put together a specific list of classes and programming that could be cut if the budget does not pass by July 1st. You can view that here.
What will be the impact of not funding the capital reserve?
The short-term impact will be a higher homestead tax rate increase. The long-term impact is that we will need to go out to larger bond amounts for future MS and HS renovations or builds. We also are awaiting the results of PCB testing and we have an insufficient reserve to address relocation or major remediation. We will need to put off the kitchen project and windows project at the HS. We had hoped to use FY24 bond money for these, but costs have gone way up. We have reduced school safety improvements.
What about support staff?
Support staff has June 1 contract deadline and would need to receive RIF notices by May 15th.
What information is available on current curriculum and student performance?
How can I better understand Vermont’s school funding system?
Vermont has a statewide school funding system which is impacted by all school spending across the state. The 30 failed budgets (from Town Meeting Day votes) across Vermont were reworked and lowered, in addition to those that were postponed and revised. Those changes have impacted SBSD’s property tax rate.
Here are additional resources from the state:
More information about the budget can be found at sbschools.net/budgetfy25.
Please vote on Tuesday, May 7th!
