KESD Budget Not Approved

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Created on Monday, 18 March 2024 17:24

Written by Oscar Paredes

Around the NEK- Kingdom East School District's budget failed to pass on Town Meeting.

The initial request was for $49.2 million dollars, but it got rejected. The school board cut it down to $1.2 million dollars from its passed budget, and on April 9, people can revote on this budget by Australian ballot. The proposed budget for Town Meeting failed by a vote of 778 yes to 1,091 no. The cuts to the budget were one of the first moves made by the board while they also introduced new members on their meeting last Tuesday.

 "What we heard from voters is number one that they wanted to send a message to Montpelier, that they feel like the system is too complicated, it's hard to understand, there's constantly changes happening, there's uncertainty in tax rates, the cost of education continues to rise, and that while property values have increased, that raises taxes," stated Superintendent Sean McMannon. 

Sean also stated he wasn't sure if the budget was going to pass or not. Some people thought it was going to be a close result, but hoped it could pass. Most of the confusion that happened was due to Act 127 causing a lot of significant changes in education funds. The purpose of Act 127 is to fund education based on student needs. With the budget failing, it created a lot more work for the financial committee, coordinate additional meetings than already planned, and it would cost more money due to purchasing more ballots. 

Some board memebers from the different districts still have some concerns with the new proposed budget. Board member of Lunenburg, Jim Peyton, is concerned with the new amount proposed in the meeting and the increase of property taxes. Bill Mahoney, board member Sheffield, suggested to cut down the budget a little bit more. Towards the end of the meeting, everybody agreed on the new proposed budget. 

"Now the issue becomes if you don't have an approved budget by July 1st when the fiscal year changes, then you operate with your current year budget," stated McMannon. 

Prior to the voting happening on April 9th, an informational meeting will happen on April 3rd at 6 p.m.