School Finance
FY 2026 School Budget Information
Recommended FY 2026 Budget and Ballot Language as Presented to the Rutland City Board of School Commissioners - January 14, 2025 - HERE
How does Vermont fund its schools? Watch a short video with Lola Duffort HERE.
Learn all about the budget process and how it works on Episode 4 of Learning Lounge: HERE
Here's a glossary of terms you might hear in Vermont related to school budgets and education finance:
The yield bill: The annual property tax legislation that lawmakers pass to pay for school spending that's been approved by local voters (usually at town meeting) that year.
The homestead tax: The tax that's applied to your primary home and surrounding land.
The non-homestead tax: The tax that's applied to all other types of property - including second homes, commercial facilities and rental buildings.
The education fund: The statewide pot of money that's used to pay for schools. It is separate from Vermont's general fund (although the general fund is occasionally used to supplement it) and represents about a fourth of all state spending. Homestead and non-homestead taxes provide about two-thirds of the education fund's revenues. The rest mostly comes from consumption taxes - most notably the sales tax - but lottery profits and Medicaid funds also contribute.
The CLA, or the common level of appraisal: Municipalities in Vermont all appraise their properties independently, and on different timelines. that's a problem if you have a statewide tax - people with outdated appraisals could pay more (or less) than their fair share. the CLA is the tax department's analysis of how over- or under-valued properties are in every town in Vermont. It's used to adjust homestead and non-homestead tax rates, so that the final tax rate applied in every town better reflects current market value.
FY 2025 School Budget Information
FY 2024 School Budget Information
FY 2024 Presentation to School Board, January 11, 2023. This presentation describes the proposed FY 2024 budget by category of expense and revenue: highlights cost driers, savings and grants; and outline uncertainties and their possible budget impact.