No. 60. An Act Relating to Equal Educational Opportunity

Legislation

By: State of Vermont Legislature

Date: June 26, 1997

Source: State of Vermont Legislature. "No. 60. An Act Relating to Equal Educational Opportunity." June 26, 1997. <http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/1998/acts/ ACT060.HTM>

About the Author: Act 60 was written and passed by the state of Vermont legislature, a bicameral body serving Vermont since it became a state in 1791. The legislature crafted and passed Act 60 after the state Supreme Court decision,Brigham v. State of Vermont, found the state's local property tax funding program for public schools was unconstitutional.

INTRODUCTION

Unlike many western European nations, funding and curriculum for public schools in the United States is controlled by local districts, not by the federal government. There is no single funding standard nationwide for public schools, just as there is no single national curriculum applied equally throughout the U.S. in all districts. In the United States in the mid–1990s federal funding provided just eight percent of all funds for public schools. In countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, federal governments provide more than fifty percent of all public school dollars. Overall, most school districts in the U.S. receive funding from local property taxes, with additional funds from state and federal governments.

Property tax values set the basis for school funding; a portion of property taxes in most states goes to the local school district. If the average property value per pupil in a school district is $80,000 vs. $40,000, then the average tax rate must be increased for the lower property value district in order to raise the same amount of money as is raised in the more affluent district. Raising $8,000 per pupil, for example, would take double the tax rate for the less affluent district, placing a greater financial strain on a population least able to afford the extra taxes.

This funding situation in the U.S. has created social tension in school districts with a high percentage of retirees on fixed incomes, who might own homes outright but be unable to afford high property taxes. In states such as Ohio, voters routinely rejected levies for schools and libraries throughout the 1980s— more than seventy percent of all homeowners in certain districts were retirees. The California Supreme Court, in the 1971 case Serrano v. Priest, determined that local property tax funding of schools violated the state's equal protection clause. In his 1991 book Savage Inequalities, author Jonathan Kozol documented enormous disparities between poor and rich towns in the quality of education and the services offered. The book was an indictment of local funding of public schools, and it inspired some politicians and school administrators to change the system. By 1997, state Supreme Courts had issued similar rulings in nineteen states, and public school funding was radically altered to redistribute funds more equitably.

Vermont's 1997 Equal Educational Opportunity Act sparked outrage in wealthy communities, since the act mandated taking funds from all communities and redistributing the money. Homeowners in high-performing school districts with higher property values argued that the act would strip control of schools from local officials and parents, while towns with lower property tax bases argued that the current system created huge inequalities in education for all students.

PRIMARY SOURCE

PART II: FINANCING EDUCATION: BASIC EDUCATION FUNDING

Sec. 18. 16 V.S.A. chapter 133 is added to read:

CHAPTER 133. STATE AND LOCAL FUNDING OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

Subchapter 1. General Provisions

§ 4000. STATEMENT OF POLICY

1. The intent of this chapter is to make educational opportunity available to each pupil in each town on substantially equal terms, in accordance with the Vermont Constitution and the Vermont supreme court decision of February 5, 1997, Brigham v. State of Vermont.
2. Substantially equal access to similar revenues per pupil will be provided by a combination of state block grants and local education spending. This local education spending will be substantially equalized so that each school district will have substantially equal capacity to raise and provide the same amount per pupil on the local tax base.

§ 4001. DEFINITIONS

For the purpose of this chapter:

1. "Average daily membership" of a school district in any year means:
   1. the full-time equivalent enrollment of pupils, as defined by the state board by rule, who are legal residents of the district attending a school owned and operated by the district, attending a public school outside the district under an interdistrict agreement, or for whom the district pays union school assessment or tuition to one or more approved independent schools or public schools outside the district during the annual census period. The census period consists of the first 40 days of the school year in which school is actually in session; and
   2. the full-time equivalent enrollment in the year between the end of the last census period and the end of the current census period, of any state-placed students as defined in subdivision 11(a)(28) of this title. The full-time equivalent enrollment of state-placed students attending a union school shall be divided among the member districts in the same proportions that the members divide assessment. A school district which provides for the education of its students by paying tuition to an approved independent school or public school outside the district shall not count a state-placed student for whom it is paying tuition for purposes of determining average daily membership. A school district which is receiving the full amount, as defined by the state board by rule, of the student's education costs under subsection 2950(a) of this title, shall not count the student for purposes of determining average daily membership. A state-placed student who is counted in average daily membership shall be counted as a student for the purposes of determining weighted student count.
2. "Equalized grand list" has the same meaning that equalized education property tax grand list has in chapter 135 of Title 32.
3. "Equalized pupils" means the long-term weighted average daily membership multiplied by the ratio of the statewide long-term average daily membership to the statewide long-term weighted average daily membership.
4. "Equalized yield amount" means the amount per equalized pupil for local education spending above the general state support grant, per percent applied to the education property tax liability under section 5402 of Title 32.
5. "General state support grant" means the per pupil aid grant distributed undersection 4011 of this title.
6. "Local education spending" means the amount of the school budget which is paid for from the general state support grant and from local share property tax revenues. Local education spending does not include any portion of the school budget paid for by any other sources such as endowments, parental fund raising, federal funds, nongovernmental grants or other state funds such as special education funds paid under chapter 101 of this title.
7. "Long-term membership" of a school district in any school year means the mean average of the district's average daily membership, excluding full-time equivalent enrollment of state-placed students, over two school years, plus full-time equivalent enrollment of state-placed students for the most recent of the two years.
8. "Poverty ratio" means the number of persons in the school district who are aged six through 17 and who are from economically deprived backgrounds, divided by the long-term membership of the school district. A person from an economically deprived background means a person who resides with a family unit receiving Food Stamps. A person who does not reside with a family unit receiving Food Stamps but for whom English is not the primary language shall also be counted in the numerator of the ratio. The commissioner shall use a method of measuring the Food Stamp population which produces data reasonably representative of long-term trends. Persons for whom English is not the primary language shall be identified pursuant to subsection 4010(e) of this title.
9. "Public school" means an elementary school or secondary school for which the governing board is publicly elected. A public school may maintain evening or summer school for its pupils and it shall be considered a public school.
10. "School district" means a town school district, city school district, incorporated school district, interstate school district, joint contract school district, the member towns of a unified union district or an unorganized town or gore.
11. "School year" means a year beginning on July 1 and ending on the following June 30.
12. "Weighted long-term membership" of a school district in any school year means the long-term membership adjusted pursuant to section 4010 of this title.

§ 4002. PAYMENT; ALLOCATION

1. State and federal funds appropriated for services delivered by the supervisory union and payable through the department of education shall be paid to the order of the supervisory union and administered in accordance with the plan adopted under subdivision 261a(4) of this title. Funding for special education services under section 2969 of this title shall be paid to the districts in accordance with that section.
2. The commissioner shall notify the superintendent or chief executive officer of each supervisory union in writing of federal or state funds disbursed to member school districts.

§ 4003. CONDITIONS

1. No school district shall receive any aid under this chapter unless that school district complies with the provisions of law relative to teachers' salaries, appointment of superintendents, detailed financial reports to the state department of education, and any other requirements of law.
2. Aid to any district shall not be denied unless such district unreasonably refuses to comply with such requirements of law. Any school district denied aid by reason of the provisions of this section shall have the right within 60 days from the date of such denial to appeal to the superior court in the county where such district is situated.

Subchapter 2. General State Support of Public Education § 4010. DETERMINATION OF WEIGHTED MEMBERSHIP

1. On or before the first day of December during each school year, the commissioner shall determine the average daily membership of each school district for the current school year. The determination shall list separately:
   1. resident pupils being provided elementary education; and
   2. resident pupils being provided secondary education.
2. The commissioner shall determine the long-term membership for each school district for each student group described in subsection (a) of this section. The commissioner shall use the actual average daily membership over two consecutive years, the latter of which is the current school year.

3. The commissioner shall determine the weighted long-term membership for each school district using the long-term membership from subsection (b) of this section and the following weights for each class:

   Grade Level Weight

   Elementary 1.0

   Secondary 1.25

4. The weighted long-term membership calculated under subsection (c) of this section shall be increased for each school district to compensate for additional costs imposed by students from economically deprived backgrounds. The adjustment shall be equal to the total from subsection (c), multiplied by 25 percent, and further multiplied by the poverty ratio of the district.
5. The weighted long-term membership calculated under subsection (c) of this section shall be further increased by 0.2 for each pupil in average daily membership for whom English is not the pupil's primary language. The state board of education shall adopt rules which will enable clear and consistent identification of pupils to be counted under this subsection.

§ 4011. GENERAL STATE SUPPORT GRANTS

1. Annually, the general assembly shall appropriate funds to pay for a general state support grant for each equalized pupil.
2. Annually, each school district shall receive a general state support grant for support of basic education costs. Funds distributed under this section shall be allocated on the basis of the equalized pupils in each school district.
3. If a school district provides for the education of its students by paying tuition, the district shall receive the lesser of the tuition paid or the general state support grant amount.
4. Funds received under this section which are attributable to an increase in student count due to the poverty ratio of the district shall be used by the district to provide learning readiness experiences for preschool age children or early reading and math experiences for school age children. These services shall be provided to children who are at risk of not succeeding in the general education environment. School districts are authorized to work collaboratively to share resources or otherwise find ways to maximize use of funds received under this section.

§ 4012. STATE-PLACED STUDENTS

A district which provides for the education of its students by paying tuition to an approved independent school or a public school outside the district, shall receive from the commissioner an amount equal to the calculated net cost per pupil in the receiving school, as defined in section 825 of this title, prorated for the percentage of annual tuition billed for a state-placed student. If the calculated net cost per pupil in a receiving independent school or school located outside Vermont is not available, the commissioner shall pay the tuition charged. A district shall not receive funds under this section if all the student's education costs are fully paid under subsection 2950(a) of this title.

Subchapter 3. Local Funding of Education

§ 4025. EDUCATION FUND

1. An education fund is established to be comprised of the following:
   1. All revenue paid to the state from the education property tax under chapter 135 of Title 32.
   2. Local share property tax revenues from those school districts which adopt budgets with local education spending in excess of the general state support grant and which are able to raise more than the equalized yield amount.
   3. General funds appropriated by the general assembly.
   4. Revenues from state lotteries under chapter 14 of Title 31.
2. Moneys in the education fund shall be paid to school districts for the support of education in accordance with the provisions of section 4028 of this title, other provisions of this chapter, and the provisions of chapter 135 of Title 32. The state treasurer shall withdraw funds from the education fund upon warrants issued by the commissioner of finance and management based on information supplied by the commissioner of taxes. The commissioner of finance and management may draw warrants for disbursements from the fund in anticipation of receipts. All balances in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall be carried forward and remain a part of the fund. Interest accruing from the fund shall remain in the fund.
3. An equalization and reappraisal account is established within the education fund. Moneys from this account are to be used by the division of property valuation and review for staff, equipment, lister training and administration of the equalization studies pursuant to section 5405 of Title 32, and to assist towns with maintenance or reappraisal on a case-by-case basis; and for reappraisal payments pursuant to section 4041a of Title 32, and equalization studies pursuant to section 5405 of Title 32 and for reappraisal payments pursuant to section 4041a of Title 32.
4. Upon withdrawal of funds from the education fund for any purpose other than those authorized by this section, chapter 135 of Title 32 (education property tax) is repealed.

SIGNIFICANCE

Act 60 generated a bitter response from opponents such as bestselling fiction author and Dorset, Vermont, resident John Irving, who called the act "Marxism" and later stated that he would stop discussing the issue in the media because "I don't want to make my child a target of trailer-park envy." Irving's comments generated publicity and ire as national newspapers such as theWall Street Journalcovered what they termed a "class war" in Vermont. Then-Governor Howard Dean supported Act 60, though the final solution—a $1.10 tax on every $1,000 of assessed property value, plus the option to raise more as outlined above—left both sides uneasy.

Act 60 took money from approximately sixty wealthier towns, such as Stowe and Manchester, as well as money from 211 additional towns, and placed the taxes into one pool. Each district received a determined spending threshold ($5,300 in 2003) and towns that wished to spend more than this amount could raise the money by raising property taxes—but were required to set aside sixty to seventy percent of the proceeds to be shared with the 211 "receiver" towns. Families who chose to spend more to live in wealthier districts with higher property values, costs, and taxes disagreed vehemently with Act 60, arguing that it unfairly penalized them for making financial choices based on school quality, while forcing wealthier districts to support families in other towns.

A 2001 report examining the impact of Act 60, issued by The Rural School and Community Trust, found that just three years into Act 60's application, academic standards were improving for all students— though students in wealthier communities performed better on achievement scores—and that achievement was directly linked to spending per pupil.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. New York: Harper Perennial, 1992.

Mondale, Sarah. School: The Story of American Public Education. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002.

Pulliam, John D., and James J. Van Patten. History of Education in America. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002.

Web sites

The Rural School and Community Trust. "Vermont's 'Act 60' Has Improved Education Equity, New Report Finds." February 20, 2001. <http://files.ruraledu.org/docs/vtequity/vt_equity_press.html> (accessed May 31, 2006).

Vermont Department of Education. "Laws and Regulations: Act 60-The Equal Educational Opportunity Act." <http://www.state.vt.us/educ/new/html/laws/act60.htm l> (accessed May 31, 2006).