| Ludlow Mount Holly School Board to Vote Tuesday on Budget On Tuesday the Ludlow Mount Holly School board will meet at 6 PM in the MH School and by Zoom to vote on a budget to be submitted to the voters in March. Residents are invited to share your opinions about what action the committee should take on the budget. Costs beyond the control of the school board will cause a substantial increase in spending. - Tuition for high school and middle school students will increase by $467K
- Special Education costs required by federal law will increase by $374K
- Health insurance costs mandated by the State will increase by $63K
- Salary increases to keep pace with inflation will increase costs by $91K
The impact of these factors is that spending will increase by 12%. Reducing spending below this level is not possible without dismissing current teachers and reducing the quality of education our students receive. In addition to the spending level, other factors will cause taxes to increase. - Revenue from the State will decrease by $360K because the number of students who qualify as low income has decreased
- The State determined that property values in MH increased by 17% this year, increasing our taxes by that amount
- Last year the district used a reserve fund of $498K to limit the increase in taxes. That reserve fund is no longer available.
If lawmakers in Montpelier do not change the school finance law, the net result of these factors will increase the estimated MH school tax rate from 1.678% in 2024 to about 2.018% in 2025 without any other significant increases or decreases in spending. At its meeting Tuesday, the school committee will consider two ideas: - Hire two more teachers, to enable each class to include only a single grade. Multi-grade classrooms make it more difficult to teach students at their level.
- Decide whether to use the current reserve fund of $182K to reduce taxes or to retain it for unanticipated emergencies.
The following table shows the estimated Mount Holly tax rate under four options and the additional taxes per $100K of valuation compared to the least expensive option #4. | Option | MH Est Tax Rate | Addl tax per $100K valuation | - Add the two teachers and keep the reserve fund for emergencies
| 2.057% | $77 | - Add the two teachers and use the reserve fund to reduce taxes
| 2.019% | $39 | - Do not add the teachers and keep the reserve fund for emergencies
| 2.018% | $38 | - Do not add the teachers and use the reserve fund to reduce taxes
| 1.980% | $0 | Residents are invited to attend the meeting Tuesday either in person at the MH School or by Zoom and express your opinion about these options or other issues. NOTE: This analysis is my own and has not been approved by the school board or administration.
David Martin
david@davidsmartin.net
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