WOODSTOCK — In its rush to adjournment on Friday, the Vermont Legislature removed an obstacle to the construction of a new middle and high school for the Mountain Views School District.
The cost of capital improvements will be exempted, or “decoupled,” from the excess spending threshold in the state’s education funding formula for all projects approved before July 1, 2026, state Rep. Charlie Kimbell said in a phone interview.
But that does not mean all obstacles are removed for the project, which Mountain Views officials would like to get underway as soon as possible.
“This is good news, in terms of decoupling,” Kimbell said, “but it’s not a slam dunk in terms of making that state aid available.”
Voters in the Mountain Views district, which comprises the towns of Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Plymouth, Pomfret, Reading and Woodstock, approved construction of a new $112 million middle and high school in March.
That vote was contingent on the district raising 25% of the cost through federal and state aid and private donations, and on the Legislature addressing the excess spending threshold. Spending above the threshold, currently 118% of statewide average per pupil cost, is taxed double, and presents a stiff penalty to property taxpayers.
Whether the Woodstock project would be exempted was up in the air last week and the district put out a call to lobby lawmakers.
But even with the spending threshold addressed, there is no guarantee that the state aid will come through in a timely way, or how much aid the project might receive.
The state Agency of Education is charged with writing new rules for school construction aid, which has been paused since 2007. But the deadline for those rules is March 1, 2028, Kimbell said.
In the meantime, the Legislature has not yet allocated money for state construction aid, he said.
“The money is not available and the rules aren’t written yet for the project to be eligible,” said Kimbell, a Woodstock Democrat who sits on the House’s tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and was a member of the House and Senate conference committee that hammered out the education spending bill as the session wound down last week. Lawmakers adjourned on Friday.
The state is estimated to have at least $6.2 billion in deferred school maintenance and construction, and with a new bill awaiting Gov. Phil Scott’s signature that calls for school consolidation, construction projects will have to meet a stricter set of state criteria.
“The AOE is going to be in charge of developing the rules that determine which schools jump to the top of the list,” Kimbell said.
The three main criteria are whether a project facilitates the goal of consolidating schools, includes necessary health and safety improvements and provides better facilities for the quality of education, Kimbell said.
Mountain Views officials said the middle and high school project couldn’t wait for the state to work out its consolidation issues. The building dates to the late 1950s and is at the end of its functional life.
But taking a concrete step toward school construction — a bond vote — in a period of statewide uncertainty carried a risk, Kimbell said.
Mountain Views officials were meeting with AOE officials on Monday, and had a board meeting planned for Monday night.
Every step along the road to education reform has resulted in new contingencies that policymakers will have to address, and that leave the public wondering what the future will look like for education. Certainty seems no closer now.
“There’s going to be a lot of discussion,” Kimbell said.
