Oxbow, VT: Declining enrollment, increase in SPED; possible tax increase
- Apr 24
- 2 min read
BRADFORD, Vt. — At Tuesday’s annual meeting, voters in the Oxbow Unified Union School District will face a budget bearing a substantial spending increase and an even larger tax increase.
Driven mainly by higher wages in new faculty and staff contracts and higher costs for special education, the proposed budget of $23.3 million is nearly 8.3% higher than the current year’s spending.
The amount to be raised by taxes is up by about 9%, from a little under $16.4 million to a little under $17.9 million.
The projected tax impact makes this budget year perhaps the most difficult of board Chairwoman Danielle Corti’s 17-year stint in school governance.
“We grappled with cutting more,” Corti, a Newbury resident, said in a phone interview. “If you do that, to the detriment of the students, it’s really damaging.” The board reduced capital expenses, in favor of looking at the district’s capital needs more broadly and planning a bond issue, perhaps as soon as next year, Corti said. . . .
Vermont bases education tax rates on per pupil spending, and the Oxbow district’s weighted pupil count is projected to decline next year by around 80 students. A lower student count drives up the per pupil cost.
Both Bradford and Newbury are projected to see a decline in their common level of appraisal, or CLA. That’s a measurement of how close a community’s property assessments are to fair market value. Both towns will see a drop from around 90% to around 80%, which also has the effect of raising the projected tax rate.
The homestead tax rate is projected to rise by 40 cents per $100 of assessed value in Bradford, an increase of nearly 23%, and by 44 cents in Newbury, an increase of 26%.
That would add about $1,000 to the tax bill on a $250,000 home in Bradford, and about $1,100 to a $250,000 home in Newbury. In Vermont, resident households earning $115,000 or less pay homestead taxes based on their income. . . .
“I’ve talked to people who are generally steadfast education supporters and they asked ‘What happens if we reduce (the budget) from the floor?’ ” Corti said. “It’s pretty nerve-wracking.” . . .
The increase in special education, of around $477,000, is attributable to having more students on individualized education programs, or IEPs. The district also is receiving less Medicaid reimbursement, Corti said. Since public schools are mandated to provide special education services, sometimes the district has to hire outside contractors for such services as speech and occupational therapy, often at greater expense, because it can’t fill jobs in those areas.
The budget also includes opening a full-day preschool program in Newbury, to replace a private preschool that closed in Bradford. . . .
Comments