A week after many Vermont school districts failed to meet a deadline for budget cutting proposals, Governor-Elect Peter Shumlin says he will not mandate the cuts to meet $23 million in savings.
Shumlin said Wednesday schools will get $23 million less from the state, but $19 million in federal stimulus money will be used to ensure that no school board has to make drastic cuts.
The 14 supervisory unions who did meet the cuts under the Challenges for Change law will have lower property tax rates than those who did not.
Martha Allen, president of the Vermont Chapter of the National Education Association, says the union is pleased that Shumlin is letting local voters and school boards decide what’s best for them and their students.