NCSU continues opposition to Act 46

copyright the Chronicle September 6, 2017

 

by Joseph Gresser

 

NEWPORT — After attending a Vermont Superintendents Association meeting on August 30, John Castle, who oversees the North Country Supervisory Union, took off for the woods. He said Monday that he wanted to take time to get away from it all. “All” definitely includes Act 46, he said.

Mr. Castle said state officials, including Governor Phil Scott, Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe, and the heads of the House and Senate education committees took part in the Superintendents Association meeting. Representative Dave Sharpe of Bristol, who chairs the House Committee on Education, predicted a six- to ten-cent increase in the education property tax rate next year, but Mr. Castle said most of those present appeared pleased by how Act 46 has worked so far.

The law, which presses local school districts to combine into much larger ones, has been on the minds of many superintendents over the past couple of years. That pressure includes the offer of tax reductions for districts that vote early to merge.

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