As budget development season approaches, I have been reflecting on what the school budget represents to the members of our ACSD community. Most importantly, our budget represents the mission and vision of the district, which reflect the values of our member towns and serves as the School Board’s commitment to uphold those values. Operationally, the budget is the financial pathway to achieving equitable educational outcomes, a critical strategic blueprint for our professional teams, who guide the learning of our 1,650 PreK-12 students. Currently, the budget also represents the primary economic driver of property tax rates, an important variable to control for the sake of affordable residency. Each of us likely views our school budget in a unique combination of these perspectives. Our development process needs to honor them all.

Last year’s budget development was characterized by two major themes. First, the budget was designed to be a bridge. It bridged the transitional year between superintendencies, the gap between ESSER funded resources and our new post-pandemic status quo, and it helped us enter the years where the School Board’s Strategic Plan will be implemented. The other major theme was Act 127, which diminished our district’s tax capacity, meaning the same level of staffing and services now costs our district more. This new law, and the ensuing legislative chaos, led to a historic number of budgets being voted down across Vermont.

It was heartening to be one of those districts who chose to pass a budget on Town Meeting Day. The ACSD community is proud of its schools. That pride is felt daily within our classrooms, which is good for our students and staff. Despite the community’s generosity in FY25, we recognize the harsh impact of Vermont’s education funding decisions on ACSD’s taxpayers and know the strategy in FY26 has to change course in response. A passed FY25 budget allowed us time to plan for that change properly, a luxury for which we are grateful and one not afforded to many districts across the state.

Although personnel and commercial costs continue to rise in every industry, we recognize that our communities do not have the capacity to absorb increased educational spending. To contend with rising costs of wages, healthcare benefits, and more, the district will need to determine a fair and effective strategy for considering our use of funds differently. Personnel costs represent nearly 85% of our school budget; the absorption of rising costs may mean reducing existing positions. These difficult actions are not unlike the hard decisions happening within homes across our community. We approach this challenging financial time with the same mindset.

As I’ve known it, Vermont has never been a state that desired to work at scale. Our farms, schools, hospitals, police and fire departments, libraries, and municipal government offices are small and community-focused. The Vermont Commission on the Future of Public Education will likely recommend changes to this perspective to bring financial capacity, equitable opportunity for student success, and all that we love most about our educational system into better balance as we approach the future. The Commission’s charge is to design a system that reassures Vermonters that the future and financial sustainability of public education in our state is bright and promising.

Our ACSD team is partnering with our local legislators in this work. The impact of these systemic discussions will not be operationalized until FY 27. As we await the results, we are preparing a more streamlined financial plan for the education of ACSD students in this next school year.

Together, I believe we can create a spending plan for FY 26 that protects and preserves the trust of our voters, advances the work of our strategic plan, and honors the values that have led to widespread and historic support of public education within our ACSD community. In that spirit, we invite your input as we develop the first draft of next year’s spending plan. It would help us to know the educational priorities we should hold in the highest regard, the constraints we should pay the greatest attention to, and the new work we should protect most carefully. We invite you to participate in two ways:

● On Oct. 22, at 6 p.m., we will host a community conversation and listening session to inform the first draft of our budget. This meeting will be held simultaneously in the MUHS library and at Bridport, Cornwall, Ripton, Salisbury, Shoreham, and Weybridge schools.

● If you can’t attend, you can still share your thoughts using an online survey at tinyurl.com/ACSDlistening or look for it on the front page of the ACSD website under “Latest News.” Please complete the survey by 9 p.m. on Oct. 22.

Thank you in advance for your partnership; we look forward to receiving your guidance.

Wendy Baker, Ed.D.

ACSD Superintendent

Middlebury