Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Here's an extraordinary fact: Vermont's public school students benefit from a lower ratio of full-time faculty and staff to students than that of the median independent (private) school. The National Association of Independent Schools' 2015-16 annual survey of 1,438 day school members reveals a median student to full time faculty and staff ratio of 5.1 to 1. In Vermont's public schools, that number is 4 to 1.
As a product of public schools, I'm proud of the substantial investment that our state makes in K-12 education. But as someone concerned about the danger that sky-high taxes pose for Vermont's future, I can't avoid pondering the question: How much is enough?
So what's the problem with our being up there with Connecticut, near the top of U.S. per-pupil expenditures every year?
Simply put, we're not as rich as they are, but we spend as if we were. Connecticut's median household income in 2015 was $71,346. Compare that with Vermont's $56,990, and you can see the rub.
RE: “Still waiting, moving on, still more to do,” Aug. 29: Thanks for this informative article. As a Rockingham taxpayer whose taxes went up 17 percent this past year, I've been told that the cost of the Bartonsville Bridge plus the library renovations plus the school renovations guarantee years...
