SB Nite Out
Title run
Popular music series kicks off next week
Wolves’ baseball team looks for eighth title
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South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
the JUNE 13, 2024
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Legislators sound off on education policy, new bills LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
In what has been an unprecedented year for school officials as aspects of the state’s education funding formula shifted — more than once — this budget season, legislators have been crafting possible solutions to fix a system that some lawmakers have called “overly complex” and “unacceptable.” “While we can mildly celebrate the fact that we’re not at 20, 18 or 16 (percent tax increases), it is so hard for a lot of folks,” Democrat Emilie Krasnow, South Burlington’s Chittenden-9 district, a member of the House Committee on General and Housing Canvassing, said. “Understanding our current formula for education is incredibly complex and confusing. Moving forward, I think that we need to completely
rework our education system to be modern to what we’re facing today. Our current system, to me, is unacceptable.” Tax increases have largely defined this year’s legislative session. With some property tax increases in neighboring towns around 15 percent, it has felt for many residents like a game of “whodunit.” Some demanding lower rates have pointed fingers at the Legislature and others at local school boards. Many blame the shift in the state’s educating funding formula this year known as Act 127, which adjusted the state’s equalized pupil weighting system. Act 127 sought to better equalize the cost to educate students who come from different schools and different backgrounds. See EDUCATION on page 12
VOLUME 48, NO. 24
Dairy queen
COURTESY PHOTO
Mina Smith of South Burlington, Miss Northern Vermont’s Teen, walks the Vermont Dairy Festival parade in Enosburg Falls on June 1 in support of dairy farmers and their families. This fall, Smith will be speaking at schools with emphasis on helping youth cope with family members and friends who struggle with alcohol use.
SB plans pop-up greenway from Elsom Parkway to school grounds HABIB SABET STAFF WRITER
The South Burlington City Council last week approved a plan
to create a temporary “neighborhood greenway” from the Elsom Parkway neighborhood to the middle and high schools, providing a new, safe route for children to
walk and bike to school. According to a proposal presented to city councilors, the pilot project for the greenway would lead from the intersection
of U.S. Route 2 and Elsom Parkway through the Proudy Parkway and O’Brien Drive neighborhoods to the school grounds. The path would include several provision-
al infrastructural changes including signs, temporary chalk paint, See GREENWAY on page 9
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