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Burlington voters will decide on a new school budget in about six weeks. This year's budget includes a 5% increase over last year, which will translate into about a 1-cent increase on the tax rate. Superintendent Lyman Amsden says he has tried to control costs, by cutting some administrative expenditures, but he told the city council he could not cut the budget any further. Voters will decide on the school budget on town meeting day. They will also decide on whether or not they want to institute a new tax in the city. That money would used to expand and upgrade the Burlington fire and police departments. The new tax would raise the property tax rate by an additional 5-cents. City officials say the move is necessary to keep up with increased demand for public safety services.

Burlington School District voters will see a proposed double-digit tax-rate increase on Town Meeting Day for the third time in four years. Lyman Amsden, the district's first-year superintendent, said he hoped to keep the increase below 1 cent per $100 of assessed value. The 2002-03 budget proposal approved Tuesday night by the School Board includes a tax-rate increase of 10 cents. A property owner whose home is assessed at $150,000 would pay an additional $150 in school taxes. Amsden said many Burlington taxpayers qualify for a tax break under the income-sensitivity provisions of Act 60, the state's education-financing law. Amsden said Burlington estimates its property grand list at $16 million, but the state estimates it at $19 million. He said the district had to tack on an extra 9 cents to the proposed tax rate to make up the difference.

Burlington was among dozen school budgets to go down. Burlington voters rejected a proposed $30.3 million school budget for the 2002-03 school year, making this the third straight year city residents turned down the school budget on Town Meeting Day. At least another dozen school budgets were defeated at town meetings, including Milton's almost $16 million proposal. ... Burlington and Milton were the only two Chittenden County communities to reject their budgets. Voters in Winooski, who passed a budget on the fifth try last year, approved the district's $6.6 million proposal on the first try Tuesday. ... The Burlington budget lost by only 24 votes.... School and town officials had predicted that many more budgets would fall to defeat because of the large increases in school tax rates facing communities. Some of the increases stemmed from increased school spending, but many were caused by Act 60, the state's system of financing schools.

Residents are weighing in on the school budget. Burlington School Board members and city residents debated Tuesday night whether voters should consider the same budget or a smaller one than the $30.3 million proposal rejected by 16 votes this month. Most in the crowd of 30 at Burlington High School who spoke at the public hearing asked the board to put the same budget before voters. The budget would raise taxes almost 10 cents per $100 of assessed value and expenses by about 5 percent. Some supporters wonder what message a second vote would send. ... "I think teachers ought to be looking at themselves as public servants," Senesac said. "I believe in paying them fairly, but I look at some of the salaries and I'm not sure if they're fair." Superintendent Lyman Amsden said Burlington's salaries are not high. "By Chittenden County standards, we're third from the bottom," he said.

Burlington's latest school budget proposal is the same as a $30.3 million spending request narrowly rejected by voters last month, but the projected tax rate increase is lower. Cost-cutting over the winter means that if voters approve the budget May 14, the city's school tax rate would increase by 8.8 cents per $100 of assessed value, Superintendent Lyman Amsden said. Before the March vote, city residents were told the tax rate would rise by 10 cents. The owner of a $150,000 Burlington home would face a $132 property tax increase if the budget is approved in May. Had the budget been approved under the proposal in March, the tax increase would have been $150. The savings from this year's spending cuts will leave the school district with a surplus, which would roll over into next year and slightly reduce the tax rate.

Burlington is one of 22 Vermont cities and towns where school budgets were defeated on Town Meeting Day last month. The school board in Vermont's largest city has decided to bring back the same budget for a second try. On March 5th, a ten-cent school tax increase failed by a narrow margin -- just 24 votes. That same night, the school board finance committee indicated that it would seek a second vote, and by this week settled on the same budget, without any cuts. But the board found a way to shave a little more than a penny from the tax item by using unspent money. ... Avoiding cuts in school programs but coming back with a lesser tax hike begs the question, why didn't the schools ask for the smaller tax in the first place? Krumholtz says no one could predict at the time how much money would be available that went unspent. "Another complication of school budgeting," she says, "is that everything is a moving target. In January we didn't know that February and March were going to be warm months.

Labor talks between Burlington teachers and the School Board Labor talks between Burlington teachers and the School Board remain stuck on issues of pay and benefits. The two sides met with a federal mediator Wednesday and received the recommendations of fact-finding report Aug. 19. ... The report by fact finder Lawrence Katz became public this week. Among its conclusions:

1. Katz recommends that base pay increase to $29,500 in the first year of the contract and go to at least $30,500 in the second year of the contract. Teachers want an increase to $30,000 in the first year.
2. Teachers want to remove contract language that says their four personal days may not be used for "vacation purposes." The board wants to keep that language and reduce personal days to three. Katz recommended no changes to the policy.
3. Teachers want a one-year contract; the board proposed two. Katz sided with the board.
4. Teachers propose eight stipends to add to their regular salaries, including $2,000 yearly for teachers who earn national certification; $2,000 yearly for national technology certification; $2,000 yearly for mentor teachers. The board agrees to compensation for national certification only. Katz agreed with the board.

The Burlington teachers contract negotiations are heading to a showdown. The School Board on Tuesday night offered teachers a 4 percent salary increase in each year of a two- or three-year contract. The district had been offering raises closer to 3 percent. Terry Buehner, president of the Burlington Education Association, said the union is still seeking raises in the 5 to 6 percent range, similar to those recently given to teachers in the neighboring Winooski and Colchester school districts. Buehner said Tuesday that teachers plan to meet Sept. 18 and Sept. 30, and are likely to set a strike date at one of those meetings. ... Joe McNeil, lawyer for the School Board, called the new offer "meritorious," especially in light of troubles the city has had in passing school budgets in recent years. Teachers have noted that Burlington's average salary is in the lower half for Chittenden County schools, but McNeil noted that the city's median income of slightly more than $23,000 a year is below all communities in the county except Winooski.

The Burlington School Board and the city's teachers agreed to a four-year contract Tuesday that both sides say will lend stability to a school district torn by labor and budget problems in recent years. The agreement gives teachers annual raises of between 4 percent and 5.9 percent and gradually increases the amount teachers will contribute to their health plans. The deal also staves off a potential walkout -- teachers had planned to vote on a strike date as early as today. ... Teachers had been working without a deal for more than three weeks. The union wanted raises close to the 5 to 6 percent annual increases given recently to teachers in neighboring districts. The School Board wanted to keep the raises closer to 3 or 4 percent. ... Ten of the 11 School Board members in attendance voted in favor of the contract, with Michael McGarghan of Ward 7 casting the only no vote. Buehner said 98 percent of the union's almost 300 members approved the deal.

Burlington school Superintendent Lyman Amsden began his presentation to the School Board about the proposed 2003-04 budget with a dire warming. "This is a budget that will not please anyone," he told the board Tuesday night. His proposed plan for the next school year would raise expenses from just over $30 million to more than $31.5 million, an increase of almost 5 percent. The proposal would cut seven teaching positions and all middle-school extracurricular activities. Amsden said health insurance costs are due to rise 19 percent and costs for worker's compensation and liability insurance also are climbing. ... Amsden said six of the seven teaching cuts are in elementary schools. Two of those jobs will be covered by federal rather than local money. Four jobs -- two at Flynn Elementary School and one each at Smith and Wheeler elementary schools -- will be lost because of a dip in enrollment, Amsden said.

John Barrows, a former school board member, ...took issue with Amsden's suggestion that Act 60 is responsible for most of the prospective school tax hike. He said the school budget ... accounts for roughly half of the 21 cents. Criticism over the teachers' contract stems from the agreement last fall, which averted a possible strike. Critics called the pact too generous and suggested that the pay raises might have kicked off a bidding war with other Chittenden county school districts which have struggled over teachers contracts. Amsden said several factors contributed to the escalating expenses, including the teachers contract. He pointed to soaring insurance rates -- liability coverage up 125%, Burlington's premium for workmen's compensation up 85% and Blue Cross health insurance up 19%. To make matters worse, Amsden said growing numbers of school department employees' spouses are signing up for the district's health coverage. Click here to read more.

Rising property values in Vermont could have a severe impact on school taxes, especially in the so-called gold towns that must share their wealth under the Act 60 school funding system. That impact hit like a brick in Burlington Friday as school officials learned for the first time just how high their taxes are headed. ... Under Act 60 the city is required to share more of that wealth. Last year Burlington contributed $1.7 million to the Act 60 sharing pool. ... Under last year's common level of appraisal (which was set at 83.43) Amsden says a tax rate increase of just under three-and-a-half cents would have raised enough extra money to cover next year's school budget. But with the new common level of appraisal (set at 75.46) he says the city will need a tax increase of 20.9 cents to cover the same budget. ... Barrows took issue with Amsden's suggestion that Act 60 is responsible for most of the prospective school tax hike. He said the school budget accounts for roughly half of the 21 cents. Click here to read more.

Voters look at 21-cent tax hike By Brent Hallenbeck Free Press Staff Writer Burlington voters could be looking at a 21-cent tax increase for schools in March, a larger rise than any of the increases voters have rejected in recent years. The School Board will have to ask voters to approve that increase or find ways to reduce the 2003-04 budget proposal before putting a spending plan before voters March 4. "There aren't a lot of easy cuts," school Superintendent Lyman Amsden said. He has presented the School Board with a $31.5 million proposal that is up almost 5 percent from the $30 million budget. School leaders blame the projected tax increase primarily on Act 60, the state's education-financing law. The law, which tries to spread school money more evenly around the state, includes a provision called the Common Level of Appraisal that strives to equalize property assessments statewide. Communities enjoying a thriving real-estate market, such as Burlington, generally see their tax rates rise as a result of the CLA. Burlington voters initially rejected proposed tax-rate increases of 14 cents in 2000, 9 cents in 2001 and 10 cents this year. Voters narrowly approved an increase of 21 cents per $100 of valuation in 1999. A 21-cent increase this year could be hard for some voters to accept. "I'm trying to be very polite in saying there's no way in hell I'm going to live with it," said Michael McGarghan, a School Board member from Ward 7 who is often the most vocal board member against tax increases. He said the contract the district recently signed with its teachers was too generous -- the deal calls for raises between 4 and 6 percent over the next four years. The district might have to cut jobs to ease the proposed tax-rate increase, McGarghan said. Board Chairman Michael Green said it's too early to say whether the board will go ahead with a 21-cent tax increase or try to trim the budget. "Lyman said there's no places to save that won't cut programs or staff at this point," Green said. The board has scheduled public budget hearings for 7 p.m. Jan. 8 and Jan. 14 at Burlington High School. Board members are expected to vote Jan. 14 on a budget proposal that will be presented to voters on Town Meeting Day in March. Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or bhallenb@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com

After a year of negotiations and a cooling period the South Burlington Educator's Association are close to a strike. Teachers rallied in front of the High School this morning to raise awareness on contract negotiations. Legally they could have walked out today. ... Teachers are asking for a 16.75% pay hike over the next three years. The School Board is offering 11.25%. But a fact finder determined that 11.25% over the next three years is the right figure. According to Joel McNeil, the lawyer representing the School Board, the school budget has bottomed out . ... Also at issue is health care. The School Board wants to convert from a flat pay to a percentage. Click here to read more.

Burlington residents debated dollars and education Wednesday night in the first public budget hearing since the city school district learned taxes could go up 21 cents next school year. Many among the 100 or so people at Burlington High School lobbied to keep middle-school extracurricular activities and the high-school Chinese program from being dropped. Others urged the School Board to make hard cuts in tough economic times. The board will decide Tuesday night whether to approve a $31.5 million budget recommended by Superintendent Lyman Amsden for 2003-04. The budget would raise expenses almost 5 percent but would increase the tax rate from $1.63 to an estimated $1.84 per $100 of assessed value. Voters will decide on a budget in March. Amsden attributes most of the tax increase to Act 60, the state's education-financing law that asks property-wealthy communities such as Burlington to contribute to a state fund that aids schools in less-wealthy communities. He said about 53 percent of city residents are eligible

Budget threatens Chinese classes By Brent Hallenbeck Room 204B at Burlington High School echoed Thursday morning with the sounds of a language rarely heard in Vermont classrooms. Zhihang Hao held up notecards showing Chinese characters; the seven students in his class repeated the symbols in Chinese. Later, the students looked at worksheets showing a mock class schedule, and they said in Chinese when each class was held. The singsong Eastern tones Hao and his students uttered could die out next year. The city school district, facing a serious budget crunch and the likelihood of a large tax increase, is looking to trim costs. School Superintendent Lyman Amsden has suggested the Chinese-language program and its $56,000 price tag should be cut from the 2003-04 budget. He said it's a numbers game: Most teachers have about 100 students, but Hao has only 40 in the Chinese program. Students and their parents beseeched the School Board at a public budget hearing last month to keep the Chinese classes. The message was repeated at a hearing last week, and could be heard again Tuesday, when board members will decide on a budget to go before voters March 4. The program's supporters know enrollment is low. They say the class is so unique it should be spared. "Being able to choose Chinese, that is something that is just so different," said Beth-Ann Bove, whose son, Henry Beckwith, is one of the seven students in Hao's level-three class. "It's a little gem." A head start Language teachers and school administrators throughout the state say Burlington has the only full Chinese-language program in Vermont. Chinese is also rare across the country. A study in May by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages showed that of the almost 7 million students in grades seven through 12 taking a foreign language, 1,632 took Chinese. The Burlington program began with a $300,000 grant in 1996 from the Freeman Foundation. Hao said the grant expired in 2000, and the district has been funding it since. The program has been whittled. Chinese is no longer offered to middle-school students, though Hao teaches 11 eighth-graders who already were taking Chinese. Supporters say Chinese is more than a novelty it's the future. "It's something where there's a lot of growth," said John Berninghausen, who founded the Chinese program at the University of Vermont before helping to establish Chinese at Middlebury College. "Burlington would be going against the trend to get rid of it." Berninghausen said 39 students took beginning Chinese at Middlebury last fall, the second-largest number in the program's 26 years. Western companies continue to enter the Chinese and Southeast Asian markets, and Berninghausen said students who learn Chinese will benefit when seeking jobs. Hao, a native of Shanghai, China, agrees. "If they can speak Chinese it's a very marketable skill," he said. Berninghausen said about 23 percent of the world's population speaks Chinese. He said high-school students introduced to the unfamiliar characters and intonations of the language have an advantage over those trying to learn Chinese in college. "To learn a non-Western language takes more time," Berninghausen said. "They've just had a head start." Unique experience Chinese takes more time because, unlike Western languages, it uses pictographs rather than letters, and slight changes in tone can alter a word's meaning. Students in Hao's class Thursday encountered that during the class-schedule exercise. Classmates were confused when freshman Keenan Bouchard referred to taking English ying yu in Chinese because it sounds like yin yue, the Chinese word for music. The slight difference in pronunciation and inflection is barely perceptible to most Western ears, yet makes a big difference in Chinese. Hao's students said Chinese is challenging, but worth the effort. "It's interesting. It teaches you about an important superpower," said sophomore Ian Kaumeyer. "This is a really unique experience," freshman Henry Butler said. "Not many people have this opportunity." Their class is sparsely populated. The seven students were spread out among more than 30 desks in the room, which doubles as a Spanish classroom. While fewer students take Chinese than the other languages offered in Burlington French, Spanish, German and Latin Butler said Chinese students might care the most about their language, and the School Board should consider that. The right track Butler's mother, Susan Bolger, is among those urging the board to keep the Chinese program. "My son, he really likes Chinese, he likes the language and the calligraphy," Bolger said. Hao has been with the program since its inception, and he wants the district to give it more time. "I do realize the numbers are low, but if you start a new program I don't think you can expect 100 or 200 students overnight," Hao said. "It would be really sad to see it go because we are on the right track. You would destroy the flower before it gets the chance to bloom." Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or bhallenb@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com

The Burlington School Board reinstated more than $660,000 to its proposed 2003-04 school budget Tuesday, including money to keep the high school Chinese program, middle school extracurricular activities and several teaching jobs that were to be cut. The budget proposal totals more than $32 million, higher than the $31.5 million plan Superintendent Lyman Amsden recommended to the board. The plan is 7 percent higher than the current school budget of $30 million. A new estimated tax rate had not been calculated Tuesday night. The district anticipated a 21-cent rise with the $31.5 million proposal. City residents will vote on the budget March 4. Burlington voters have not approved a budget on the first try since 1999. The board was also lobbied Tuesday by residents asking that Barnes Elementary School stay open. Board Chairman Michael Green said the district has discussed possibly closing the Old North End school should it have trouble passing a budget this year and need to find other ways to save money.

The addition of almost $670,000 to the 2003-04 Burlington School District budget proposal will bring the estimated tax-rate increase to 26 cents. The tax rate of $1.63 per $100 of assessed value could climb to $1.89 with the $32.2 million budget proposal approved Tuesday night by the School Board, business manager Scott Lisle said Wednesday. The tax rate was expected to be $1.84 with the $31.5 million proposal the board considered Tuesday night. Board members reinstated the high school Chinese program, middle school extracurricular activities and other items school Superintendent Lyman Amsden had recommended be eliminated to save the district money. Amsden has said 53 percent of Burlington homeowners qualify for tax rebates under the income-sensitivity provisions of Act 60, the state's education-financing law. City residents will vote on the budget proposal March 4.

Burlington voters face big school budget By John Briggs Free Press Staff Writer The unavoidable question facing Burlington voters on Town Meeting Day is whether to send the $32.19 million school budget back to the School Board for trimming, as has been done every year since 1999. The proposed 2003-2004 school budget represents a 7 percent increase over the current budget of $30 million. Paying for it could require a 26-cent jump in the school tax rate -- from $1.63 to $1.89 per $100 of assessed value. That would mean an additional $260 in school taxes on a house valued at $100,000. The specifics of the tax increase are as of now, School Superintendent Lyman Amsden said. "It's a moving target. It depends on what the Legislature decides. It could be lower. It could be substantially lower. We probably won't know before town meeting. That's part of the problem." Amsden said the higher school costs in the proposed budget -- a budget he described as responsible -- come largely from higher premiums for property, liability and health insurance, workers compensation and increased salaries. Almost three-quarters of the tax increase -- 19 cents of the 26 cents -- Amsden said, is a result of provisions of Act 60, the state education financing law. The state determined this year that property values in Burlington have risen to the point where owners are paying taxes on just 75 percent of the actual value of their properties, meaning higher tax bills for city residents. The common level of appraisal, the state's method of billing taxpayers across the state at the market value of their property, mandates an increase this year in the school tax rate to make the Burlington tax burden up to date. Despite the ballooning price tag, parents in three budget hearings urged the school administration to avoid cutting programs for the 3,500 students in the system, Amsden said. As they put together this budget proposal, Amsden said, the School Board "wanted to give voters a chance to vote on maintaining the current programs." A thumbs-down on the budget March 4 would force the board to reconsider. "If that happens, I would have to work with the board," Amsden said, "but I would think we would look at those things that have the least impact on the direct instruction. If you have to make a business decision," he said, "then you really have to go with the core parts of the program -- the things we're required to do by Vermont standards." With Mayor Peter Clavelle running for a seventh term with only token opposition from independent candidate Micheal Brown, and with no tax increase on the ballot for next year's city budget (which will be presented in April), election-day tension in Burlington centers on the makeup of the next City Council and on two charter changes that would affect renters and landlords. The 14-member council has five Democrats, five Progressives, two Republicans and two independents. Seven seats are contested each election. Two proposed changes to the City Charter would give tenants more notice for no-cause evictions or rent increases. The first charter issue applies to renters without leases. If they have been in their building for less than two years, the landlord must give them 90 days notice before a no-cause eviction, or 120 days if they have lived there more than two years, an addition of 30 days in both cases. For the first time, the proposed charter change would require tenants to give landlords notice two rental periods before moving out, unless their lease or other regulations provide otherwise. The second charter change would give tenants a longer warning of impending rent increases, increasing the advance notice from 60 to 90 days. Contact John Briggs at 660-1863 or jbriggs@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com

At least 29 school budgets have gone down to defeat in Town Meeting Day votes across the state. With the outcome not known in numerous communities, the number of defeats has surpassed last year's and perhaps be the most since the Act 60 education financing law was enacted in 1997. Last year 23 school budgets were defeated at Town Meeting Day votes, with three more budgets defeated later in the year. Burlington voters rejected their proposed $32.19 million school budget, 3,928-3,733. The budget reflected an increase of 7 percent. ... Among other defeated school budgets were: Barre Town, BarreCity, Brandon, Bridport, Cambridge, Charleston, Georgia, Hartland, Leland and Gray Union, Leicester, Mill River Union, Milton, Montpelier, Morristown, Mount Holly, Mount Mansfield Union, Otter Valley Union, Panton, Proctor, Reading, Rutland Town, Swanton, Underhill, Vergennes, Williston and Winooski. Click here to read more.

Of the 242 school budgets up for a vote on Town Meeting Day , 198 were approved, but 42 were defeated. That's compared to 32, defeated last year. Among those that lost are Burlington, Williston, Colchester, Montpelier, Barre Town, and City. Two budgets were deferred. Many blame Act 60, the law that was supposed to equalize education funds. (In Burlington area high teachers pay was also blamed.) Governor Jim Douglas says, Vermonters are frustrated with high property taxes. He says it's high time to change the way education is funded. Edith Miller of the Vermont School Board Association agrees that Act 60 needs some sharpening, but that it has been beneficial to Vermont students. She says it provides resources to schools, that would other wise not be able to afford them. Communities that turned down the budget will now have to return to the drawing board. Click here to read more.

Revised school budget presented at public hearing



By John Briggs
Free Press Staff Writer

Burlington schools won't look or feel the same next year if the revised school budget doesn't pass May 20, Superintendent Lyman Amsden said Tuesday.

"It would certainly have a significant impact on the educational program," Amsden said. "Some things that people are used to just won't be available."

At a public hearing attended by about 90 residents Tuesday night at Burlington High School, Katherine Connolly, who heads the School Board's finance committee, described what she termed the "Draconian" potential dollar cuts facing Burlington schools if the budget fails again.

The board heard from more than 20 speakers, all deploring the possible cuts, particularly the provisions that would eliminate middle school librarians, winter-season sports and other activities at the high school and middle school sports.

In the end, however, the board glumly stuck with the list it had decided on before the meeting. Amsden said alternatives to the list such as cutting more teachers or eliminating high school football also amounted to "a series of lousy choices."

The present drama is a sequel to the March election, in which fewer than 25 percent of registered voters went to the polls. Town Meeting Day, heavy "no" votes in Wards 4 and 7 -- the New North End -- overwhelmed "yes" votes from the rest of the city and defeated the proposed $32.189 million school budget by about 200 votes.

Since then, the School Board has trimmed $610,000 from the original budget and approved a $31.6 million revised budget.

If voters May 20 give the budget a thumbs down, the district would have to cut $1.5 million from the proposed budget and try to get along next year with this year's spending, despite rising operational costs from big-ticket items such as worker's compensation, health care premiums, insurance and salaries.

Connolly said the proposed cuts would be substantial.

In addition to the cuts in sports and librarians, cutting $1.5 million would also eliminate elementary and middle school evening activities, she said.

The funding shortfall would also require cutting the high school staff by the equivalent of 4.5 full-time teaching positions, cutting back on special education instruction at Wheeler and Smith elementary schools, eliminating one teacher at Hunt Middle School and one elementary school teacher each at Barnes, Flynn and Wheeler schools.

The Chinese program at the high school, which survived early budget skirmishes this year after pleas from parents, would also be among the cuts if the budget fails.

"These cuts take the vision out of the schools," said Terry Buehner, one of the speakers and the president of the Burlington Education Association.

"Let's roll up our sleeves and go out and get a yes vote," she said, noting the small margin by which the budget failed in March. "We will not tolerate anything less."
Contact John Briggs at 660-1863 or jbriggs@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com

At least three Chittenden County school districts are hearing demands to reopen teachers' contracts and seek cuts in pay and benefits. Requests to reopen contracts that guarantee fixed pay increases have surfaced this year in Essex, Burlington and Colchester. But teachers' unions in those districts have already given that plan a resounding "no". At least 49 school budgets have been voted down in Vermont this year, and districts are looking at cutting sports, foreign languages and teaching jobs to meet residents' demands for tax relief. . Click here to read more.

Voters in three dozen Vermont towns have faced special elections on failed school budgets this year. Burlington schools promised that only one more vote would be held, and that's on Tuesday. Three days before the special election, Kids Day in downtown Burlington provided the theme for school budget supporters. Their parade float hammered home the message: "Vote Yes!" they chanted. A yes vote would authorize spending of just over $31.5 million during the year that begins in July, and cover higher salaries and benefits, insurance premiums and Burlington's rising obligation to Act 60, the statewide school funding system. A no vote would force spending at this year's level, requiring $1.5 million worth of cuts in teachers and programs. Click here to read more.

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