ESSEX, Vt. (WCAX) – South Burlington High School students ditched their last class on Monday afternoon to support the passage of their school budget.
“It’s about everyone in the community who could be affected, our sports could be taken away which is something that we don’t want to happen,” said South Burlington student Hasan Karim.
It’s South Burlington School District’s third vote, with a $68 million spending plan and an over 9% property tax increase set forth to taxpayers.
This is a cut-down version of the original budget that failed on town meeting day. District officials reduced costs by roughly $3 million.
The SBSD board members previously praised the efforts to get the property tax rate under 10%.
Students are concerned that if it doesn’t pass again, deeper cuts will have to be made to their programs, such as sports.
“Sports and clubs are a big part of my life. I love sports, I’m a three-season athlete, and it would be really hard to see certain coaches get cut, certain advisors for certain clubs and I think we should all encourage our families and friends to go to the polls and vote yes for the budget,” said South Burlington student Yorba Gebreselasie.
This is the third time in 8 years that the South Burlington School District is without a budget after two failed votes.
They are not the only ones demonstrating in support of a school budget. Staff and students gathered at Five Corners in Essex Junction, rallying for the passage of the Essex-Westford School District Budget.
“This has been a really unprecedented year and we have seen an unprecedented response from our community. A lot of people don’t have all the information necessarily, so we’re really trying just to raise awareness about our budget and most of all just really make a stand for our students and our teachers,” said Robert Carpenter of the EWSD School Board.
The over $76 million budget for voters to decide on tomorrow represents a $4.5 million cut from the one that failed on Town Meeting Day.
Essex-Westford School Board member Robert Carpenter says after the original budget failed, they tried to make as many cuts as they could to appease taxpayers while also supporting the community.
Five other school districts will face another round of votes tomorrow, including Alburgh School District, Caledonia Cooperative School District, Washington Central School District, Twinfield Union School District, and St. Johnsbury School District. For some districts, this is their second attempt at a vote, but for South Burlington and St. Johnsbury, it’s their third.
