EWSD BUDGET SURVEY

The school budget is one of the school board’s most critical annual responsibilities in partnership with our Administration. We take this responsibility incredibly seriously, particularly in the context of the State of Vermont's ongoing education funding crisis. 

While significant aspects of our budget are controlled by the state, we believe it is vital to ensure this year's budget reflect the priorities of our community. We anticipate that EWSD will continue to see the downstream impact of state-wide educational funding uncertainties. 

We are working to balance the increasing cost of operating schools in Vermont with the knowledge that increased taxes put a heavy burden on our local taxpayers. As a board, we are committed to prioritizing transparency and community engagement, as much as possible, given our timeline to present a budget to our voters in April 2025. 

This 13-question anonymous survey is an opportunity for the EWSD community to give guidance for our next school budget. It should take about 12 minutes to complete. 

Please don't hesitate to reach out throughout the budget process, as we sincerely seek to have our work as elected officials informed by the community. 

Thank you!

This survey will close on December 6th, 2024.

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1. What part of our EWSD community do you represent?  *
Please check all that apply
Required
2. When looking at our school budget, how do you prioritize the following areas?
Note: The following options were brought up by the community during the last budget season. The board has not yet discussed the 2025/26 budget or specifics regarding any of these areas. The purpose of these questions is to gather trends on community priorities this year.
1 (High Priority)
2
3
4
5 (Lower Priority)
Athletics
Facilities Improvements
Fine Arts
Transportation & Bussing
Staffing Levels
Clear selection
3. How would you adjust the following areas of the school budget?
Reduce
Keep the Same
Increase
Athletics
Facilities Improvements
Fine Arts
Transportation & Bussing
Staffing Levels
Clear selection
School Buildings & Facilities

Vermont has critically aging school buildings and this is a key area of concern for the future of EWSD. In the last year, the school board designated a board committee to research the cost of maintaining our school buildings to determine future options for our school buildings. 

We need input from taxpayers to decide if EWSD should continue paying for increasing upkeep costs for all buildings or if we should pursue other options like closing older buildings, re-districting students, expanding facilities on EWSD land, etc. (For more detailed information, check out this Essex Reporter article on the June 6th report on facilities costs). The projected cost of maintaining current building integrity through July 2027 is 88 million dollars, not factoring inflation. This means that regardless of our next steps, that is the cost the district will pay in some form for our buildings.  

Our next report on facilities costs is scheduled for November 19, 2024. We invite you to attend in person or virtually and give us your feedback. .The meeting will detail what we currently have, what shape is it in and the associated costs. We are proactively in the early stages of soliciting community input as we determine how to invest district resources to meet this need.
4. From your perspective should EWSD continue to Put other priorities above any other facility projects beyond necessary maintenance? (Optional)
Clear selection
Staffing Levels & Class Sizes

During the last budget season, the board received extensive feedback about staffing and class sizes. Staffing costs are 80% of our budget. Health insurance benefits are negotiated by the state and are entirely outside of board control. 

Last year, staff insurance costs went up 16%; for reference, that increase alone was close to the total amount of the EWSD transportation budget. This year, health insurance is projected to rise an additional 11%, resulting in an overall health insurance cost increase of 41% over the last three years. 

Since FY24 we have gone from 903 FTE  to 858 FTE positions mostly with reductions in District Administrators, operational staff, and attrition of school-based personnel through retirement. As a board, we invest in our staff as they serve our students, families, and community. Also, as a board, we are limited in mitigating the rising costs related to staffing. Therefore, we are seeking community feedback related to the difficult decisions about how to best support and invest in our staff in this context.

5. How do you prioritize adjusting for rising costs to staffing and benefits? (Optional)
Clear selection

6. Last year, we saw misunderstanding about staff to student ratios. EWSD employs incredible admin and support staff in essential areas such as nutrition or transportation. However these positions do not factor in to class sizes or staff to student ratios. 

EWSD currently maintains average class sizes of approximately 17 students in grades K-3, 21 in grades 4-8, and 19 in grades 9-12.

In our budget, how should we prioritize class sizes? (Optional)

Clear selection
Transportation

Bussing is a key issue for many families as Vermont and the entire nation are experiencing bus driver shortages. EWSD transportation staff have researched solutions, remade routes, and are constantly recalibrating routes and drivers to maintain the accessibility of our transportation. 

Ridership surveys are conducted three times a year; the fall 2023 survey showed ridership was up 20% from 2022. We see that increased absences happen when bussing is cancelled, therefore transportation is something the board takes very seriously.

7. Compared to other budget priorities (listed above), how important is it to you that EWSD continues to maintain levels of transportation (keeping bus pick-up and drop-off routes about the same)? (Optional)

Not important: Put other priorities over transportation
Very important: Cut other budget priorities to maintain transportation options
Clear selection
8. How would you prioritize transportation options and bussing routes within the overall budget? (Optional)
Clear selection
9. If you are willing to share, how did you vote on our final budget last year, passed in May 2024? (Optional)
Clear selection
10. Resources should be used in a way that supports the students who need them most - even if it means reducing the resources at one school to increase resources at another school. (Optional)
Clear selection
11. With tight financial constraints and costs outside of the district's control, if trade-offs need to be made, priority should be given to what areas? (Optional)
Please separate each idea with a comma.  ie: "Idea 1, Idea 2, Idea 3, ..."
12. What other aspects of EWSD should have less priority in our budget? (Optional)
Please separate each idea with a comma.  ie: "Idea 1, Idea 2, Idea 3, ..."
13. Any other questions or comments?
Thank you! Submit Form Below
Thank you for participating! The EWSD board is working hard to dig into the details of all these issues and more: budget planning goes far beyond what we can fit on one survey!  As elected officials, we seek to make transparent, informed decisions to balance the needs of our whole community. As we move towards budget discussion meetings, please consider attending/live-streaming a board meeting, emailing the board, or coming to one of our community engagement events - to be announced soon! Thank you!
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