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After a tax revolt at the ballot box last year, schools were warned by the governor � and education officials in Montpelier � to do everything they could to keep spending in check.

And despite financial pressures, notably from health premiums, school districts appear to be trying to do just that. With salaries and benefits the largest line item in every school budget, that means personnel cuts.

In the Champlain Valley School District, the budget headed to voters in March would see nearly 39 positions cut. That's roughly 8% of the district's teachers.

Among those headed out the door: Andrew Miskavage, Champlain Valley Union High School’s longest tenured educator. Miskavage first came to CVUHS in 1989 to teach instrumental music, and the job is “the only one I’ve ever known,� he said in an interview.

Technically, Miskavage is choosing to go. The high school music department is contracting, and if he stuck around, he would have to assume responsibilities he doesn’t feel qualified to take on. So he’s taking an early retirement.

He stressed that leaving his post is a “personal disappointment,� and not, as it may be for others, a financial emergency. But as a taxpayer and parent in the district, he said he’s dismayed by how much his tax bill has gone up, even as his daughter’s class offerings retract.

“I mean, CVU, at one point in time, was considered one of the best high schools in the country. And we are not able to offer that same level of academic service,� he said.

The district also cut a staggering 42 positions last year. For school board chair Meghan Metzler, the last two budget cycles have involved a lot of “difficult decisions.�

“No one who's a school board chair or school board member feels good about any budget where we have to reduce positions � especially two years in a row,� she said.

Champlain Valley is an extreme example, and something of an outlier, but it’s also a reflection of statewide trends and legislation.

Like most districts, the district is seeing declining enrollment and financial pressure from spiking health insurance premiums and salary increases. But it is also disproportionately impacted by Act 127, a law that retooled Vermont’s school funding formula. The legislation was intended to coax higher-need districts to spend more; its cost was to apply more tax pressure in more affluent districts � districts like CVU.

South Burlington is in a similar boat. The school board in the growing, suburban community has approved a spending proposal that would cut 15 positions next year. Among the cuts: Big Picture, an alternative learning program for high school students.

Administrators pointed to dwindling enrollment in Big Picture to justify its closure. But for the small number of students served, the impact was outsized, according to 10th grade student Kay Rose.

“It's really heartbreaking to think of what would happen without the program, and what would happen to future students who need a program like this,� Rose said.

Districts that benefited from Act 127, on the other hand, aren’t exactly going on a spending spree.

Rutland City is holding staffing as-is. So is Hartford. Burlington is proposing to modestly trim staff by two positions, which the superintendent’s office believes can be handled through attrition, to align with enrollment. The district anticipates a 4% decrease in the tax rate. Russ Elek, a spokesperson for Burlington schools, said the superintendent’s message during budget development was fairly straightforward: “Don’t ask to add things.�

In the Barre Unified Union School District, the school board approved a plan that would cut six positions � and a previously grant-funded summer school program.

“It's hard to abandon things in place of adding new things,� said superintendent JoAn Canning.

And in Winooski, the school board will ask its voters to approve a budget that cuts seven positions, in addition to reducing some multilingual services.

“In order to maintain our services, we would have needed to increase our total operational budget by 7% due to the same cost increases the rest of districts are facing,� Winooski superintendent Wilmer Chavarria wrote in an email. “Our board found this increase unacceptable.�

As some schools downsize, the state’s acute workforce shortage offers a mixed blessing. Many personnel reductions won’t require layoffs as older employees take buyouts or administrators simply leave vacancies unfilled.

In the Washington Central Unified Union School District, where school board members backed off on a plan to close two elementary schools in the fall, the budget headed to voters in March would nevertheless cut 15 positions. Only three of those will likely reflect actual job losses, according to superintendent superintendent Steven Dellinger-Pate.

“It just tells you the state of hiring,� he said.

Job cuts could translate into meaningful relief for taxpayers. It’s possible the average tax bill could stay flat this year. Initial estimates projected a nearly 6% increase, but Gov. Phil Scott has said he’ll attempt to buy down that rate if schools keep spending at levels initially forecast.

Whether or not Scott can actually do that will depend on whether he and Democrats can agree on a plan to do so. His plan hinges in part on nixing the state’s universal school meals program, and while some key Democrats have endorsed buying down the rate in principle, they've also indicated they're unlikely to roll back the meals program.

It also won’t be known whether schools will have hit the spending target set by Scott until the spring. But early indications suggest they will.

“Our estimates show that numbers appear to be staying at or slightly below the original forecast,� Lindsey Hedges, a spokesperson for the Agency of Education, said in an email, although she added that this could change as more spending data trickles in.

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