Late final yr, state officers introduced excellent news for Vermont’s training fund.
Buoyed by robust tax revenues, the fund — which pays for the state’s public school budgets — is having fun with a surplus of almost $100 million.
Now, because the legislature wonders what to do with that additional money, lawmakers could also be compelled to select from a number of totally different proposals: Free breakfast and lunch for college students? Remediating poisonous chemical substances? Tax rebates?
Lawmakers handed that invoice out of the House of Representatives on Wednesday. But some have proposed totally different makes use of for the surplus cash.
Gov. Phil Scott has referred to as for lawmakers to place half the surplus towards profession and technical training and ship the opposite half again to taxpayers. In an e-mail Wednesday, Jason Maulucci, a spokesperson for Scott, stated the governor nonetheless favors that plan.
“Regarding the Legislature’s other priorities with this money, the Governor has said he supports helping those in need receive free school meals at school,” Maulucci stated. “However, creating a new universal program with one-time money could, as the legislature has discussed, lead to regressive tax increases that in part pay for meals for children from affluent families who do not need the financial help.”
Others have referred to as on lawmakers to make use of the cash to scrub up polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in school buildings.
The substances, that are believed to trigger a vary of well being issues, together with most cancers, have been used extensively in constructing supplies till they have been banned round 1980.
In 2020, school directors found the chemical substances in Burlington High School, forcing college students to desert the school for a retrofitted division retailer. The district hopes to construct a new excessive school at a value of roughly $230 million.
Next month, state officers plan to launch a program to check greater than 300 Vermont faculties for the chemical substances. But that initiative is inflicting concern for many districts, which concern the potential prices if the chemical substances are discovered of their faculties.
School officers have referred to as on the Legislature to put aside cash for remediating school buildings if PCBs are detected — from the training fund, if essential.
That PCB remediation cash is “the highest priority,” stated Francis, of the superintendents affiliation.
“My hope is that the General Assembly sees fit to put money into PCB remediation,” he stated. “And as part of their process, if they provide money for universal school meals as well, that’s great.”
Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, chair of the House Education Committee, has additionally expressed skepticism about utilizing the training fund surplus for common meals.
“Right now, I don’t think it makes sense to use one-time monies without a plan going forward,” Campion stated. “But I’m going to listen when the bill comes into a committee. I want to pull apart why the House decided to do what they decided to do.”
As most of Vermont’s faculties haven’t been examined, it’s nonetheless unclear how a lot cash could be wanted for PCB remediation. But estimates put that determine at round $40 million.
Other states suffering from PCB contamination have discovered one other supply of cleanup funds: litigation.
Over the previous few years, Bayer, the mother or father firm of longtime PCB producer Monsanto, has paid out tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in settlements to U.S. states over PCB contamination. Earlier this yr, New Hampshire obtained a $25 million settlement over PCBs in waterways.
Asked about the potential of litigation over PCBs in Vermont, Charity Clark, the chief of workers within the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, stated the company “is aware of this issue and is looking into it.”
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