Kingdom East 2026 Budget Re-Vote in Wheelock, Tues April 28, Wheelock Town Hall

update from Norma Twombley, KESD Board Member from Wheelock

(early ballots available now)

 

Why a revote? Failed in March by 730 / 632 votes. Low turnout. Ballots are co-mingled, so there is no vote information by town, just for the district as a whole. 

The budget to be voted on (for fiscal year 2027) represents a 5.76% increase over fiscal year 2026. (This does NOT mean that your property tax bill will be 5.76% greater.) I will show the impact of this on the education portion of the property tax bill in a minute.

Some important points to keep in mind regarding the budget:

There are many costs that KESD does not control

• High school tuition (set by the state)
• Healthcare costs for employees (negotiated at state level)
• Special education requirements (required by federal law)
• Inflation (general and in healthcare)

 

The budget does not buy anything new; designed to provide services as they are currently. Twenty-five unfilled positions were eliminated. 

Kingdom East has lower per-pupil spending than the state average. 

 

The main drivers of the increase from last year were increases in

• High school tuition
• District-wide salaries (contract re-negotiation, good for retention & recruitment)
• Special Education
• Transportation

 

Many programs are heavily supported by grants, primarily from the federal government.

• Kingdom East After School Program-(KEAP)
• Summer Camp

 

Schools are an important part of the infrastructure of rural town life. They are often the largest employer, their presence or absence strongly affects the likelihood of families with children moving to an area, and they are important anchors of civic life – town meetings, festivals.

 

There are concerns about how Vermont schools are performing. Too many children are not reading or doing math at their grade level. This has been seen for the last few years and is being addressed. KESD scores in reading and math proficiency improved significantly between 2023 and 2025.

• Improving from 23% to 44% on grade level or above in Reading 
• Improving from 12% to 36% in Math
• KESD is “Meeting the current performance growth measures in Reading and Math as required by the State.”

 

Although the tax burden for residents of Vermont remains an important concern, the effect of this budget on the education portion of the property tax for homeowners in Wheelock is the following:

•  For a home assessed at $250,000 the increase would be $4 per month or $48 for the year. Taxes are decreasing.
• For a home assessed at $150,000, it would be $3 per month or $36 for the year. Taxes are decreasing.
• Please remember that Property Tax Credit is available to 60-70% of our residents.

 

I strongly urge you to turn out to vote on April 28 (or earlier-ballots available 20 days before vote) and vote to approve the KESD Budget. 

Information Meeting Dates & Locations:

April 15th: Lyndon Town School at 5:30 PM

April 16th: Concord School at 5:30 PM

April 27th: Kingdom East District Office at 6:00 PM

 

Budget Information    https://www.kingdomeast.org/fy27-budget