Budget Development Survey Results
1. Recognizing that you may belong to more than one of the following groups, please select the one which you feel best describes your involvement with us:
2. What are your top 3 priorities for the FY24 budget?
Long Answer Questions
- 3. What are the most important things that the district should consider in the development of its fiscal budget?
- 4. What budget information would you specifically find helpful?
- 5. Comment Box
3. What are the most important things that the district should consider in the development of its fiscal budget?
What are the most important things that the district should consider in the development of its fiscal budget?
- I think having more IT support would be helpful which helps support curriculum and instruction.
- retention and recruitment of quality staff
- Building in room for growth and/or higher salaries to attract part time or hourly staff.
- Student learning and emotional needs
- Cameras in all areas of all BUUSD buildings. Upgrade Spaulding High School, not just lighting and air quality. The building is old and run down and the athletic fields and track are in need of an upgrade.
- The kids could use field trips for education
- Quality instruction for our students.
- Try not to take things away from the students. Sports and clubs are very important for students and can help them be more successful with their academics. I was very saddened to hear of the loss of the P.S.T.L. program at BTMES. I had two children take part in it and it was something that is important for children that need that extra challenge. I love all the different classes that are offered at SHS especially in the sciences. Don't lose them.
- I think that the school should prioritize safety. Beyond that, I think preparing students with technology is very important for success after school and even in being able to show what they know on state testing because they are familiar with technology. I think that students should be provided with alternate types of seating so they can be comfortable and able to focus better while they learn.
- Teachers, paras, and subs are burnt out, and the district does not provide enough financial incentive to make the work here worth it, or to bring in new staff.
- Teacher Retention. Teacher recruitment. Districts are already settling contracts with significant increases. BUUSD needs to prepare for this (and not by cutting everything else).
- More staff members are integral, which means higher salaries and heftier budget demands in order to attract and retain quality educators
- Competitive salaries, legitimately planning to upgrade the track/athletic complex - this one is **embarrassing**.
- Currently one of the lowest paying districts in the state. Between inflation, negative climate and the teacher shortage, there may be a lot of teachers leaving this year.
- School safety
- Some staff members saw in the paper that they only projected 3-5% for staff raises. Given inflation of 8.2% and the pension increases over 2% in the coming years, on top of our salaries already lagging behind other schools, many people said that projection has caused them to update their resume and get new references. That projection is so out-of-touch with the staffing situation that it is already causing people to prepare themselves to leave.
- Focus on paying our educators and staff more competitive wages so we can draw in better candidates to teach our students, as well as keep the staff we have.
- School environment improvements. Barre Town is falling apart and needs some upkeep work.
- The high cost of special services, these children need services outside of the general ed arena. COVID is not over, educators will be dealing with the interruption in learning for the rest of these students' educational careers. The current kindergartners may be the first ones whose education was not interrupted in March of 2020 nor turned upside down in the 2020 - 21 school year with hybrid, etc.
- Consider how the number of positions in the school may help in retaining employees. Are teachers and staff not coming back due to having job responsibilities that require a lot of time outside of contracted hours? How can the budget try to help with keeping our schools staffed with enough employees?
- Are we utilizing funds to the best of our ability - we need more boots on the ground, not administrative staff doing coaching. We need more social emotional support for our children - including BI, BCBA's
- Cost,
- teachers pay and school safety
- Taking money from football
- Investing in a more diverse curriculum taught by people who can speak on issues pertaining to them.
- Spending money on proven and effective solutions. Like structure liturecy - program that works, investing money for sports and arts program so kids have can associate school with more positive experience.
- Upgrading the restrooms in all schools
- Supporting staff with livable wages and providing current and varied curriculum to students
- Bussing for school sports!
- How to meet the needs of its diverse population, especially children with special needs
- Being able to provide the students high level teachers who are engaged and inspired.
- Hiring a retired cop or veteran to protect our children
- School security
- giving students a good education with high standards/expectations
- How your going to do for special needs
- A livable wage for Paraprofessionals
- student safety, creating a safe environment for everybody regardless of most factors
- diverse educational opportunities for students. Spaulding is losing students at a rapid rate due to the educational topics/opportunities that are taught at the academies and preps schools.
- We need to offer higher salaries/wages to attract and retain high quality staff. We need upgrades to facilities, in the form of playground equipment, grounds maintenance (e.g., properly draining and aerated fields/lawns), HVAC, etc.)
- 1. ALL school bathrooms at Spaulding High School should be available for students 2. The football field is so messed up you could break your ankle walking on it in the middle
- Teachers and support staff need to be more adequately compensated.
- facilities
- Teacher Salary
- Preschool/kindergarten teachers
- Teacher salary.
- We need more staffing and the appropriate salaries/wages to attract more staff. There is a huge need for special education teachers, paraeducators, service providers and substitute teachers in the district. Many of our students are not receiving the help, services and support they need due to lack of staff. We've been understaffed for the past few years and the obvious answer is to attract staff by offering better pay but that's not being done. We're all aware of the the extra financial resources that have been made available to the district but there hasn't been any significant amount deducating to ongoing staffing issues.
- Funding the school more
- Do we as a school community have what we need to keep all the kids safe and to support their academic growth.
- Saftey
- "Social/emotional/mental health supports for our students.
- Creative, outside the box thinking on how to attract (and competitively pay) professionals to join the BUUSD."
- Professional development
- Retention of Staff. Perhaps Recess Duty aides.
- larger portions at lunch
- Low-income families and their financial ability to provide their children with the ability to participate in extra curricular activities. As a child I never could because there was always extra cost that parents needed to pay and that wasn't reasonable for my family so I was always left out.
- Paying teachers and subs competitive wages so that they want to stay in our district
- BCEMS needs another restorative classroom for K-2. There are more kids who need that program.
- Making sure students have the resources needed for them to succeed.
- They should consider that nowadays high schools can be pretty dangerous and it's really important that we are prepared for any dangerous senario.
- Academic performance, making up progress lost due to COVID
- Balanced budget, equal effort and funding to development of kids that are academically sound as well as those that are perceived as needing helps that cost $$$, equality in funding and supporting sports types ie: football v cross country, maintenance of facilities, development of funding for programs that support responsibility of children as a community member
- Betterment of safety and education for students
- Using funds in a way that promote staff retention and student enrichment activities
- We need to add our enrichment program for middle school back into the budget. While it is important that we reach our students with gaps in their learning from the challenging years we have had. In order to reach ALL students we need to offer the enrichment program to our students who are thriving and sitting through a lot of remedial teaching all day.
- (1) Enriching learning for the students, (2) facilities that are comfortable and attractive for the students.
- That what is best for students today may include the need to retain flexibility in our schedule and programming.
- Not to focus on the cost of things, but to put the focus on what our district/schools need in order to get better student success in all areas and to ensure safety among the schools.
- Instruction to meet all students' needs and more opportunities to challenge students.
- Making sure everything they do benefits the students
- Our district already runs on a bare-bones budget. We are understaffed and it shows every day. I know we're having trouble with hiring open positions -- it's important to ask why that is and what we can do to change that. It's equally important to make sure we're investing in our current staff to make them want to stay in our district.
- Adding in a playground or adding to current playground so the middle schoolers can have recess as well. They need to get their energy out just as much as the little ones.
- Quality of education and school environment both physical and emotional
- Cost of living increases and the need to commit $ to new curriculum if new curriculum is being requested
- Supporting the teachers in ways they express they need in order to best serve our students and give them the best education possible.
- Making up for lost academic time from covid
- Teacher support and development
- Air conditioning
- I would consider adding a position specifically for housing crisis and truancy work for the the whole district. These 2 positions can not be added to someone else's jobs
- Improvement on the music program funds.
- I think staffing all schools with enough members to give each student the support they needs is the most important following COVID.
- Home economics and the arts
- Staff
- Proper training around students that need education in different ways outside of the box (Autsim, ADHD, trauma, students with devices). This includes more than just support staff. Teachers need more than a packet to read if they have a student coming into their room with intensive needs. They need to not feel intimidated by a student’s diagnosis on paper and feel equipped on how to interact or include that student or who to go to for that information. This also needs to be monitored to make sure that it is being implemented. A support staff is not a teacher and shouldn’t be looked to or utilized as such just because it is easier to put a child in the back of the classroom or not include them because teachers don’t understand how to.
- fixing the plumbing and the smell it causes through out the whole school.
- Adequate compensation to keep and attract a skilled faculty, and money in the budget for supplies to support instruction.
- New Athletic Facilities at Spaulding! They need to be updated and are almost unsafe for our athletes to play on. Locker rooms need to be updated. Showers that don’t work. Antiquated equipment for all sports
- Affordability and tax burden; solid core curriculum; tech Ed; eliminating football
- Little or no tax increases
- That it listens to the needs outlined by administration. They have the greatest understanding about the needs of the student population.
- Please stay within the budget.
- The district should consider how to best retain high quality teacher, improve equitable access to technology, and how to combine our middle and elementary programs into their own buildings so we stop duplicating so much work.
- Financial responsibility, open communications
- More individualized education in order to support the growth of the students.
- curriculum, SEL, Behavioral/cultural aspects...what will allow the students to be excited and motivated to be successful?
- Upgrade athletic fields
- Training staff in invisible disabilities (autism, anxiety), paying support staff (1:1 BIs, paras) more to attract and recruit more and quality staff
- The budget should be spent to assist teachers with classroom management, support paras in learning about behavior and social emotional growth, and specialize programs for students who need adaptive learning. We need to discuss how children’s social emotional growth was delayed two years and the primary focus has been academics yet our children aren’t emotionally at their chronological age. Expecting our 7 and 8 year olds to manage behaviors and emotions when they missed vital years of education is inexcusable. We need more paras and behavioral support for classroom so children can access things such as movement and regulation breaks. We need to dedicate more funding for children with adaptive learning needs. Our ASD population alone has grown exponentially and yet we have no arts or sports programs for these children. The services received by these children are almost solely from contracted services. We need to dedicate funds to support these kids within our school.
- Outdoor Classrooms, classroom supplies budgets for teachers, field trips
- Getting more service for kids with learning difficulties. Offering more hands on school/program for younger kids that struggle in a regular class room.
- The school spends way too much on drinks no one buys and not enough on fixing the bathrooms when the pipes smell like they’re rotting constantly
- Keeping staff and existing kids
- the well-being of students, teachers, and staff
- Providing teachers and staff salaries that are competitive with other distrcts
- How about working with WCMH for the development of a program that requires parents of the kids with behavior issues to be present and address the problems at home not at school. Schools seem to be a dumping ground for parents who aren’t parenting. Educators and taxpayers are bearing the burden. Schools are a place for kids to learn and grow and we’re never intended to be the mental institutions they’ve become.
- The low income and financial hardships of those that have to pay for it
- Residents cant afford an increase
- Curriculum and instructions
- Keeping teachers and realistic actual baseline education
- Fiscal responsibility
- Providing what is needed to teach kids and making sure we don't lose more teachers
- Mental health , staff retention .
- Reducing administrators
- Enabling all learning styles and abilities of students to be successful by offering neutering and interesting curriculum.
- Making sure that my childlren has the supplies they need to learn.
- Number of families who own vs rent in the community
- Improving the air system at BCEMS - particularly cooling throughout the building in the summer months. Would also be very beneficial to expand and improve the playground to be accessible to all children with universal design consideration.
- Its people. The district(s) with the best paid and best supported student-facing staff (this includes teachers and teaching support staff) create the highest achieving students. I would like to see the school ADD positions as well, both to ease educator burnout and to staff potential aftercare programs. No, the Y does not have enough people to meet demand.
- Excellent staffing and paras so that all student's are able to participate in school
- Staffing issues arise out of low pay.
- Creative ways to offer intervention to students should be a high consideration, perhaps offering teacher pay for extended school hour tutoring and competitive pay for coaches and club organizers. Students continue to recover from learning and social loss during covid and these opportunities should be available to kids. Transportation for middle school and high school athletics should be included in the budget. Bus transportation should be included for Spaulding. It concerns me that our high school students don't have access to school transportation to and from school.
- Being sure the students get the education they deserve and the funds are there for it. Pay staff what they are worth so they can make a living without having to have multiple jobs to make ends meet.
- Increased need for student support.
- Tax burdens
- Safety and cost
- Preschool included behavior support special Ed subs
- spending on school other that spaulding only. as it feels that 100 percent of the essr funds went to spaulding only
- The budget contract with hiring WCMH to come in and be physical for petty reasons.
- Keeping costs down
- Our staff is overworked. We need to be willing to pay paraprofessionals the wage they deserve to help take the load off of the staff we do have and to keep our students safe. We cannot expect our support staff to do difficult jobs and not get the pay the deserve. They can work at less stressful places and get paid more. Which means hiring and keeping staff is difficult. Paraprofessionals help some of our most struggling learners both with academics and with their safety and the safety of others. WE NEED THEM! Without them there is added stress to the teachers and that is going to drive them out. If we are not going to pay support staff more then we need to pay the current staff more to keep them.
- Keeping class sizes small in order to meet student needs.
- Students want to learn new things, and if the same classes are offered year after year then there is no room to expand knowledge. And athletics teams like track and field or clubs like drama club who need specific equipment and renovation to prevent injury and encourage participation.
- The district staff need the support of every member in the community at this critical time. Our district has underspent in many areas for many years and continuously asked administrators to cut budgets to the minimum. At this time of staff shortages, high levels of staff stress and lack of adequate mental health supports for students and families, it is critical that the board and the community get behind their schools and pass a budget that adequately funds our schools.
- Student learning, not raises but student education and things like chorus, drama art etc
- Trying to keep the budget reasonable noting that many expenses have risen dramatically
- prioritize student learning and access - build community within schools - open up access for students who struggle and need alternative options
- Make sure teachers have the support and resources, including any supplies they need to teach their students!
- staff salaries and paraeducator salaries
- Enough staffing/adequate training/physical spaces for additional "restorative/alternative"classrooms, increased pay to attract paras and improved professional development for paras, allowing two adults in every K-2 classroom, better storage/systems for materials/furniture, improved and additional playground equipment, improved drainage on the playground. There should also be more "permanent sub positions" as well as a better training system for substitutes. Paid/trained positions for recess and lunch duty monitors.
- Our students and helping ensure their success
- The tax rate
- Listening to the priorities from the community. Recognizing the number of staff who have left due to salary reasons. Recognizing that there are a lot of amazing teachers and staff in our buildings that we want to keep. Thinking of spending money that increases out interactions with the greater community (ie, allowing for our schools to take "field trips" to our downtown areas/ forest areas for a variety of educational reasons).
- Providing teacher support and student support as we move past the pandemic and make sure kids are back on track with learning goals.
- Building back specials and other non-core classes (like art, music, reading enrichment) at our middle schools.
- Staff development and recruitment
- Property owner's taxes, insurance costs, raises for teachers
- As a BT resident, I think it's really important to consider updating our building. The building went from open concept to inserting half walls, and it is not an environment conducive to learning. I invite board members to sit in first grade, while a teacher is trying to teach reading/writing, while a teacher next door is doing something fun like a brain break or video. It's so distracting. Students have adapted, but it's not ideal. Our facility looks beautiful from the outside, but it's quite alarming to see how out of date it is on the inside.
- Providing buses for all students who play sports through BTMES. Provide the same services other schools do for their students and families.
- Professional development for teachers to create engaging lessons for students, more staff for special education and support staff- paras, Behavioral Specialists, and interventionists
- Making sure each student can get the education they need and that every student has access to any accommodations that they may need.
- Consider surpluses and inflation
- Lack of staffing due to behavior issues.
- Make teacher salaries competitive. Make sure there is money for supplies. Upgrade tech as needed.
- Adequate staff/student ratios
- Competive wages for staff that is comparable to surrounding schools
- ensuring we have money to pay and keep staff on staff
- GOOD SUPPORT FOR CIVIC EDUCATION AND THE ARTS
- Cost efficiency, fiscal responsibility in determining priorities, sensitivity to the taxpayers' ability to absorb the proposed overall increase. More transparency and accountability from the administration.
- Keeping costs down
- Cut positions that have not improved learning. Grant funded positions that have not helped should not be added to the taxpayer funded side of the budget. All of the interventionists in the district have not improved scores or learning so look for a better way!
- Update infrastructure at BTMES.
- Support for teachers to improve staff retention, and assistance for students who are struggling.
- How to make sure students are safe and the building is secure so everyone inside can focus on learning.
- Spending the available money on the most important items first.
- The students and if they are learning. Teachers teach students not programs. A program is only good if a teacher has the prior knowledge to teach the program. Programs can not take in consideration that our students have gaps in learning due to COVID. Don't waste money on new programs.
- status quo of the students IQ/ learning styles, and what measures can be taken to provide the best possible instruction for each student while collaborating with other local institutions. (Being mindful so as not to spend enormous amounts on any individual in order to transport them to programs/ schools further away! )
- There is not a lot of incentive for new hires to choose our district or for current staff to stay when better offers pop up, and I know many people are contemplating leaving due to the current school climate. Unless something changes before the end of this school year there will be many staff leaving and they will be extremely difficult to replace. This will drastically affect the quality of education, and is is also a safety concern. For example: currently we do not have enough staff to adequately cover problem areas like bathrooms where students are unsafe due to excessive vaping and experiencing threats of violence on a regular basis.
- Mental health support for students
- Focus on what our kids and schools actually need instead of seeing how cheap we can be. You get what you pay for. If you would like to see test scores go up, then invest in curriculum. Also, I have to say that many Barre Town residents should be ashamed of themselves. They are the group that could most afford a higher tax and always the first to vote down the budget because they are pissed about Act 46. Get over it! I'm disgusted to hear some of the Barre Town residents talk disparagingly about ""those Barre City kids"". ALL of our kids need our support and funds. Kids do not create poverty and drug epidemics...they just have to try and live through them. The board needs to do some work in this area. The inequities in funding are noticeable and unacceptable. PS I am not a Barre City resident, just an observer of bad behavior.
- Costs! We are overly taxed.
- The staff, children and classrooms.
- reading writing math technology
- bathroom repair.
- Getting our students the best educational experience
- Cost of living
- Safety and working more individually with children.
- Teacher salary to be competitive with other schools in the surrounding districts. And paid maternity leave (at least 6 weeks for the woman's body to heal).
- Keeping teachers and having enough staff to meet the needs of students
- More ways to included families and children in positive atmospheres
- New athletic complex with ample seating
- Budgets are high, but our children already receive far fewer opportunities than in many other districts. It's time to make some difficult decisions and focus on what really matters for their futures to create better well rounded adults
- Administration understand what resources are needed. The board should support that. There are some board members who appear to be on the board with a hidden agenda. They are not experts, in fact, have no business trying to direct or control. They should listen and learn and stop the unprofessional behavior.
- What’s best for the students and staff
- Whatever is going to help our students be most successful and provide them with the most tools to more effectively learn
- Given some of the recent events that have happened in the Barre City community I’m concerned about school safety because if we don’t have a healthy school we don’t have a healthy community and vice versa. I’d also like to see an early morning drop off enrichment and after school care offered to help parents find care for their kids and to help prevent kids from walking home or being dropped off to an empty house.
- Pay teachers and staff generously. Offer lots of options for extra curricular activites.
- What best serves the students learning and return to "normal" education.
- Offer wage that will retain quality employees. Equity for all students, not just the "gifted".
- The quality of educational opportunities for students of all different abilities--from those needing extra assistance to those needing more challenging options, and ways to make all education more engaging.
- quality staffing; behavioral issues; sense of common goal
- The needs of the students.
- How many hats staff are wearing. It is understandable that we can not find people to fill these positions so we all have to share the load, but maybe some of those salaries we are not paying can also be split among staff doing those additional jobs.
- After school programs.
- Barre Town school is badly in need of a redesign. Very little money has been spent on upgrading the building for decades. It is an ugly building that was out of touch with teaching reality 40 years ago. The community and students deserve better.
- We need additional behavior support staff and general education para educators to support children with challenging behavior who are not in IEPs. We cannot meet the needs of our struggling students right now. It not only impacts them, but their whole classroom environment, disrupting everyone’s leaning.
- Supporting all students
- Expanding learning opportunities for students- this includes expansion of Work Based Learning and having enough faculty to support the amount of needs of our students and to allow for flexible pathways to earn credit towards graduation. Supporting the position of Director of School Counseling in order to provide structure and professionalism and support the Administration team at SHS.
- How far behind we are because of Covid. We can not get rid of any teaching positions, interventionists, or coaches. We need to hire more. More coaches. More interventionists. More teachers. The span of where kids are at in each grade is so much larger than what it’s ever been, which makes class sizes seem so much larger than they ever did before. Stop taking money away from the arts- it’s one of the o oh things that makes our school special. Design Lab. Art. Music. Give them more money to make learning fun since it isn’t anywhere else!
- Cost of facilities maintenance. Make sure there is money for fixing things as they need to be taken care of and not wait til there is a crisis to fix things. After school programs are important. How can communities members help?
- Thr fact that costs are rising everyday, everywhere.
- Bettering students and staff.
- It's ok to spend money. I'm not proud of being one of the lowest per pupil spending districts in the state. A high class education costs money and our kids are worth it!
- Competitive and worthwhile wages
- Staffing the buildings to keep them safe and sustainable places to exist and learn and build community.
- The long term social and emotional welfare of our children
- Raising pay might help the staffing issue
- Safety, mental health, flexible learning, restorative classes and practice, behavior management, social emotional needs
- Paying staff a livable, appropriate wage. The currant wage of teachers and other school staff is much more time consuming, stressful, and important than the currant wage reflects.
- Student safety is far above all else
- Increasing salary across staff members would attract and retain quality personnel who WANT to support our students on a daily basis.
- How few faculty are currently here...maybe it's time for a raise.
- Attracting, retaining, and training devoted, quality teachers
- I just said this above. This is redundant. Curriculum and Instruction - GOOD instruction of CORE SUBJECTS with GOOD instructors, who place the children first, not their own agendas. Cost is very important. With the economy as it is, and inflation, salaries and fixed incomes are not rising as much as the cost of everything else. Dramatic increase in taxes cannot happen, and I'm talking what the tax bill will be - not the tax rate - HUGE difference. School Safety is paramount. If the children are not safe, then what good is a school? School safety does not just mean safe from shootings and bombs, it also means safety from bullying, and outside paraphenalia that can effect them mentally and take away from their academic achievement. There are so many more things that safety encompasses, other than just physical and what is going on in the rest of the country and what the media is focusing on.
- Adequate SEL support for students regardless if you are on an IEP/504. Should be for all. There should be proactive things in place for students and not just reactive SEL support. Curriculum and academics are a top concern. There should be the same programs for Barre Town and Barre City. We should have the SAME opportunities. PSTL needs to be brought back to Barre Town and started in Barre City. We need programs for our middle school students who are needing to be pushed in academics. High learners need to be challenged and I do not feel that is happening. A safe and healthy environment is also very important. I really feel like we should have more police involved in our district. We should really put emphasis on safety.
- Rigorous instruction for all
- We are still recovering from the many effects of covid, both academically and socially/emotionally. We need to maintain the level of staffing and resources required to meet the high level of need we're seeing right now. Especially maintaining intervention services, support for inexperienced teachers, and continuing to work towards a more functional behavior support system!
- To have sufficient per-pupil funding, in step with other districts.
- Student supports
- Reducing costs that are not directly associated with student learning or student development
- Surplus and level funding
- The students education but also the taxpayers pockets
- The safety of the entire community, competitive wages, social emotional learning
- attract and keep good teachers, meet students' needs, efficient (low touch) administration
- Athletic Facilities
- Tax impact
- City kids should go to the city and town kids should go to the town.
- More of a budget for support staff. Providing equitable pay for support staff, will be the only way to obtain more staff to support our students. Administrators and licensed educators have received a fair raise over the years, but support staff are paid a low unfair wage for the work they do. Teenagers working at fast food establishments, are able to make more money, then your Para's, BI's, Subs, etc.
- Hire more people at wages that are competitive. The shortage is real. We need to offer more compensation to a) keep people and b) attract people.
- Increasing costs, consider which items and services give most value for what they cost. Which give students the best support for life in school and after graduation.
- Reading, writing and arithmetic
- Renovation of athletic facilities
- Cost
- The real struggle for us to afford this
- Transparency
- Set better priorities and realize the community cant affors another hige increase.
- positions not needed such as a coordinator of bus services and then a director in charge of the buses.
- Catching the children up who are behind
- respecting your tax payer ability to pay
- Quality education
- $$$$ for teachers; resources for supportive environments for struggling students; mental health resources and people!
- Cost
- Consolidation of spending in schools, spending as a district rather than individual schools, sharing of resources (staff, equipment, supplies). Cutting down board meetings, length of board meetings, cost of record taking (board members should be the minute takers).
- Aligned curriculum at the lower schools, why so much technology is being used to teach our children (including iPads in the hands of kindergartners) and the effects of the technology on our test scores, behavioral issues and how to begin addressing them from the root, student information safety.
- I think something that the district needs to consider is that maybe it isn't a good thing that we are one of the lowest cost per pupil spending districts.
- Find waste
4. What budget information would you specifically find helpful?
What budget information would you specifically find helpful?
- Staffing budget compared to other districts.
- Josh has done an outstanding job in previous years with a easy to read layout of expenditures. I would continue with this successful method of getting budget info out.
- What is being cut if anything so that we can make an informed decision when we are voting. I would not vote for the budget if we were losing programs or sports.
- Projected increase in staffing. Facilities plans.
- Given the desire to increase STEAM, what is the budget for that?
- How much are the people in the central office making? There seems to be an abundance of staff there.
- The cost of a child's outside services that were NOT accessed when an educator first determined the child actually needs something outside of the general ed classroom AND the cost of the services when this child actually was able to receive those services. We need to do a better job of meeting children where they are at at every age!
- Complete budget break down line by line
- publicly listed what the money is spent on
- How spending money is correlating with better school performance and better behavior (less bad behavior).
- broad breakdown of where funds are going (technology, paychecks, building...)
- How to increase salaries for staff to help with recruitment and retention, how to decrease class sizes
- Safety budget
- Look at all of the academic "coaches" and specialist. There are a lot of them and they don't actually "work" with students. It would be nice to have them in the classroom assisting with students.
- What kind of changes will reflect on special education.
- Details on any proposed changes; reasoning/justification for proposed decreases or increases.
- What themoney is being spent on.
- safe playing areas
- I would like a breakdown of where current funds are going, especially in regards to school board members/administration and facilities maintenance. I would also like to know how many support staff have been budgeted for vs how many are recommended for the current student population.
- student safety
- The amount school gives to athletic programs
- We have had several vacancies for a period of time, what happens to this money? Can we use some of this money to pay our para's better wages so it is a more attractive position.
- How does the school budget actually impact my tax bill? Please explain in easy to understand language how the budget works! Less is more.
- Allocation of funds from previous years.
- How much is going to sports vs actual learning. What's being purchased with the money. If our taxes pay we should have say. Education is more important that athletic games.
- Where and how money is being allocated to the three schools
- Why aren't kids going on field trips?
- Cost per student compared to other schools.
- I think having better electronics would be helpful like headphones. students need to use headphones a lot but not everyone has some. and they have to keep borrowing them from teachers.
- Transparency; what is the current and last 1-5 years’ budgets and how was the money used? What is the current plan/breakout?
- What we are spending and where. A clear break down or where funds are going.
- (1) What are the priorities, (2) the reason(s) why some things are a higher priority, (3) whether there is equity in the use of funds (e.g., not having sports get most of the money at the expense of the arts, clubs, etc.).
- More transparency. i.e. if the budget is voted down tell the voters ahead of time what the impacts will be and what programs will be cut.
- I'd like to see the district show how our budget compares to our neighbors. Not just in cost but in actual programs offered. Are there things that our students are missing out on that other districts offer?
- Previous years trend with note to why on a budget item basis
- How changes to the current budget are being calculated
- For me, that is too broad a question. The more simple explanation the better, perhaps with necessary supporting documentation links? Just an idea.
- Plan simple line item not have to as my account wife what this means
- Easy to understand report on where money is spent
- What percentage of the budget goes to the different departments.
- How it will effect taxes
- The trainings that are being offered for staff on development days, how students needs are being met if they need assistive technologies/equipment.
- Detail of budget categories; breakdown of staff salaries and benefits
- Why the differences exist in how money is allocated across the three schools.
- Continue to be honest and transparent
- The budget breakdown like last year that clearly spells out the financial impact on Barre residents. The reality is most people are not impacted significantly and that can get lost in all the percentages and state education funding formulas.
- Student to staff ratios
- continued stages of information- not just the final document
- Salaries and health insurance
- Training allocations
- Programs funds will be spent on.
- What they’re doing with it
- Actual hands on education
- stories that show impact of investment in students
- Being able to easily find this info -- e.g., maybe a link in this survey to it
- The line items on behavior which doesn’t include all behavior related expenses (such as bus riders, paras, direct instruction, psychiatric expenses). Add all of those items up and you’re looking at over $5m. This is a social problem in the community and no matter how much money you suck out of us taxpayers the quality of education will not improve until the root problems are addressed for these kids at home or for those in foster care. Bad demographics in our community are hindering education and staff retention. Push back on the legislation and NEA and get state funded programs in place.
- A similar handout that Washington central has for their budgets
- Lets just try beong forthcomong and honest this year, get rid of the 8 page propaganda handout.
- All of it, stop hiding and packaging it. Do not send an 8 page propaganda flyer.
- Numbers that reflect hands on educational costs
- Why are men st costs at bc so much higher than at bt
- Salaries of administrators
- A detailed summary made public, possibly on the district homepage (if it's not there already).
- 5 year plan for the facilities and what does student population look like in 5 years
- I would like to know how much the district is spending on alternative school placements due to mandated services in an IEP.
- Find your priorities and FOCUS
- Cost of benefits. It's important to reward teachers BUT we can't afford to pay the full amount. They need to share in the cost.
- a clearly written statement of where and how funds are determined by age and need of buildings
- Physical evidence that the money is even being spent properly. Not papers and graphs. But, if there's a budget for a new science lab, I want to see that lab and the new materials. Not read about it in a newsletter.
- Specifying additions or cuts to the public, transparency
- What are other districts paying staff (specifically paras) in comparison?
- How much money we spend per pupil than surrounding areas.
- Line by line budget report. Field trips are good.
- Comparison of this year and next year with a % of each increase and an explanation of the increase if over 5%
- where funds are being allocated -
- More information about how the money is spent.
- Comparisons of our costs and spending to other districts in VT
- How much is spent on healthcare
- Salaries. Transportation spending. Comparison between city and town schools.
- Year over year comparison.
- Since our merger, how much has the central office and administration costs increased? This was THE main reason for our merger, and costs and amount of staff has increased.
- Curriculum development / staff development spending
- How it will impact my taxes in the city and in the town.
- I'd like to know how large the budget for central office staff is. Especially since most of those employees (HR/etc) don't have a direct impact on our students. It seems like our central office staff keeps growing, yet we keep losing teachers/cutting people in the buildings who work with students.
- Why we pay 3 principals/administrators in this small school?? Extremely wasteful $ spend on unnecessary administrators. Provide paras to all students who need them FIRST.
- I haven't done enough research to know what is currently available. A graph/pie chart of what the money goes to would be helpful but that probably already exists.
- Itemized
- What BUUSD pays teachers compared to other large districts in the state.
- All of it
- how many people moved into the district in the last year? How many left? Just the raw numbers
- MONEY SPENT FOR FACULTY IN ACADEMICS AND THE ARTS COMPARED WITH ATHLETICS, ETC.
- Full detailed budgets with explanations for any large increases in line items.
- specific cost of additional staff, teaching supplies, etc vs. fixed costs for buildings etc
- Understanding all items on "the list" to understand certain priorities and why they are where they're at.
- How are teachers spending classroom budgets. Too often useless items are purchased prior to the teacher really knows what that particular class needs.
- More narrative and less spreadsheet! The finance committee needs to remember they are dealing with people AND numbers. Make it more digestible without thinking that everyone is stupid and can't read numbers - it may just be that we just don't have time to get into your granular detail. Don't assume that we would rather read a budget line by line.
- A pie chart delineating where most of the money is going, with personnel divided into teaching staff and administrative roles.
- What do admin staff actually do to support teachers
- where's the money going
- how you believe it helps us.
- I have faith in the budget committees, an overview would be helpful
- Anything that would potentially raise my taxes
- Numbers to take everything into consideration and better understand.
- funding for field trips and other non-traditional learning opportunities. How much is budgeted each year? How is it allocated?
- The information is accessible and complete. Website info is helpful and convenient.
- Bullet points of what’s being considered
- Full spreadsheet of planned expenditures with a narrative explaining those choices.
- how to make the dollar spread efficiently and effectively so that we can meet the needs of students, staff and community...
- Numbers of types of after school programs afforded.
- Positions adding/changing
- Whether we will have to cut positions.
- The "cheat sheets" and presentations that are done by the superintendent and school board are very helpful and easy to understand.
- How each specific allocation is determined
- Projected increases year to year
- Where all of the money is going. Salary of higher level employees.
- Memos
- A detailed, line item listing of the budget that was listed in the Board agenda addendum. Something that breaks all of the major categories down into what is included in them
- I want to know what programs are in and being cut. It's not about the staffing, it's about this program or that program. Sometimes I do not understand if I vote a certain way then certain things will be cut. It's not clear.
- Per pupil dpending
- How district priorities align with how money is allocated
- I've seen the budget itemization
- A transparent overview of where funds are being spent and then how taxes are affected
- New to town, not sure yet what changes or additions might be useful.
- Funds
- How do we determine where monies go where?
- How much of the budget is being used to improve intervention, as most of our students are behind in many areas due to being home for so long during the pandemic.
- Percent increases, what major things are costing significantly more. Student demographic trends - more/less students over prior years, more/less needing services, more/less ESL, more/less in AP program, etc.. whichever demographics significantly affect the budget.
- Costs other than salaries
- Budget plan for renovating athletic facilities
- Honesty for once
- A pamphlet simialr to that of wich Washington central gives.
- Empathy to tax payers
- A highly detailed handout to include all actual costs, student counts and staff costs.
- Student counts, test scores per building, stusent counts, staff costs
- operating costs of the school including the technical center.
- the total amount of the expense budget and the total amount of revenue inclusive of grant money. Divide that by the number of students for the real cost of education per student
- Break down on expenses
- Student counts per building, test scores per building ( proficiency) and total cost oer staff member.
- Every line of the bisfet should be mailed to every resident
- A full overview of student enrollment, test scores per building and costs per employee.
- The entire budget, line items and all, with the last 3 years budgets and actual should be mailed to every household.
- The full budget sent to every resident
- The full budget on every mailbox
- An explanation of administrator raises at a time when they have already received raises in the not so distant past and the justification for those raises in relation to the actual work they do versus their teams underneath them.
- Why is lowest per pupil spending a good thing? How has it affected our academics and testing outcomes? Is there a correlation between our student success and our per pupil spending?
- Salary
- Everthing
- Inform everyone
- Line by line discussions
- Get rid if the 8 page propaganda and just be honest for once.
5. Comment Box
- The revolving door and draining pool of potential staff employees is very concerning. An understaffed building puts a tremendous strain on everyone, including students because their needs are not being met as best as possible. What can our district do to raise hourly or part-time staff salaries while also creating other incentives to attract more support? The same goes for Special Educators. Without a full staff of these crucial education supports, we are risking employee burnout at a higher and higher potential.
- If we are going to truly support Flexible Pathways and alternative learning opportunities to meet all student's needs, we need a teacher contract and monies that support these positions.
- I understand that the current economy is terrible, but I hope that the board and members of our community understand the importance of educating and providing for our children to help them be successful adults.
- Obviously curriculum and Instruction are important as well, but I think that students needs should be met first. I think curriculum, in trying to reach common core standards, are adding too much verbiage to math and making it so students that can't read fall behind. I also think that before reaching a higher level understanding that students need to be taught skills at a basic level. Then, after that, their thinking can be extended.
- BCEMS has outgrown its building. There is not enough room, and there have not been enough maintenance based updates to the building to make it an effective learning environment. Faculty needs to be paid more. We will never fill crucial positions if the pay continues not to compete with other schools with comparable challenges. Additional administration is desperately needed at BCEMS. Faculty are being expected to run and manage situations on their own without administrative presence that they should not have to deal with on top of doing their own jobs.
- It is good that SHS is getting improved ventilation. Are new controls on the list also? The building overheats regularly. The pneumatic controls in each room are original to the building--a marvel of post-war analog engineering, to be sure-but they are not sensitive to subtle adjustments, resulting in an overheated building and the need to open windows.
- Any time we allow people who are looking to hurt the public school system have an equal voice to those supporting it, we look like a joke. We have board members actively fighting against progress in our schools, including against passing budgets. Future budget processes should include information plans to combat disinformation campaigns by some of those actors. There also needs to be 100% honesty and transparency. Every time something comes out that makes the schools look bad, because of some budget issue, there needs to be an explanation readily available for all of us to see.
- Send email to parents of budget breakdown and why it’s needed
- We will essentially need at least 10% increase just to break even. If you want anyone to work here, you'll need to start facing reality on wage increases. I already had an $800 heat bill this winter I can't pay. So many people are talking about leaving right now, and there's just no one to replace them. We talk to our colleagues who have left, and it's not just that the jobs pay better elsewhere, the jobs are also easier. They have more support staff, more supplies, and fewer kids with high needs. Continuing to cut supply budgets and working in a crumbling building, and having so many kids who need more who we can't serve doesn't make people want to work here either.
- Perhaps a staff questionnaire to see why teachers and staff are leaving. The answer may not be higher salaries. Staff retention may be more attainable if there is more time to complete required work.
- We have a lot of elderly people in our city and with taxes climbing higher it is hard for them to make ends meet. I had 3 houses in my neighborhood sell this past month and t hey were neighbors who had been there since I moved in 35 years ago.
- More resources need to go towards special education. Children with special needs are underserved by the district, with many of them being sent to expensive third party schools that specialize in special education. Why does BUUSD have to send more children to these schools than other neighboring districts? Why can’t the district better meet the needs of children with special needs? “Low funding” and “staff shortage” is the explanation given by school staff— these issues need to be remedied in order to meet the needs of Barre’s children.
- Inflation has certainly affected our family. However, we also vote to pass the school budget and will continue to do so. I’d like to see the school offer more enrichment activities.
- All extracurricular items need to be kept! These provide students with healthy options for before/afterschool times! Students remember memories from extracurriculars, not usually academics. BOTH are extremely beneficial to the growth and development of our youth.
- The lack of staff in the elementary school has made it impossible to operate in a way that is safe and productive.
- I don't mind paying school taxes. The municipal tax in the city is too high and for most community members that is why it can be a struggle to live in this city.
- We are severely short-staffed even for the positions for which we are currently budgeting, and we are not currently budgeting for enough. We need a larger budget for staff.
- The free breakfast and lunch initiative has had a hugely positive impact. I hope that that continues.
- We have to send our kid to private school since there are no spaces for her in town. Financially impacting our household
- My son ended up having food poisoning last year at school and I think you think some of the money to get better lunches and making them yeah still free for all the kids to eat at school but making sure they're healthy they're not free to Burns they're anything and I think that somebody should go into the cafeteria once or twice a month and look through the freezer and say okay cafeteria ladies this is what you got to get rid of and that's not good that you shouldn't be serving make sure they're serving the right things because they don't and my friends will teach her Mr furnace a corn dog that was pulled out of their freezer that was brought home by eight students that looked like it was freezer burned and not good to eat you can get food poisoning from freezer burnt food so they need to check it out before they say oh we're number one Cooks at school no you're not you don't look before you serve
- We need to invest in providing opportunities for our most vulnerable students. Mental health services, academic supports, alternative programming, etc.
- Economy/Inflation: Food, housing, and gas have increased dramatically.
- Going back to familys financial ability. When a child cannot participate due to their own families inability to pay extra cost for sports, gearing and other activities it really affects their self worth. I remember the feeling when my family couldn't afford the 50 dollars to allow me to participate in a school run program. Completely unfair to the child.
- BCEMS would save a ton of money on heating if they got solar panels.
- Support out administrators and teachers when they express what is needed for our students.
- School can be scary now, there's constant threats made everyday around the u.s and students are always getting into trouble. our safety should be #1.
- My students are currently latch key kids which I don't care for. I would prefer they be surpervised but I can't afford the extra cost.
- The current economy has impacted my family, as I can imagine many others. If we can avoid an increase in our property taxes that would be beneficial at this time.
- I would like to see the return of PSTL. It was an amazing program that helped develop leaders and encourage the love of writing and reading. Also, there should be better enrichment opportunities for 9th and 10th graders at Spaulding. The level of engagement is so overall so low that it impacts the rigor of classes.
- I'd like to see the district create a budget that is more of an actual district budget. We currently build a budget for each individual school, but this leads to many disparities between the schools that shouldn't exist.
- Children in middle school struggle immensely due to being cooped up. Let them out!
- It concerns me that the overwhelming message I hear is that teachers do not feel supported and do not feel free to speak up in regards to their challenges with behavioral issues and time constraints. It concerns me that teachers can feel threatened physically by students and feel they have no recourse. The system appears broken and we are all a part of it. That being said, it is on all of us. My request is transparency and the freedom to speak without fear of reprisal (from teachers to parents to community members). Thank you for listening.
- The staff should receive incentive bonus’s for the children they teach reaching academic goals.
- Do not merge the schools. Stop changing the way the school system is. We pay more in taxes for the school. Have barre priorities changed for the city to support the same way. Merging us will only raise our taxes in barretown more and that is not fair I also know that most of the teachers will walk out if you do this. And folks may move out of the district
- Bringing in guest speakers on staff development days to talk about/train staff in certain areas would benefit the school long term. There often is a cost, yes, but the students can’t be overlooked because we are focused on how to challenge the neurotypical students that excel on tests. Teachers are often unfamiliar with not only a student’s diagnosis or have a stereotype of that diagnosis and get intimidated prior to meeting that student. Without training they won’t know how to make a connection with them and how are we benefiting our most vulnerable students by having teachers that are not educated or aware of how best to support them or meet their needs. Our students also need education around how to interact with and include their neurodivergent or “non-typical” peers. Give students an appropriate place to learn and ask questions rather than later stare, mock, and bully because they don’t understand. Awareness and understanding fosters kindness!
- I know the nation is experiencing inflation, but a 9 percent increase is unreasonable. Limit any increase to 3 percent.
- I think it would be interesting to see the differences in test scores, climate surveys, teacher retention, etc… based on per pupil spending across different schools in Vermont.
- Please bring back the chickens. It’s a wonderful learning experience for the children. Also, all Board members must be required to take training as to their responsibilities and limitations on what they can and cannot do. Failure to take such training within two months of being elected must result in forfeiting the Board position. These required trainings should be held annually for all Board members. If the Board cannot get its act together and work amicably with school officials, then the state should take over the district and the Board should be removed for their intransigence. Board members should stop micromanaging. The district has a wonderful superintendent, faculty, support staff, etc. They know what they are doing. Let them do what they have been hired to do and stop micromanaging.
- Please know there are many Barre educators who are polishing there resumes right now and waiting for openings in districts that pay more or have boards that are viewed as more teacher friendly. If you want people to stay pay them more. Show them support. Pay the support staff more because they enable so much of the work teachers do. Invest in our school. Give our students the tools they need and the staff they need. The grass may not been greener at u32 or CVU but they pay is better.
- Merging the districts had a promise of lower taxes. Hasn't happened. Yes, prices have gone up but our incomes have not kept pace. Education's very important but it has to be affordable, especially for us retired folks.
- There is no one who doesn't have life affected by the economy- and being fiscally responsible to that is your role. continually looking for grants/suplus to reduce the bottom line is a tragedy waiting to happen- as the real figure is not looked at and when the funds aren't available to do that- it looks like an explosive increase. Special Education costs should be significantly reduced- given the time and money to create programs locally that were meant to address this. Special Education has always been the scape goat of educational expense- if you don't have that now, which you shouldn't, you have to know it's to be a direct conversation and information of the system expenses, not just a percentage in a group. Stop talking about what our teachers "cost us"...and celebrate them and promote the professionals they are. Start talking about the amazing work that is being done and the continued needs. Not salary/benefits... lets shift to kids and programs.
- The teachers complain about behavior problems of the students, but lack the training, understanding and acceptance of children with disabilities. They are more worried about children “disrespecting”’them by asking questions instead of instead of treating children with respect.
- "I'd like to point out that teacher's salaries barely cover cost of living, so to expect teacher's to have a budget of $200/year to provide their students with learning tools, crafts, enrichment materials, etc is putting a lot of financial weight on teacher's to fund their students needs.
- Schools are also seeing such great benefit to the students learning in outdoor classrooms. More and more teachers are becoming Eco certified to help students have success, health and wellness with outdoor education. Funds for a shelter to use for this type of education would be wonderful."
- If you change anything about our school structure, BTMES teachers will walk. Have fun filling those spots, when you can't fill the openings you have now.
- This survey is a good idea. Taxpayers input is valuable and we’ve had enough l! Annual budget increases with no gains on test scores is regressive
- Throwing money at the issues is not working. Woth high surpluses the last two years an increase this year is unneeded and the proposed draft beed A to show more cuts. I wont vote for an increase over 2%
- No increase in spending. Flat budget.
- The community cant afford an increase.
- Why are the city school costs so much higher than the towns
- Since extensive work is going to be done in the high school, is it possible to update electrical and tech in rooms to make it easier for students to learn and teachers to teach?
- I earn $46000 all year round and you think I should be taxed to pay gient salries for people who get the summer off. It’s not fair.
- The society mindset and values have changed. It’s timeto bring back safe schools where students don’t have to be worried about going to school and being bullied. The staff should collaborate to ensure all students needs are met
- The current economy has decimated parent's access to daycare (the half of the day children aren't in pre-k) and aftercare programs. The fastest, most efficient way we can help subsidize care for these kids is by doing it through a system already in place - our public schools. Barre Schools has a real opportunity to be leaders in truly caring for ALL of student's needs by providing safe, affordable, ACCESSABLE aftercare for kids. I'd like to hear more about budgeting new programs -- specifically budgeting adding staff and paying above competitive wages. Again, the Y does not have the staff to handle the demand for aftercare. Only the school(s) taking aftercare programs over and keeping them in-district will successfully serve all Barre students' needs.
- Given rising costs, do we need to look at longer days at school, only 4 days a week? That would reduce cost of busing, too. Improve heating and cooling to save money. Thank you and all the best - we are in challenging times, and we CAN help each other. Students can help each other, too. Develop after school programs for parents, older students to work with younger kids? Parenting classes. Engaging the community in school activities.
- I will gladly pay higher taxes to fund education.
- The current/economy/inflation has impacted everyone. I would like to see our community take pride in it's spending per pupil and not be proud that we spend lower than communities around us. Let's invest in the next generation.
- I have had to take a second job to make ends meet even with my husband's pay we barely scrape by with the pay I get now.
- What's the budget with the driveway to the school? Those speed bumps are horrible for the many families that struggle with low income and making their cars last. Even driving 1 MPH, what's underneath the car still gets hit. Some cars sit low. Not that anyone will mention this, discuss it. If there isn't other comments on this, this will be overlooked. Like everything else in life, right?
- Need to keep an affordable budget in mind for all citizens.
- If other districts in the area are paying more, our staff is not going to stay when we are overworked and dealing with the extra challenges that come when we don’t have the current staff to help our neediest children. We need to pay staff what they are worth. Plus with the cost of everything continuing to go up, staff need to be able to afford their basic needs and the needs of their family. Knowing I could drive a little further and make a significant amount more is not going to help me stay when I can no longer afford to.
- We struggle to keep and attract high quality staff due to our low salaries for staff and paraeducators. Staff morale is low due to feeling unsupported and respected by our school board.
- I am ok with paying more in taxes to support schools.
- Barre Town really needs to look at a bond or some form of funding to improve the building. I was in for open house and the carpeting, lack of walls, and wasted space was something to behold. It is tough to be proud of our school with it in such disrepair. Also, as my last comment indicated, it seems like our school is offering the bare minimum to students outside of math and English. I encourage our board to be creative in finding ways to save money without cutting any more from them. I would start by looking at administrative costs.
- Investing in staff should be a priority; not niceties but concrete steps to increase skill, opportunities, professionalism.
- Provide what other schools do first: paras for IEP students who need them, qualified substitutes, busing from home and to games always, school supplies (other schools in the area actually provide supplies parents need to buy very little).
- Thank you for the upcoming facilities updates to SHS!! IS there budget information somewhere?
- We cannot endure a 8.2% increase
- I am concerned that our salary will not keep up with inflation. And before you ask, other workers should also have their salaries increased to keep up with inflation. This is an everyone problem, not just education.
- Cease purchasing property that isn’t being adequate utilized, put more into retaining wholesome staff, re-integration of parent/teacher relationships and parent involvement in educational, emotional, and social support
- Keep up the good work in a challenging environment.
- Going forward, providing the above-mentioned detailed budgets on the district website would be a good start toward transparency. Also, providing answers to questions from the public asked during meetings and posting those answers on the website.
- Change out carpet, lighting, update physical built ins, sinks, walls, etc.
- You have a very tough job, not just in drafting a budget, but getting it passed by the voters. The more specific you can be about objectives, the more talking point you will have. Thank you for your hard work!
- Inflation is hitting everyone. Keep that in mind. We are all having to make hard decisions in the grocery store.
- Supporting mental health for both students and staff was not included on the list specifically but should be thought about in terms of curriculum as a key piece to learning.
- Administration, teachers and support staff need more training on inclusion, especially autism and anxiety
- I wish Spaulding offered drama classes.
- Inflation has impacted us in a big way. We are on a fixed income and own our home. If taxes don’t stay stable it will be very difficult to stay in our home. That would make us very sad indeed.
- My 8th grader has experienced 2 field trips in his entire time with BTMES(k-8). His cousin, a student at U32, this year has already had two (hike & State House) with more planned, including a multi-day trip to Washington DC, as a celebration of ending middle school. Friends in the Montpelier district also have similar experiences. I am very disappointed and saddened that my children are not benefitting from field trips regularly. Some of my best memories and learning opportunities came from those experiences. I'm not sure how we can improve funding for these or where to take them from, but it is a large priority for my family. My wife has recently joined the PTO in hopes of helping raise funding, however, it appears that's not what their funding is used for. How do neighboring districts fund these opportunities for their kids?
- I am thankful to work in a District where our Central Office cares so much about the wellbeing of all our students while also caring for the staff members. Our administration ensures we are paid as we should be, while being mindful of the budget and what the needs are of our students.
- Investing in the school and staff are important. I support a higher budget and less cuts.
- Curriculum materials, technology and improving the physical space at Barre Town are vitally important.
- I am incredibly worried about what our schools will look like next year. I know for a fact that if we keep salaries exactly as they are, we won’t have enough teachers to open our doors next year. Even if we increase salaries, we will probably still be in trouble. So although not specifically a budget issue, I want to make sure our district is coming up with a plan for what we will do when half of our staff decide to leave our district or the profession at the end of the year because there is a very high likelihood that it will happen.
- I am worried about property taxes going up at the same time inflation is making everything go up. Are there ways that volunteers can help do things that might help keep some costs down and build connections.
- Thank you for all your work!
- Sometimes it feels like we do not earn enough money for what we are expected to do.
- How can we shift the dialogue on budget from property taxes to an overview of all our community, state and federal tax obligations and the return on those investments: Where do all of our tax dollars go? and how much of our tax investments actually return to our community, and in what form?
- An aligned PK-8 curriculum with instructional materials is needed for our students to achieve their full potential, with effective, ongoing teacher professional development for implementation.
- Everything is expensive. So we need to really focus on the things that are a top 3 priority. Really narrow in on what exactly we want to do. Look at the two schools and see how we can combine or buy materials as one to cut costs.
- How does Barre compare to region
- Thanks you to all of the hard working teachers and staff, who deserve fair pay and community support. Thank you to those who volunteer to do the hard work of being on the board. And to those whose agenda it is to de-legitimate public education, we see you and will stand up for our educators and schools.
- We're new to town, and I have grandkids in school and am impressed so far with the pre-K and kindergarten programs.
- The athletic facilities need serious updating. We can make these the “crown jewel” of barre city. The fields are almost unsafe for playing. We can’t hold any real VPA events. If we fixed these it would not only help the school but the surrounding community businesses as well.
- My taxes have risen over 1000 times in 7 years due to senseless spending and not fixing the issues. After your children are out of school or if you don’t have children you should not be paying school taxes. We have already paid our dues. Make it come out of the parents who’s kids attend the school. Never mind using chrome books for these kids to go home and destroy. They should get what’s suitable to them. An old fashion book and a note book. Make them do the research. Give them something to do besides look up how to be a menace
- I believe many families are worried about support staff, lack of staff, lack of intervention services, special ed services. There is not enough staff to support all children. For example, one OT and one PT to work with how many students? It is not fair that students are receiving minimal services. So, how can we provide children with more? Increase pay, include incentives to employees, make working for the supervisory union a more attractive option.
- Safety is also a big concern. As a community member, concerned with the huge cost of education and the corresponding property tax bill, even I would willing to pass a budget with new/increased funding for safety measures.
- Flat budget
- Administrators consistantly refer to barre cost per student and our tax rate as the lowest in the region.. Frankly your focus on the wrong thing. Focus on needs vs ability to pay. I dont care what other towns or districts are doing. we dont pay their bills. We pay ours,, Then there is the cost we pay vs the quality of the product.. With scores in the toilet, why do we pay more for education.. improve the quality of the product and you might convince me to give more $
- Even though the school board is not directly related to funding the school, however the school board meetings and how they are carried out are very concerning. The board directly affects the students and funds to support their education. Spending some quality money to educate our board would greatly benefit the students.
- Keep costs down
- Why is it up to a board that does not work in our district to decide the budget? They are no involved in the day to day operations of the district and they, and the public, have a skewed misconception of spending. Perhaps showing what the budget goes to, tangibly, can help explain that as a district employee, there are very few areas where overspending occurs.
- What is being done about the information breach in the latest FOIA request? Federal laws were broken when the records were left unredacted and yet we have heard nothing about who was responsible and how it was handled. Someone who created such a breach should be fired. As someone with small kids who cannot yet attend the Barre schools, I would be thinking twice about sending them knowing their personal information may not be safe and could be exposed at any time. Accountability in the district seems to not exist in truly reckless and illegal activity. I would like to see this being handled publicly so we can understand what exactly happened and how it will be avoided in the future.
- 2 things: What is being done about this completely botched FOIA request? It is clear to me that whoever handled this does not know how to properly do so. It is very alarming that one of the departments listed in the Times Argus article is the IT department since they should be the ones protecting internal data,and not the ones causing a leak of information. Is anything being done about this? Since the IT department had a part in it, I would find it hard to believe that there isn't a log of everything that transpired It shouldn't be difficult to see exactly what happened and to then take appropriate action. If other people seem to be fired for less, where does a FERPA violation fall?
How much money is being spent on meeting minutes being done by someone not on the board? Isn't this what the secretary of the board should be doing? For what seems to be a board that questions every spending decision in the district they don't seem to think that the spending that happens due to the board meetings is an issue. - We need to push back on the unfunded mandates from DC and Montpelier.
Working within survey best practices, moderations were made to submissions that fit one or more of the following categories:
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