​Alburgh school budget passes in Tuesday revote

The electronic sign outside of Alburgh’s town offices encourages residents to vote in a special election on Tuesday. Photo by Michael Frett.

By MICHAEL FRETT
Islander Staff Writer
ALBURGH – Voters approved Alburgh’s school district budget in a special election on Tuesday.
According to Donna Bohannon, Alburgh’s town clerk, voters approved the school district’s revised annual budget 85 to 58 in an election that saw a low turnout typical for special elections in Alburgh.
“For a revote, that’s pretty normal,” Bohannon said of the relatively low turnout seen Tuesday.
Voters in Alburgh originally defeated a previous budget proposal on Town Meeting Day, voting 170 to 152 against the annual budget funding both the Alburgh Community Education Center and affording tuition for high schoolers taught outside of Alburgh.
Following the budget’s defeat in March, school officials trimmed the school district’s proposed budget by $100,000, thinning the school’s annual operations and maintenance budget.
The revised $6.8 million education budget included funding for a new math interventionist position and for expanding a part-time guidance counselor position into a full-time position, as well as funding to cover the 10% increase in teacher health insurance premiums seen statewide.
In an interview with The Islander earlier this year, Alburgh’s school board chair, Michael Savage, said the revised budget would still likely be able to cover periodic maintenance needs at the school as well as programming needed to address COVID-19’s impact on Alburgh students.
Despite a lower equalized per pupil count and common level of appraisal, two variables in the complicated formula used by Vermont to determine education tax rates, the education tax rate in Alburgh is estimated to fall to just shy of $1.50 for every $100 of assessed property value.
In all, 192 elementary and middle school students are currently educated in the Alburgh Community Education Center.

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