Volume 4, Number 3 March 2002

INSIDE THIS ISSUE West Virginia School Consolidation Nixed by Citizens, Teachers Vermont's "Act 60" Continues to Improve Equity for State's Students Groups Ask Arkansas Supreme Court for Decision Supporting Rural Schools New Research Finds Smaller is Better in Arkansas Matters of Fact About RPM RPM Archives

Vermont's "Act 60" Continues to Improve Equity for State's Students

As state legislators once again consider whether to change or repeal Vermont's Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1997 (Act 60), a new report shows that the controversial legislation continues to improve educational equity for the state's students. The report, Still "A Reasonably Equal Share:" Update on Educational Equity in Vermont Year 2001-2002, was funded by the Rural School and Community Trust. The study looked at the latest statewide data to see if the 1997 law had continued its progress toward achieving the three main goals established by the state's Supreme Court and the Legislature: student resource equity, tax burden equity, and academic achievement equity. An update of a similar study released last year, the report shows "notable and continuous progress" in providing equal education opportunities for Vermont's schoolchildren under Act 60.

Highlights of the report include:

• Act 60 is making significant and steady progress in reducing inequities of Student Resources. Before Act 60 (FY 98), property wealthy towns spent an average of 37% more, or $2100, per pupil, compared to the poorest towns. In FY 2002, this spending gap was less than 13%, with the per pupil disparity diminished to $900. Thus wealthy communities continue to spend more on their schools, but the gap has been significantly reduced.
• Act 60 has significantly improved past inequities of Tax Burden for funding local schools. In FY 98, the poorest families paid the highest percent of their income for school taxes (3.3%) and the wealthiest families paid the least (2.5%). Last year, the poorest households paid less than two percent for school taxes (1.8%), while the wealthiest households paid 2.3%. The percent of income needed to support education dropped in all income categories, though the decrease is most dramatic for those earning the least.
• Academic Achievement inequities still exist. Children living in property-rich communities do better on state assessments. Also, children living in towns that spend more on education do better. However, on both of these indicators, our analysis indicates a continued trend towards shrinking the achievement gap. For example, in FY 98, the percent of students meeting or exceeding the standards was 19% higher for the wealthiest communities as compared to the poorest communities. In FY 01 this gap was reduced to 12%.
• Academic achievement continues to improve in all categories of property wealth and in all categories. Student academic improvement, since the passage of Act 60, has not been limited to the poorest communities. More Vermont students are meeting or exceeding standards across all levels of spending and all levels of property wealth.

"As states around the country struggle with school finance issues, it is encouraging to see Vermont's success in finding a school funding formula that is moving the state toward both equity and adequacy," said Rachel B. Tompkins, Ed.D., President of the Rural Trust. "We believe -- and Vermont's experience proves -- that school funding can be both equitable and adequate."

Passage of Act 60 followed a 1997 Vermont Supreme Court case, Brigham v. State of Vermont, in which the court ruled the state's education funding formula unconstitutional. The Court stated, "To keep a democracy competitive and thriving, students must be afforded equal access to all that our educational system has to offer. In the funding of what our Constitution places at the core of a successful democracy, the children of Vermont are entitled to a reasonably equal share."

Jimerson, a policy researcher for the Rural Trust, set out to determine whether progress in achieving educational equity under Act 60 had continued in the past year. Her conclusion is that it did.

"Act 60 is fulfilling the mandates of the Supreme Court decision and the goals of the legislation," said Jimerson. "Spending inequities are decreasing. Tax burdens are more appropriately aligned with income. More children are performing better on statewide assessments. And local control has not been diminished. In short, Act 60 is fulfilling the mandates of the Supreme Court decision and the goals of the legislation." The report is available online at www.ruraledu.org. For a printed copy, call The Rural Trust at (703) 243-1487.