I live in Vermont and I’m an outsider, an immigrant – a flatlander in local parlance. I’m not from around here. The local standard has it that to be considered a Vermonter, not only do you have to have been born here, but your parents have to have been born here, too.
That’s setting the bar pretty high, but I understand. The native Vermonter, with just a hint of the Western New England accent catching in his or her voice, has to take great pains to defend the home territory, so overrun is it with immigrants.
We Vermont immigrants are unique among the teeming masses surging this way and that across the globe at this moment in history. While most immigrants tend to be poorer, less educated and less politically powerful than the indigenous population, in Vermont that’s turned on its head. The immigrants – doctors and dentists, writers and lawyers, entrepreneurs and developers – tend to swing more weight by their third town meeting than native Vermonters whose roots run back to the revolution. This is reflected in our state’s political representation. Our senators are both natives, but our congressman hails from Brooklyn and our governor is a native of Long Island.
As is often the case with an influx of immigrants, the disparity between rich and poor leads to confrontation. The flashpoint in Vermont is school funding. The wealthy flatland immigrants cluster in university and ski resort towns, driving up property values and providing a healthy tax base for local schools. Schools in those 40 towns, which have come to be known as “gold towns,” have plenty of money to spend on each student; those schools are the equal of the best in the country. In many of Vermont’s other 220 towns, a sparse, rural population means few dollars per student. These schools have to struggle to keep up with the basics and can in no way afford to keep pace with up-to-date educational technology. The result is that two Vermont students, who may only live ten miles apart, have very different opportunities in school.
In 1997, taking note of the obvious, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled it is the state’s responsibility to ensure equality in education across the state. The legislature responded with what is known as Act 60, but it may as well be called “Act Robin Hood,” because it takes from the rich and gives to the poor.
Under Act 60, instead of collecting and distributing school taxes in each district, Vermont will collect and distribute on a statewide level. That means in the 40 richest towns, taxes will go up and school spending will go down, while in the other 220 towns, taxes will go down and school spending will go up. The 10,000 richest students will have less, the 95,000 poorer students will have more. Of course, if the wealthy school districts want to keep school spending where it was, they are free to pay additional taxes.
The rich are, of course, apoplectic and they’re raising a much bigger stink than one would think a small group could raise, but then, they’re rich. The rich could flee over to New Hampshire, the Land of No Taxes, but the New Hampshire Supreme Court recently ruled their school funding unconstitutional for similar reasons. Such movements are occurring in New Jersey, Kansas and other states.
All hysteria and bickering aside, Act 60 will mean Vermont is a better state, with better schools producing better citizens. I don’t know what the rich are complaining about. I can’t think of a finer product money can buy.
Eat the Rich
I live in Vermont and I’m an outsider, an immigrant – a flatlander in local parlance. I’m not from around here. The local standard has it that to be considered a Vermonter, not only do you have to have been born here, but your parents have to have been born here, too.
That’s setting the bar pretty high, but I understand. The native Vermonter, with just a hint of the Western New England accent catching in his or her voice, has to take great pains to defend the home territory, so overrun is it with immigrants.
We Vermont immigrants are unique among the teeming masses surging this way and that across the globe at this moment in history. While most immigrants tend to be poorer, less educated and less politically powerful than the indigenous population, in Vermont that’s turned on its head. The immigrants – doctors and dentists, writers and lawyers, entrepreneurs and developers – tend to swing more weight by their third town meeting than native Vermonters whose roots run back to the revolution. This is reflected in our state’s political representation. Our senators are both natives, but our congressman hails from Brooklyn and our governor is a native of Long Island.
As is often the case with an influx of immigrants, the disparity between rich and poor leads to confrontation. The flashpoint in Vermont is school funding. The wealthy flatland immigrants cluster in university and ski resort towns, driving up property values and providing a healthy tax base for local schools. Schools in those 40 towns, which have come to be known as “gold towns,” have plenty of money to spend on each student; those schools are the equal of the best in the country. In many of Vermont’s other 220 towns, a sparse, rural population means few dollars per student. These schools have to struggle to keep up with the basics and can in no way afford to keep pace with up-to-date educational technology. The result is that two Vermont students, who may only live ten miles apart, have very different opportunities in school.
In 1997, taking note of the obvious, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled it is the state’s responsibility to ensure equality in education across the state. The legislature responded with what is known as Act 60, but it may as well be called “Act Robin Hood,” because it takes from the rich and gives to the poor.
Under Act 60, instead of collecting and distributing school taxes in each district, Vermont will collect and distribute on a statewide level. That means in the 40 richest towns, taxes will go up and school spending will go down, while in the other 220 towns, taxes will go down and school spending will go up. The 10,000 richest students will have less, the 95,000 poorer students will have more. Of course, if the wealthy school districts want to keep school spending where it was, they are free to pay additional taxes.
The rich are, of course, apoplectic and they’re raising a much bigger stink than one would think a small group could raise, but then, they’re rich. The rich could flee over to New Hampshire, the Land of No Taxes, but the New Hampshire Supreme Court recently ruled their school funding unconstitutional for similar reasons. Such movements are occurring in New Jersey, Kansas and other states.
All hysteria and bickering aside, Act 60 will mean Vermont is a better state, with better schools producing better citizens. I don’t know what the rich are complaining about. I can’t think of a finer product money can buy.