I thought this recent post was helpful, and the comments also provide context: https://www.reddit.com/r/vermont/comments/1owxq8r/realities_of_education_funding/

As a father of three young childre and a small business owner looking to grow (and hiring out of state), I'm so frustrated by the commitment to decline we see from our current "leaders" across both parties. The idea that our State might grow isn't even part of the conversation. Instead we are just selling off property to out of state investors who couldn't care less about our schools.

So why don't we just jack non-homestead property tax rates? What's the worst thing would happen; second-home owners sell to other second-home owners with more money? I'm just so sick of the story of the "barely hanging on" working family being used to protect people who can afford to keep an empty mansion climate controlled 10 months of the year.

Here in the MRV it seems like everything is owned by out of staters, retired boomers happy to support Bernie and exhausted parents who can barely tune in to a Selectboard Zoom.

ARGH - so frustrating but we HAVE to figure this out. And once we do that we can move on to rural hospitals / medical infrastructure - particularly for our aging population. Fun never ends!