*Essex High School club leaders promote their clubs and activities to their peers in fall 2021. Courtesy EWSD.*

ESSEX JUNCTION — On Tuesday, April 5 the Essex Westford School District board added a public informational hearing on the Australian ballot articles to their usual meeting schedule.

Board Chair Erin Kennedy Knox began the meeting with an overview of Articles 1, 2, and 3, which are responsible for electing a moderator, clerk and treasurer of the board respectively.

Article 4 would authorize EWSD to borrow money to be used for the payment of district expenses by the issuance of notes or orders payable not later than one year from the date of issuance pending receipt of payments from the State Education Fund.

The district receives the majority of its funding, about $60 million, from the State Education Fund.

These first four articles are traditionally decided through voice-votes. Instead, each will be on the Australian ballot this year.

Article 5 covers approval of the budget for the July 1, 2022 fiscal year: $86,008,927 in total. If approved, it will result in education spending of $18,146 per equalized pupil — 7.30% higher than spending for the current year.

58% of all district funding is spent on classrooms and core instruction, Knox said.

Comparisons of current and drafted budgets were surveyed. Graphs detailing these can be found below.

Under the proposed budget, the district plans to bring in new hires. About 50% of these hires will be tax-neutral.

Article 6 addresses the budget for the Center for Technology, Essex. Proposed spending for the coming fiscal year is set at $8,226,539 — a 3% increase in funding. At the moment, EWSD sends the most students to CTE out of any district.

“So the Center for Technology is a bit different. EWSD hosts a regional technical center. We have, as that host, the obligation to approve their spending authority, but we are not responsible for that budget. All we pay to the technical center is the cost of our students attending the technical center… We take the tuition costs, which we split with the state. The state pays about half of the tuition - a little bit more next year,” Chief Operating Officer Brian Donohue said.

Though expenditure is set to increase, tax rates are declining. With a common level of appraisal (CLA) adjustment, homestead tax rates are set to decrease at least 4% in the town, village, and Westford. Non-homestead and income sensitivity rates would decrease by more than 7%.

The numbers are tentative. A re-appraisal will be set in motion as the town and village split and the village becomes a city.

“As soon as the governor signs it and the village becomes a city, then that triggers the re-appraisal paperwork to the state. The state then comes back and then communicates ‘Yes. Go ahead.’ And then in probably a year, or two, that would be a town-wide re-appraisal. And the reason why is that the tax rate for the village is going to be different than the town outside of the village,” Board Member Al Bombardier said.

Voting on these articles will occur from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on April 12. Polling locations are as follows:

Town of Essex: Essex Middle School

Town of Westford: Westford School

Village of Essex Junction: Essex High School

The April 5 EWSD meeting can be viewed here. Minutes can be found here.

Original story can be found at the Essex Reporter.