In June 1997, the Vermont legislature passed Act 60,[1] known as The Equal Educational Opportunity Act.
It was drafted in response to a Vermont Supreme Court decision, in the Brigham vs. State of Vermont case,[2] which stated that Vermont’s existing educational funding system was unconstitutional, favoring towns with higher real estate values over those with less.
The property tax rate in each town is adjusted by the common level of appraisal (CLA) for that town's school district. The CLA helps to equalize how much towns pay, essentially by adjusting the appraised value of a house by looking at recent sale prices in town in comparison to the appraised values. If the appraised values are below the sale prices, the CLA raises the tax rate, and if the prices are below the appraised values, the CLA lowers the tax rate. This is done so that properties that have not been reappraised in several years are not able to pay lower taxes than a similarly valued home that was more recently reappraised.[3]
In 2003, Act 68 was passed amending Act 60, to relieve some of the burden placed on local school districts.[4]
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