Judge rules past Town road taxation illegal
Written By: Jedd Kettler
Saturday, May 10, 2008
ENOSBURGH TOWN: Another chapter in the contentious story of a road taxation practice in Enosburg Town was closed when a Franklin County Superior Court judge ruled against the Town on April 28.
The summary judgement in favor of plaintiffs Hal and Charlotte Bill found that past road taxes in the Town, specifically in 2007, have been assessed improperly.
"The taxpayers of the Village did not pay their proportionate share of the highway taxes for the Town and Village during the 2007 tax year ... The court hereby declares that the manner in which highway taxes were collected within the Village and Town of Enosburg for the tax year 2007 was contrary to law because the taxes were not imposed uniformly as required by (law)," the decision, written by Judge Ben Joseph, rea
...CONTINUED HERE.
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Test scores rise even as NCLB flags more schools
Don't judge schools on federal determinations alone, officials say
Written By: Jedd Kettler
Saturday, May 10, 2008
FRANKLIN COUNTY/ALBURGH: With the results of annual school accountability determinations released last week, it appears area schools are having a hard time keeping up with increasing federal targets.
They are not alone.
Statewide, the number of schools flagged for not meeting federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law rose dramatically.
Some 38 percent, or 116, of all Vermont schools did not meet AYP markers as required by the federal No Child Left Behind law, according to the Vermont Department of Education. For 79 schools this was their first year on the list. Meanwhile, only six schools statewide left their School Improvement designation behind.
Around the northwest region there were 17 schools that did not make required AYP, the first year for nine of those. Six are either in their first or second year of School Improvement designation. Two others are in year two or three of corrective action. (See the chart on pg. 7 for details.)
Should these numbers be cause for alarm locally or even statewide?
State education officials caution against jumping to judgement, particularly in light of the fact that many of these same schools saw New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) test scores actually increase even as they were being told they aren't meeting NCLB markers. This same trend is evident in northwestern Vermont.
Many local schools - including Alburgh, BFA-Fairfax E
...CONTINUED HERE.
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