South Burlington residents on Thursday voted down their school budget for the second time — and by a wide margin of 57 to 43 percent.
The $49.7 million budget had been revised down from the $50.5 million proposal that voters rejected March 7. Officials reported 24 percent of voters turned out for a tally of 1,948-1,474.
The second defeat was rare, if not unheard of, in the suburban district. South Burlington has a history of passing budgets on the first try and it pays some of the highest salaries for public school teachers in the state.
“We’ve not had this scenario,” South Burlington Superintendent of Schools David Young said after the defeat.
He saw the proposal as a responsible budget, and said he was disappointed with the loss. Young will bring a new proposal to the school board later this month but said it was too soon Thursday night to talk about details.
The rejection came as the city remains locked in a bitter debate about the school board’s decision to drop the “Rebels” nickname at South Burlington High School. Critics say the moniker has racist associations with the Confederate south and slavery.
The Rebels controversy, as well as budding debate about costs associated with a new teacher contract under negotiation, were likely factors in the defeat, Young said.
“I think all of those things, perhaps, have been contributors,” Young said.
Only voters in the Orchard Elementary School neighborhood approved the budget — it went down everywhere else in the city.
The first budget failed as opponents organized under the banner of the “Rebel Alliance” and mounted a campaign against the spending plan. The group has gathered signatures to bring the name question to a public vote.
Frustration carried over into the second vote a month later.
“I voted no and very proudly voted no, I should say,” said Stacey Savage, a South Burlington resident and mother of two South Burlington High School grads.
Her budget opposition began with a desire to keep the Rebel name and evolved into a broader wish for tighter budgeting and a more responsive school leadership.
“The school board has never in recent times had a budget defeated. They’ve always been just handed whatever they want,” Savage said. “We simply as a community need to hold them accountable.”
She does not see the Rebels name as offensive, or connected with the Confederacy.
“How many years ago was that, move on,” Savage said. “The slavery issue and all that. I didn’t do that. It’s not my fault. Move forward. The community today in general does not tie the Rebel name to the flag and the Confederacy.”
School leaders voted in February to drop the name and have stuck to the decision, pointing to feedback from students who found the name offensive and racist.
The revised budget included funding to scrub the Rebel name from jerseys, scoreboards and school playing fields. But $810,814 was cut in other areas, and the proposal would have actually reduced taxes by 0.07 percent.
Still, due to the mechanics of the state education funding law, spending was set to go up 5.9 percent, which some voters opposed.
The Rebel debate grew heated as the vote approached. Dan Emmons, a Rebel Alliance supporter,* was cited last week to appear in court after a South Burlington High School student active in the name debate complained to police of harassment.
On Monday, South Burlington police issued Emmons a no-trespass order barring him from school district property — even to pick up his two children from school.
The school district lifted the no-trespass order Thursday.
“They dropped it but they never should have issued it. Not if they were consistent,” said Emmons’ attorney, William Norful, who met with Young and school district legal counsel Wednesday to ask that the order be lifted.
“This is pure squelching of political speech and there will be repercussions about this legally to come,” Norful said.
The Rebel Alliance has been active in fighting against the budget proposal. The group registered on March 23 as a political action committee and spent money on signs and advertising in the Other Paper, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office.
But Paul Engels, a budget supporter, claimed on the Seven Days website that the group did not register as a PAC until he complained to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.
Eve Jacobs-Carnahan, an assistant attorney general, confirmed that a review is underway.
“What I can tell you is that we received a complaint about the Rebel Alliance that raised some campaign finance issues and it’s under review. And because it’s in process, I really can’t tell you anything else,” Jacobs-Carnahan said.
Kiya Batmanglidj, a Rebel Alliance leader, said in an email that the group registered as a PAC of its own volition, and not in response to Engel’s complaint.
*Correction, April 7, 2017: A previous version of this story incorrectly described Emmons’ role in the Rebel Alliance.
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Thanks for covering this story! I wanted to add a couple of thoughts and information, first, that there is a difference in the quality of the two “sides” in terms of the rebel name. The “critics” assertion that it has racist origins has been supported by the quantity and quality of the evidence of the research that was done to show the connection between the name and the Jim Crow era of segregated schools and other public places.
I would also use the term “stated” in describing the student’s action following her being harassed by a school board member candidate, rather than “complained,” which makes her sound whiny and as if there had been no basis for her complaints.
In terms of this issue, it’s disheartening to me that the state of South Carolina can take down its Confederate flag, but some South Burlington residents are both claiming that the rebel name isn’t racist, and at the same time, that even if it is, it doesn’t matter. I think having good community manners means making sure we acknowledge and welcome every student. And as far as I can tell, the research was done efficiently and competently and was convincing enough to the leadership to believe changing the name is the right thing to do.
It’s kind of pathetic that people are getting riled about how the name “is connected to the south” and how “we’re hurting people” for keeping the name that although USED to have connections to the confederacy and slavery, NO LONGER have those same connections. I feel the faculty didn’t do enough to reinvent the rebel name to be more inclusive and positive (such as the revolution which made America exist in the first place, the underground railroad dedicated to freeing slaves, and the civil rights movement which used peaceful protests to make African rights enforced). Ultimately while the word “rebel” can mean racism to one person, another can actually try to do something that will make BOTH parties happy.
South Burlington has a 50+ year history using the racist Civil War Johnny Reb as its sports mascot and nickname. At the time they embraced this racist character, SB had few, if any, African American residents or athletes . Things have changed in SB, but some residents cling to this very negative history.
SB now has many minority families, and gifted minority students and athletes who have requested that the community drop this racist nickname. Still, some locals cling to this “history” as being more important than the folks who are hurt by this racist figure. Perhaps the members of the so called “Rebel Alliance” should study about why the Civil War was fought; and remember that the rebels lost ! The war is over folks !
Just imagine how an African American athlete feels about playing ball in SB on a team whose name Rebel represents the folks who enslaved his/her ancestors… just imagine that for a few minutes…,
The War is long over…Send the rebel packing…