As if setting the statewide and local property tax rates were not challenging enough, there are many back office complications the legislature deals with every year. Readers may find this post excessively wonky, but it points to the financial challenges we face, and I thought you might find it interesting. Vermont education spending totals approximately 1 ½ billion dollars per year. That’s a big number and does not include spending for college or professional trade education beyond high school. Coming up with the state’s share of this total is among the most daunting tasks we face. Money for local education spending - directly reflected in property tax bills - comes from local property taxes