I support the school budget proposed by Springfield, Vermont, and ask you to vote “yes” on March 1. A large group of community members, including myself, worked for several weeks to develop our school budget. We asked tough questions, making sure our tax dollars were allocated wisely.
Springfield’s local taxes pay about 23% of the overall proposed $33 million budget. This represents approximately $7.8 million in local taxes, of which $3.5 million comes from homeowners. Eligible Springfield homeowners will receive $1.4 million in property tax relief. The school budget increases by 1.7% compared to last year. And while the cost per student has increased by 5.75%, the tax rate is decreasing by 1.4 cents per $100 of property value. Most of the money comes from the State Education Fund.
When we vote against school budgets, it sets our city and our district back. We compete directly regionally to hire high quality teachers and staff. We can’t move forward with hiring without a budget, which is causing us to fall behind. This is especially important as we face a nationwide teacher shortage.
The lack of staff makes it difficult to meet the needs of our children in the classrooms. Without adequate staff, we cannot fully support students in their learning to recover from this pandemic.
This school budget is a good budget and deserves to be supported. It is well thought out and maximizes our resources. Please join me in voting “yes” to our school budget this year.
Mary Kruger
Springfield, Vermont.
In reference to former Canaan police officer Sam Provenza and his “settlement” in the Crystal Eastman case (“Scores Settled”, February 16): The problem of police and municipal accountability will never end without court decisions that force him to come out into the open. The judiciary must help shed light on “qualified immunities” circumvented by police or unions. These, along with municipal mismanagement of taxpayers’ money, lead to a lack of trust in affected communities.
Even when police brutality settlements are ultimately paid for by insurance agencies for said municipalities, the taint of corruption still hangs in the air if the underlying reports of the initial police action, also paid for with the money of taxpayers, are not made public, forcing more lawsuits for disclosure.
If it was the municipality that was being made to pay for someone’s egregious misdeeds, which were then covered up by politically powerful unions protecting the municipality’s own employees, don’t you think they would want to get to the bottom of the deal deal?
And if someone really isn’t guilty and isn’t hiding behind “qualified immunity,” then why go to court to keep quashing reports that might actually tell a different story?
We can only hope that others care enough to see it through. Justice is never served by injustice, corruption and lies. Police officers who brutalize citizens must be held accountable for their actions, and “qualified immunity” must be disqualified, once and for all.
Alix Olson and Martha Popp
Canaan
Last Friday, two different headlines appeared in local newspapers: “Abortion Ban Adds Pain to Fetal Diagnosis; Mothers decry the 24-week limit of NH” in the Valley News on February 11 (which originally appeared in the New Hampshire Bulletin) and “Moms with tragic pregnancies divided over ban on late-term abortion” in the union leader February 11.
The two journalists attended the same hearings and heard the same testimony. Last week’s hearings on repealing the current 24-week ban on abortion focused on fatal fetal anomalies, and the testimony was moving and heartbreaking. the Valley News The title suggests that testimonials from mothers diagnosed with fatal fetal anomalies were all against the ban, but they weren’t.
the Valley News the article does not name the mothers who testified that they received life-threatening diagnoses but delivered healthy babies. Nor does it tell the stories we’ve heard of those who carried their babies until the babies died in utero or survived only shortly after birth and used those events as part of their grief and healing.
There is a political saying that “hard cases make bad laws”. Last week’s hearings certainly focused on the tough cases. However, repealing the 24-week abortion ban would not only open the door to late-term abortions for fatal fetal diagnoses, but for some reason – or no reason at all.
It’s a serious conversation to have, but the audience can’t have that conversation if only one side is highlighted.
Marguerite Drye
Plainfield
I have had the pleasure of working with Mary Bryant over the past two years on the Thetford Selectboard and have come to recognize her genuine concern for issues that affect our current and future plans, such as the quality of drinking water in villages along the Connecticut River. and at Post Mills, affordable housing, climate crisis management, pay equity for city workers, and restorative justice.
Of great importance, she played a vital role in the city’s successful transition to the “municipal manager” form of government.
Mary’s meeting attendance is excellent and she is seeking re-election in an effort to keep Selectboard meetings positive. Please vote for her on March 1 or by mail.
Steven Tofel
Thetford
Steven Tofel is a member of Thetford Selectboard.
