Override support
Editorial

For weeks, even months, the local budget has been on the front burner of nearly every meeting in Ashburnham and Westminster and the budget that nearly everyone is talking about is the school's budget.

In a week (on Tuesday, June 12) the voters will go to the ballot box in each of the two towns to vote whether to override Proposition 2 1/2 to allow the school budget to be increased by $1.2 million.

Voters turn to the ballot box knowing many of the details of the budget - cost of electricity, the cost to continuing to fund athletics and co-curricular activities within the operating budget and the cost of buses, school supplies and other materials.

But these voters also turn to the ballot box with some unknowns - the details of the new teacher contract being the largest one. School Committee members and members of the teachers' union are in the process of negotiating a new contract. These negotiations are taking place during closed meetings between the representatives according to the federal laws.

This makes it hard for many people as they turn to the ballot box to support a budget with that unknown quantity included. But at this point trust your representatives - remember they have to face you on the street, at the grocery store and on the ballot next spring as they face re-election.

Over the course of the last few years the School Committee has had many debates over programs to include in the school district, how to incorporate full-day kindergarten (by tuition) and the elimination of sports fees. The committee members know how tight the budget is, how much health care costs, and the view of the people on the subject of what a contract should be.

Give them your trust, and see if they earn it.

No one knows what is going on the backroom, but at some point we will see the results and they will be asked to explain those results. If they fail to earn your trust then, do not support a future override request or support someone else to run for the committee.

The students are the ones that feel the effects of cuts in teachers and supplies. They are the ones whose education will suffer, possibly changing the colleges they can get into and the jobs they can receive when they graduate.

Give your support to the school override and work with your school district to find alternative methods of paying for the budget in the future.