Residents: "Hold your nose and vote yes."

To the Editor:

After much thought, we've decided to vote for the AWRSD school override. We think taxes are far too high, and that we get little back for what we pay, but this is not a local school district problem. It is a state and national problem, and we can do nothing but hurt our own students, our own children, by voting against the override. We could pay for extracurricular activities for every school in Massachusetts for eternity with the money we are pouring down the Iraqi rat hole daily, and our state is so inept it can't even determine if they have a billion dollar shortfall or a $500M surplus, but voting "no" on the override won't help those problems one bit. If our educational system in this country were a hospital patient, we would try to cure the disease- if we vote "no" on the override, it's like amputating the big toe of the healthy student in the next bed, hoping it teaches the national educational system a lesson.

Since this is the second try to pass a modified override, many are saying, "What part of 'no' don't you understand?"--remember that the ability to change our minds is what makes good leaders. How many of you wouldn't change some vote or decision you've made in your lives, if you had it to do again? I think we voted for Bush in the last election, for instance.

Don't fall for spurious arguments that show school funding levels don't affect student performance. Of course funding helps, particularly in a well run school. The formulas to distribute state and federal aid are based on performance, rewarding schools that do poorly - the worse your students perform, the more money the government provides. It's the American dream in reverse, but that's how it works, and it's why poorly performing schools have a higher per pupil expenditure.

We are also getting very tired of hearing that if this override doesn't pass, extracurricular activities will be eliminated or heavy fees applied. We suggest that taxpayers work with the school committee to fund extracurricular activities so as to make it a non-discretionary line in the school budget. That way the district knows that doing a 'backdoor' tax of parents whose children are in extracurricular activities is not an option when they are negotiating contracts or spending money. That, however, is a job for the future.

No one, particularly us, wants to pay more taxes, but please hold your nose and vote yes on the school override. The only inevitable outcome of a "no" vote will be that our students will be worse off. The war in Iraq, steadily rising taxes, the teachers' union, the poor housing market, the expense of health insurance, and our one-party state will all remain exactly the same whether the override passes or not, but our own children's educational experience will be substantially poorer. Westminster is a wonderful town, and we need to keep it that way.

Jay and Jennifer Shenk

Westminster