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To keep quality schools, nothing is left to cut

To the Bulletin:

The "No More Overrides" signs I have seen popping up in both yards and vacant lots might as well read "No More Schools" or "No More Police or Firefighters" or "No More Town Services."

For four years, I sat on the Fort River School Council discussing each year's hopes for improving our kids' educational experience. That was each fall. Each spring, we tried to advise on where the cuts would be least painful - field trips, aides in the libraries and classrooms, teachers (meaning bigger classes). We went from looking for fat, to cutting to the bone and now to chopping off limbs. There is no place left to cut, folks, if we still want quality education to be a hallmark of Amherst and a legacy for our kids.

Voting against this override and the three-year plan to avoid another one is not a vote for "No More Overrides." It is a vote for a bigger override next year, because we will be in more desperate straits without this plan. Please vote to support our hard-working teachers and give our kids the best start in life we can give them. Vote "Yes" on the override.

Tom Gardner
Amherst

Source: Amherst Bulletin, April 27, 2007 - Letters