A Must Read Editorial

Below is an editorial published in the Burlington Free Press today. It really hits home on how irresponsible the Democratic Party is acting in the Vermont Legislature.

Editorial: Move Past Old Battles on School Funding
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Here we go again. The Legislature is again tinkering with the way we pay for public schools, this time seeking to overturn a plan passed last session even before people have had a chance to try it out.

This constant fiddling with the funding mechanism is a distraction from the real issue of figuring out what kind of education we want our public schools to provide for our children, and how much of it we can afford.

That's the question voters will be dealing with at town meetings around the state as many communities cast ballots on school budgets.

The provision before the House is what's known as the "think twice" plan, under which school budgets are split in two if the increase tops the rate of inflation plus one percentage point. This gives people a chance to vote separately on a "basic budget" and on the additional spending increase.

Think twice was the result of a last-minute compromise at the close of the last legislative session, a way to include a "cost containment" provision in the education funding bill insisted on by Gov. Jim Douglas.

This was a flawed concept from a start, based on the assumption that voters fail to grasp the significance of school budget increases they were approving. Splitting the budget in two also can give the wrong impression that the proposed spending above the cap is somehow optional or less a part of the overall needs of a school district.

The attempt to repeal the think-twice provision is unlikely to get far with the Senate unenthusiastic about reconsidering the plan. Yet, to attempt to go back on the agreement with the Douglas administration by repealing the plan cast doubt on the sincerity of legislative negotiators who worked out the deal, and the lawmakers who approved it. That is a formula guaranteed to sour talks between legislators and the administration next time a controversial issue comes up.

Most of all, another debate over the think-twice plan is one more distraction. Vermonters are ill-served when legislators insist on re-fighting past battles. When it comes to paying for education, lawmakers need to keep their focus on the difficult task of helping to create the public school system we need at a cost we can afford.