LETTER: In support of the latest Harwood school budget proposal
May 17, 2024To the Community:
It is imperative that we band together as a community to pass the school budget on May 30.
As longtime residents of Fayston, both of us have devoted our careers to the health and well-being of our community. (Kathy as a Harwood teacher, 1981-2021, and Jared as a Fayston Selectman, 1994-2024). We each have worked to build and sustain civic and educational institutions that support a strong community and a rigorous academic experience for all children in our district. We are reaching out to everyone in the Harwood Unified Union School District to urge you to vote for the revised school budget proposal on May 30.
The fact that more than one-third of Vermont school budgets were defeated in the first vote this year and that our budget (as well as many others) did not pass on a second vote sent the message to the state of Vermont that the current situation of funding education is broken; we all know this. Voting down our new HUUSD proposed budget will not solve the challenges that the current education funding system has created. The state legislature has to address the education funding problem. Voting down this budget will not remedy this structural problem – it will only penalize our children.
Our School Board has responded to the two failed votes. On May 30, the public will be asked to consider a revised budget proposal that includes an additional $945,446 in cuts, including a total reduction of 27.5 administrative, teaching and support positions as well as programming across all of our schools. This latest revised budget reflects a reduction of $3 million off of the original budget request. These cuts are severe, and they will significantly impact the quality of educational programming that our kids receive. Yet we must pass this budget.
We both will vote for this revised budget. We urge everyone to support the proposal put forward by our HUUSD board on May 30. Town clerks are also offering absentee ballots which can be mailed to your home.
Let’s keep pressure on our legislators to solve the fundamental problems underlying our current system of funding education, while we continue to support a high-quality, rigorous education for our children.
Sincerely,
Katherine and Jared Cadwell
Fayston