Free Keene

On March 13th, voters in Keene will once again have the opportunity to vote, and school board elections typically bring out few voters. This means that the votes that are cast go a long way. Some races and items on the ballot are sometimes won by only a handful of votes. Like most years in the past, there are more proposed budget increases despite the fact that the enrollment rate in schools has been decreasing.

Currently, the public or government schools have little competition. This disincentivises students and teachers from excelling to their full potentials, and giving blind budget increases fails to help this problem. The Pre-Voting issue of Keene Citizens Government Review Newsletter cited 14.8% in school tax increases. Because of this they have asked voters to vote “No” on articles 2 through 6. They also have recommended voters abstain from voting for Brown, Coates, and Roberts.

Some residents of Keene have recently become upset that individuals are standing up against the rising tax base. On Sunday March 11th, Michael Hoefer of Richmond wrote a letter to the Keene Sentinel saying “..a small libertarian minority is using the fear of rising taxes in an effort to destroy public education in the Monadnock School District.” Study after study has shown that money is not a good predictor of a good or bad school. Private schools out perform public schools time after time, often at a lower cost per student. The best predictor of what kind of student a child will be is the parents, and a one size fits all public school system often fails to encourage parental involvement. People who advocate limited taxes and competition among the schools have the best interest of all children in mind.

I would encourage everyone to vote on Tuesday. Please consider each article on the ballot carefully.