Best News This Summer

Judge Tucker, the jurist in charge of deciding whether there was an emergency in the district that warranted a special election, has agreed to a special meeting for Tuesday, September 9. That Tuesday will be the ballot vote to approve teacher’s contracts for the coming four years.

For those just now joining our story, teachers in the Monadnock Regional School District have not had a contract for four years. It’s led to a great many members of the staff leaving, a great deal of questioning on everyone’s part, and a near disaster in the district. Despite this, local Libertarian anti-government crusaders continue to fight against any spending for the school, (and against the students, who seem to be able to see much more clearly than some of our “adults”) as well as some others who ought to know better.

It’s been an exciting year—keeping in mind that I use the word “exciting” as the ancient Chinese did.¹ The net effect of it all, and the judge’s decision, is that the voters in the Monadnock District have been given a second chance, have been given another shot at getting it right.

And this is the right thing. We’ve seen time and time again that those who oppose the contract do not do so out of any principal or any reason other than their own greed. I tried—I really did—to see the group of individuals who style themselves as public crusaders as committed to their principles—even if I didn’t agree with them. The opposition those individuals have mounted to the special election—going so far to challenge it in court—has clearly demonstrated that the only thing on their agenda is fighting public education. It’s not taxes, it’s not making the towns better places to live, it’s not the poor or under-served or elderly—all of whom are paying more and more and more because they’re saddled to a breaking system that is hemorrhaging money. The individuals involved would rather see the towns bleed white than see the system fixed—the longer the district goes on being broken, the worse it looks, and the more their agenda is served.

When you care about ideology more than people, monstrous behavior is acceptable. History has shown it over and over again—and it’s also shown that the ballot tends to not be enough to stop it. I’m hoping this time the voters will show history something new.

A judge has agreed there’s a problem that needs to be fixed. Judges rule on reason and logic—we can hope a reasonable and logical vote will follow.

1 Old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times” (maybe). ↺

Technorati Tags:
Budget Committee, Education, Monadnock Regional School District, Monadnock Taxpayer’s Association, School Funding

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