Ever since the Lewiston School Budget was voted down, I have seen article after article trying to justify the vote. Attempts to blame the low turnout, some of the key people who did not vote, letters to the editor, even comments from the superintendent that if all parents had turned out, it wouldn’t have happened. Where was all that fuss/attention in years past when the budget passed with the same percentage of voter turnout?
Maybe the School Committee should consider why so many individuals objected to the budget?
One of my main reasons was because in the past two years or so, I have heard from Bill Webster that Lewiston needs to build an addition to Farwell and a large new school to accommodate the city’s growing student population and that the individual schools have no room to add classrooms. And, yet, he is ready to hire an additional 60-plus teachers. Where exactly is he proposing to place those individuals?
Those new teachers would not lower class size nor improve education, but will only make the district look better on paper as the ratio of teacher-to-student will be lower. The state requires school systems to have an average of so many students per class — not the actual number per class.
If an increase in the budget is needed to better the educational process for the students, I am all for it, but I do not appreciate an increase in my taxes just to make the district look good.
Jacqueline Smith, Lewiston
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