A child’s well-rounded education is priceless. If Question 1 passes, Oxford Hills students will study only social studies, math, science and language arts. These content areas are only the core of a well-rounded education.

Diversity nurtures students’ individuality. Countless students, well-suited to athletics, artistry, music, theater, the trades or myriad other professions, need content skills learned in addition to “the core.”

The tax cap will severely maim the face of public education in Maine.

Passage means a 10 mill ceiling. The average Oxford Hills area mill rate for education is 9.88. Passage reduces this mill rate to about 5.8, savaging our budget by about $5.7 million. A 5.8 mill rate is well below the state’s full subsidy requirement, potentially losing us another $3.6 million.

Oxford Hills School District’s Board of Directors offers two possible strategies:

• Eliminate all co-curricular and athletics, staff development, art, music, physical education, kindergarten, extended-day kindergarten, literacy collaboratives, unified arts, foreign language, education technicians, gifted-talented, alternative education, technology support and equipment, summer school, secondary transportation, local support for adult education and community-education exchange, as well as many administrative and maintenance positions. The district would be non-compliant with federal and state law, DOE regulations, employee contracts and regional accreditation agencies.

• Provide all programs but cut the school calendar by 50 days or more, violating state laws and collective bargaining agreements.

The tax-cap initiative to reduce property taxes is too high a price to pay.

Mary Briggs, president,

Oxford Hills music, art and drama boosters, Waterford

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