The Taxpayer Bill of Rights gives Republicans a budget veto Mainers have denied them at the polls. By requiring a two-thirds vote by every legislative body, Republicans or other obscure parties or interests can defeat sensible budgets before they get to the public. This undemocratic measure destroys our system of representative government and will erode public confidence and participation. Why vote if a minority can override the will of the majority?

TABOR can force major cuts in school instructional funding. Take a school district of 1,000 students, 50 teachers and a $5 million budget, including $1 million for transportation and maintenance of the physical plant. Assume a CPI of 2.5 percent and a student decrease of 50 students.

TABOR would be triggered by a new budget of $4,875,000. Then, increased health insurance and fuel costs would add at least $75,000 and CPI would add $125,000. The school board would have to cut the instruction budget by $325,000 (10 teachers?) to pass the budget by a majority vote.

To adopt a minimum required budget would require a two-thirds vote of the school board, and board of selectmen, and a majority of the citizens in the towns involved, and still might violate the agreements by which the district was formed.

California, under similar constraints, went quickly from first to worst in educational performance and Colorado repealed TABOR.

Maine’s children can’t afford TABOR any more than we can tolerate this partisan affront to representative democracy.

Jonathan Albrecht, Dixfield