This is in response to the article May 5 about SAD 52 cutting jobs.

The school department must think residents of Leeds, Turner and Green don’t know how to play the shell game.

School officials claim they are cutting jobs in one sentence, but then say they are hiring.

They also say they are not going to take less than a $400,000 increase. If that is cutting jobs, please explain to me how that works.

Officials from several surrounding towns have said they are cutting from 18 to 100 jobs and holding the tax rate.

According to the town manager of Greene, if the SAD 52 budget passes, the average home in Greene will see a tax increase of $500 or more from last year’s bill. With the high price of gas and oil, how will such a large increase in property taxes be paid?

If people don’t have the money, or their house is being foreclosed, the towns won’t get the property tax money to cover school funding. SAD 52 will be back to square one.

There will be a vote on the school budget. I think the school board needs to take a lesson from other towns and offer a real spending cut, not a shell game cut.

If people vote the current proposal down, the school board will be forced to refigure the budget, and just maybe save someone from having to sell or face foreclosure.

Robert Hack, Greene