Dear Editor:

At the Nov. 13 joint meeting of the Boothbay–Boothbay Harbor Community School District trustees and school board, members advanced three proposed charter changes.

We applaud the first change, which restores budget authority to the trustees. However, the other two changes are problematic and harmful to residents.

The second change would allow trustees to take out bonds of up to $2 million by holding only a district-wide, in-person public meeting—generally held in the school gym. This would eliminate the current process that requires bonds to be approved by voters at the town hall ballot box.

The third change appears to remove voters’ ability to approve the annual school budget at the ballot box, potentially limiting the decision to those attending the in-person public meeting in the school gym.

It is extremely troubling that such major financial decisions—impacting residents for many years—could be made by the small number of people able to attend these meetings, which are typically held in the evening when many cannot participate. Every taxpayer should have the right to easily weigh in on how millions of local dollars are allocated.

These changes will next go before the Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor select boards for approval before submission to the Legislature. I urge residents to contact their select boards and share their concerns. The right to vote at the ballot box on school budgets and bonds is not something we should quietly surrender.

Patty Minerich

Boothbay Harbor