Dear Editor:

I just attended and voted on the 2027 school budget at the Edgecomb Eddy School. It was a long and civil meeting where people expressed their support for quality education for the children in our town and their frustration at the size of our tax bills. The proposed budget was approved by 83% of the attendees.

I think a lot of the success of this vote should go to the current school board of Irene Marchenay, Joe Allen and chair Heather Sinclair. Heather explained each of the Articles up for a vote and they all took turns answering questions from the residents in attendance. We are lucky to have these dedicated, smart and articulate people stewarding our school and our school budget.

Heather responded to the thorny issue of our taxes needing to be increased to support the school budget by sharing her frustration as a homeowner and taxpayer in town as well. She spoke to the need for reform to the EPS formula that is used by the state to award funds to the towns in Maine and the low tuition-in reimbursement rate that is also set by the State. Edgecomb, and other coastal communities, are penalized by high property values that reduce our allocation and don’t consider that there are many older adults and others with limited incomes in town that can’t accommodate these tax increases. We need to push our state reps to act at the state level to address and correct this problem and not look at the school budget to solve this problem.

Heather is running for the board again. She has the experience as a town resident, schoolteacher, school board member and chair that we need. Please vote for Heather Sinclair in on May 16 at the Town Hall.

Pam Wylie

Edgecomb