A little noise begins

Last week I lamented the fact that the election season in West Tisbury was quite quiet. It's still quiet on the candidate front but has picked up on the issue front.

The Vineyard Gazette began their annual pre-election coverage this week. The West Tisbury Finance Committee's attempt to reduce the budget proposed for the Up-Island Regional School District and the committee's article to withdraw from the regional school district earned a front page slot.

Naturally, the school committee and the school administration opposes the committee's efforts. Their counter to the Finance Committee's arguments is a classic defense of an untenable position:

Question the source of the opposition's numbers
Unfortunately, the source is the school administration's budgets for the past several years

Distort the calculations the opposition made
The committee had asked the school for a level funded budget for the district. The newspaper reported that the committee had now changed their request to a level funded assessment for West Tisbury, which the committee has not done.

Assert that the budget cut will mean cuts in programs.
It's hard to see why programs need to be cut when you have two sections of a grade where, in each section, eleven and twelve kids are being taught by a teacher and an aide.

Avoid responding to the opponent's basic argument
The committee has documented an increase of 42% in district assessments since FY2002, while the number of students has decreased by 25%. The costs of the district are the highest on Martha's Vineyard and among the highest in the state.

Rely on a consultant's study
Unfortunately, the consultant assumes that all school costs are fixed, when, in reality, the largest cost, personnel, is variable.

It will be an interesting ten days to Town Meeting!