Dear Editor:

Given that Alna will continue to offer unrestricted K-8 public school choice (and both public and private school choice for grades 9-12) if the referendum passes, I’m puzzled by continued portrayal of those who support the referendum as mean-spirited. Even if the referendum passes, the subsidized school choice that will continue in Alna will be enormously more generous than that offered in the vast majority of communities across the state of Maine.

For a community with tax rates as high and a tax base as small as Alna’s, the school choice referendum offers a generous compromise that puts the town on a course to fiscal sustainability. It does so by asking only that parents in Alna accept financial responsibility themselves, should they choose to provide their K-8 children with a private education. A slightly smaller sense of entitlement and a slightly greater sense of personal responsibility from the vocal minority opposed to the referendum would be a healthy and welcome change to our community. Should the no vote prevail, I suspect we will again, within a short period of time, be revisiting this matter clearly, as our taxes will become unaffordable.

A yes vote is fair to absolutely everyone.

Jeff Whittemore

Alna