Margaret Atkinson

Out of the crocodile’s mouth

We must take our early childhood programs from the jaws of bad policy choices

Recently, members of our Windham County early childhood education community attended “Early Childhood Day” at the state capital to advocate for support for early education programs and initiatives.

The word from our local legislators was that this budget year was “ugly.” We were treated to many versions of the “crocodile mouth” description of the state budget.

The lower jaw of the croc represents the state's revenue growth of 3 percent, and the upper jaw is the climbing rate of spending at 5 percent, resulting in a large gap that must be closed.

This effort to close the gap between revenue and spending has led Governor Peter Shumlin and the House Appropriations Committee to propose significant cuts to essential programs and services. These cuts will have negative impacts on families and children.

Read More

Proposed school budget cuts are false economy

I really do honor the many hours of work the members of the town Finance Committee put into their efforts for our town. However, I will be the first to say that I very much disagree with the committee's recommendation to the Town Meeting that they vote against the...

Read More