On March 27, 2017

Windsor state senator challenged on education

Dear Editor,
In his recent commentary in the Mountain Times, “Something to Write Home About,” Windsor County state senator Dick McCormack opines about “respecting the education fund.” He claims that he would never  raid the education fund for other purposes, due to his strong support for Act 60.
Contrary to his present-day promise, McCormack fully supported then Governor Shumlin’s $27 million raid of the education fund in 2011—a move that the Democrats claimed needed to happen to balance general fund overspending.
The senator admitted as much at the 2012 Cavendish legislative candidate forum.  He states “I did support a bill that included shorting the education fund after Governor Shumlin very cleverly realized we could short the fund and use federal money to cover that loss.” Here is a link to the video: https://lpctv.org/legislative-candidate-forum-cavendish-0).
As usual, everyday Vermonters suffered at the hands of Montpelier’s reckless spending and the hypocrisy of our supposed representatives. In the town of Cavendish alone, McCormack’s raid drove up our education property taxes by 11 percent even though the school board level-funded the budget that year.
If I had a dollar for every time that I’ve heard the false accusation, “Republicans are anti-education,” I would very likely be a millionaire today. Perhaps, I would have even accumulated enough to replace the $27 million stolen by the Democrats from the education fund and the Vermont taxpayer in 2011.
Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I would like to ask Windsor County voters—why do you choose Dick McCormack given his proven record of duplicity?
Stu Lindberg,
Cavendish

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Closing schools doesn’t fix Vermont’s education affordibility problems

October 30, 2024
By Margaret MacLean Editor’s note: Margaret MacLean, of Peacham, is a retired Vermont teacher and award-winning principal. She is the founding executive director of the Vermont Rural Education Collaborative, a past employee of the Rural School and Community Trust, and served on the Vermont State Board of Education.  Roxbury parents can meet most of the…

Making Vermont a place working families want to call home

October 30, 2024
By Rebecca Holcombe Editor’s note: Rebecca Holcombe is a Vermont Representative from Windsor-Orange 2 who served as the Vermont Secretary of Education from 2014 to 2018. Vermonters suffer from unsustainable increases in the cost of everything from property taxes to healthcare. Too many people are working hard and stretching Social Security checks but still worry…

Don’t be fooled by false promises

October 30, 2024
Dear Editor,  There is no simple solution to the challenges that Vermonters face. There needs to be a delicate balance between what, on the surface, seems like appealing short-term solutions to the cost of living for all Vermonters versus the vision for long-term planning that creates financial stability and growth into the future.  Do not…

Context matters

October 30, 2024
Dear Editor, In an October 23 letter to the Mountain Times, Steve Berry wrote, “John Kerry stated at a World Economic Forum panel, ‘Our First Amendment stands as a major block (to getting things done).’”  You may wonder why Mr. Berry uses such odd syntax, placing part of the quote in parentheses. Maybe it’s because…