Letters

Got an opinion write a letter! Please keep your submission to under 400 words whenever possible and include your full name and town of residence for publication. Letters may be edited for AP style and clarity and will be printed at the editor’s discretion and space availability. Email [email protected].

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Missing the mark on ed reform

June 11, 2025
Dear Editor, If and when the governor and Legislature agree on something they call “transformational educational reform,” it’s unlikely to be what most people expected or wanted. Vermonters won’t see the property tax relief they were hoping for because changes to the funding system will be a few years off. Instead, the first sign of…

Take time before drastically changing our state

June 18, 2025
Dear Editor, About H.454… As a college student, I’ve pulled many all-nighters. And I find that, oftentimes, I will look at my midnight scribbles a few days later and question my very sanity. Now, I’m worried that the Vermont Legislature is pulling all-nighter after all-nighter, and in a year when they look back, they will regret…

No room for Grandpa in H.454 education transformation bill

June 18, 2025
Dear Editor, I hear someone calling me, “Grandpa, where are you?” My heart starts beating faster. I hear them again, “Can you help us?”  I’m alert now; I call on my old bones to once again lift me out of my old chair; my Grandchildren need my help; I can’t get to them fast enough.…

Missing the mark on ed reform

June 11, 2025
Dear Editor, If and when the governor and Legislature agree on something they call “transformational educational reform,” it’s unlikely to be what most people expected or wanted. Vermonters won’t see the property tax relief they were hoping for because changes to the funding system will be a few years off. Instead, the first sign of…

CHIP is a game changer

June 11, 2025
Dear Editor, Vermont just took a bold, historic step toward solving one of the most urgent issues facing our state: the lack of affordable and attainable homes for Vermonters of all income levels and backgrounds. With the passage of the Community Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP) during the 2025 legislative session, the state now has a…

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This Father’s Day, let’s commit to saving rural Vt

June 11, 2025
Dear Editor, As Vermont dads of children attending Vermont schools and members of the Rural School Community Alliance, we’re used to showing up for our kids: on the sidelines, at bedtime, in the school pickup line, and around the dinner table. Today, we’re showing up in a different way: to urge lawmakers to stand up…

A Titanic problem in healthcare

June 11, 2025
Dear Editor, Our healthcare “system” operates via a Byzantine system of price hikes, price discounts, different pricing for different customers, and an immense web of middlemen who operate it all. The complexity and the middlemen will always keep prices higher than they otherwise would be. Always. Our irrational system causes immense personal harm, misery and…

Please be mindful of antisemitism in political messages

June 4, 2025
Dear Editor, The Anti-Defamation League’s 2024 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents reports a deeply troubling rise in antisemitism across the country, including and especially here in Vermont. We know that many people in our community are passionate about political issues, including those related to Israel and Palestine. The local Jewish community asks that, especially in this…

Education cuts hurt the economy, won’t lower taxes

June 4, 2025
Dear Editor, The debate over H.454 might seem irrelevant to Vermonters without children in school. Still, its impact stretches far beyond education—it threatens our economy, property values, and long-term tax stability. Although school consolidation and cost containment may appear fiscally responsible, both the Senate’s and the governor’s proposals provide only short-term budgetary solutions rather than…

Congrats, new board members

June 4, 2025
Dear Editor, I want to extend my sincere congratulations to Bill Vines and Jay Hickory on their election to the Killington Select Board. Their longstanding ties to our community and steady approach clearly resonated with voters. I wish them both success as they begin their terms on the expanded board. Although I was not elected,…

Oppose the Senate Conferee proposed changes to H.454

June 4, 2025
Dear Editor, Editor’s note: This letter was originally posted by the office of the Mountain Views School District Superintendent on Saturday, May 31. It is the second letter to the school community Superintendent Sherry Sousa has sent regarding H.454, the education funding reform bill. I’m again turning to you to become involved with the education…

Audit needed in Killington?

May 28, 2025
Dear Editor, Someone should advocate for a town auditor given the constant rumors of ethical lapses and financial irregularities. Vito Rasenas, Killington

School spending

May 28, 2025
Dear Editor, All of this school spending, better referred to as overspending, is now coming home to roost. Had there been corresponding results in outcomes, there may have been different mindsets to be under discussion. Remember now, the voters went to the polls and spoke loudly and clearly on the education money issues that are…

Raising the bar for ethics in Killington

May 23, 2025
Dear Editor, As a candidate for the Killington Select Board, I’m running on a commitment to transparency, accountability, and steady leadership. I believe that trust in local government begins with clear standards and clear enforcement. Killington’s current conflict of interest policy, adopted in 2019, provides a useful foundation. However, it lacks the tools to ensure…

Education transformation bill will gut local education

May 21, 2025
Dear Editor, Editor’s note: This is an open letter directed to the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) communities dated May 19. Similar letters were sent out by many superintendents and school officials including Sherry Sousa at Mountain Views SU in Woodstock.  As you may know, the Vermont House and the Senate have been working on…

Bill Vines for Killington Select Board

May 21, 2025
Dear Editor, Since I announced my candidacy, many residents have spoken to me about their concerns for Killington. Taxes and education funding, for example, are often mentioned. Not surprisingly, everyone agrees that taxes need to be controlled and education funding needs to be solved. Virtually everyone has spoken to me about how the town is…

Conflict of interest

May 21, 2025
Dear Editor, I read the Select Board candidates’ answers in the latest issue of the Mountain Times, and I’d like to address the conflict-of-interest question further. My comments are not specifically directed at any particular candidate or candidates or even the current Select Board or other town board or commission members. Each current candidate has…

Witch hunt

May 14, 2025
Dear editor, During his first campaign, Donald Trump complained that people were mounting a “witch hunt” against him, relying on the conventional implication that the quarry doesn’t exist and the hunt is futile and fruitless. But those were conventional times. Who was prepared for the ways that Donald Trump stands reality on its head? Trump’s…

Tech, nature are out of synch

May 7, 2025
Dear Editor, I have been thinking since Earth Day about modern technology and our environment and how much they are out of touch with each other.  Last summer, my wife and I traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska, for a wedding. While there, we went to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. It…

Under one roof: Vermont or bust!

May 7, 2025
Dear Editor, We’re heading north and so excited. We’re moving full time to Vermont! For decades we’ve been snow birds, like my parents, spending half the year in Bradenton, Florida. But now our Florida house is up for sale — a 1929 Spanish Mediterranean brimming with beauty and charm. A young family we hope will…