Dear Editor,
One of the compelling aspects of many sports is the pressure to perform or do something within some sort of prescribed timeframe.
Major League Baseball now has very specific rules about pitchers not taking forever to deliver the next pitch. Batters can no longer retreat to constantly adjust batting gloves, read signs from base coaches and so forth. Batters and pitchers failing to meet the deadlines are penalized.
Football and basketball have rules that force teams and players to move quickly. Again, penalties are levied if a team fails to act within the timeframe.
The Vermont Legislature is under pressure to do something quickly about funding our public schools. The penalty in their case is to be viewed by some as not doing anything, being inept, incurring the displeasure of the governor and so forth. Unfortunately, the bills before them offer poor solutions and would have the effect of damaging many small communities and their very effective schools.
The major theme in these bills is consolidation of school governance. Please remember that this was also the major theme of Act 46, which promised new efficiencies, lower costs and improved student outcomes in exchange for the loss of local control. How did that work out?
My recommendation is to take the penalty. Throwing a rushed, bad pitch that lands ten rows up in the center field bleachers is a far worse outcome than the penalty for a delay.
Vermont education funding is extremely complicated and finding reasonable solutions is tough work at best. The proposals from the administration assume that consolidation by itself will save money and that student performance will increase. Nonsense! Buy some time and get it right.
Bill Jesdale
Lincoln
