Since December 2013, Freeport has spent an inordinate amount of time discussing governance and an inadequate amount of time discussing educational offerings or outcomes.

The withdrawal proposal provides no educational vision. It provides an unconvincing financial analysis. It proposes a system with fewer students funded by a smaller tax base. And, it comes with an additional layer of government inserted between the budget that our educational leaders create and the taxpayers who fund it.

It is unclear how this proposal will help us fund the very things we need to take this system from good to great: better salaries for our teachers, better and broader curriculum, and more enrichment and athletic opportunities.

As an RSU, we’ve passed every budget (with the noted exception of the first) and a bond to improve our high school. Durham has voted to stay in.

I am voting no and encourage those who want a diverse and robust system of public education for Freeport to do the same. I am a parent of a second- and fourth-grader in Freeport and former school board member.

Betsy Peters

Freeport