To the Editor:
I am a recently elected Town Meeting Member in the town of Shrewsbury. Registered voters June 3 will have the opportunity to vote for a Proposition 2 ? override.
As a resident for over 40 years, I am asking the citizens of Shrewsbury to support the override to maintain our town with the quality that drew us to make a life for us and our children. Shrewsbury is a well-managed, fiscally conservative town that has not requested an override to Proposition 2 ? since 2007. Having an override vote on the ballot this year is a clear message to voters that the Town of Shrewsbury is out of options to provide quality services to schoolchildren and residents with current revenue.
Shrewsbury continually has had quality education and special education all while keeping the tax rate in town affordable. The quality of education in Shrewsbury is slowly slipping downward.
Thanks to School Committee, school administration, Board of Selectman, and Finance Committee for their quick action calling to attention to this unfortunate state of the town. They are giving the town a chance to cease the decline in quality education with the passage of the override and a modest increase in the tax rate.
Failure of the override to pass will send Shrewsbury into a downward spiral of paying for costly out-of-district education for students in need of specialized education and for high school students opting for a vocational education also out of district versus a college education because Shrewsbury's school rating is no longer desirable for college admissions.
The children of Shrewsbury are worth this investment.
Beth Shea Bryant
Town Meeting Member
Shrewsbury
