In a legislative column in today’s issue, Sen. Ruth Hardy and Rep. Peter Conlon write a telling piece shedding more light on this year’s contentious school budgets, and urging residents of three area school districts — Mount Abe, Otter Valley and Slate Valley Union — to pass their budgets on the upcoming votes.

Each school district has seen its budget defeated twice. Conlon and Hardy help residents understand some of the underlying causes of the higher property tax burden, and counter misinformation by Gov. Phil Scott, who is using the issue to bash school boards for excessive spending rather than explain the more complex reasons behind this year’s high taxes.

It’s another perspective on an issue that all of us must try to better understand before we face the same concerns with next year’s school budgets.

And, as both representatives suggest, vote yes on each of those school budgets. Denying them a third time won’t change tax rates enough to make a difference and only serves to set back the school’s ability to teach its students this coming fall.

Angelo Lynn