Dear Editor:

Selectmen, officers of the municipality, not of the school district, often try to control the affairs of the school district without the legal authority to do so. It appears that this is the case in Edgecomb, where, by vote, or consensus, the selectmen tipped the scales against four items in the school budget which had been voted by the school committee. Had they not taken this action, I wonder if the townspeople would have, as they did, essentially voted down the school budget.

The school district is a totally separate legal entity from the town, though school districts and towns are often geographically exactly the same. School districts and the committees that govern them are separate creations of the state, and have the power to raise taxes with citizen approval, hire personnel, erect buildings, and in general, manage their own affairs, separate from the municipal government.

School committees are created by state authority to manage these affairs, and are separate from select boards precisely because the management of education is the most important local function, and the most expensive. It takes the focus and skill of a separate board to ensure that it is adequately cared for.

The board of selectmen of any town have no special skill, nor any legal role to play in this important function. As individual citizens, the members of the select board have their personal right to voice their opinions, but they have no business, as a board, in interfering with the governance of the school district.

Bruce MacDonald

Boothbay