Opinion: Vote Yes For Braintree Debt Exclusion

Braintree MA

25 September, 2020

2:11 PM

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BRAINTREE, MA — The following letter to the editor comes from former Town Councilor and School Committee Chair Sean Powers: I am voting yes for Braintree and I hope you do too on Saturday. I've lived in Braintree my entire life and am a proud product of the Braintree Public Schools. Many have asked why I would vote yes if I don't have any children in our school system — here is what I tell them. It's not just about our children, it's more than that. A yes vote is an investment that will benefit all of us as a community. Just as we have a responsibility to ensure that our senior citizens have their social security protected and are well cared for, we also have a moral and generational responsibility to guarantee our children the ability to learn and thrive in an educational environment. An environment that will prepare them for a fiercely competitive and unpredictable global economy. At the end of the day, the upcoming generation will be leading our community, Commonwealth and Nation. They will be making the decisions of tomorrow. Our school buildings are tired. Teaching our children in buildings that are from the 1950s-60s and one over one hundred years old is not sustainable. My father always taught not to throw good money after bad. I can assure you that the investment we make now as a community will pay dividends in the long run. It makes good fiscal sense to rebuild our South Middle School. These debt exclusion questions have multiple funding sources through property taxes — including commercial property taxes. This means that businesses such as the South Shore Plaza and other big developments will help shoulder the cost towards a new South Middle School and lessen the burden on residential property owners. We'll be receiving $31 million in state grant funding. As State taxpayers, we all pay into the Mass School Building Authority. We've been paying for other school projects in other towns for years. It is time that our schools get the same advantages we've been helping to give other communities. As a property taxpayer in our town, I would much rather see the state assist us with funding than use town finances to give merely band aid solutions that just eat up our funding and take away resources from critical town services. You may have seen some recent discussion on social media about people questioning why they should vote yes. I would hope that our citizens would recognize the main question at hand and not get distracted. The question is; what type of school system and community do we want to have? It is my hope and faith in our town that people would recognize that the increase they will pay in property taxes is minor compared to the dividends and benefits we will receive. I hope that you all will join me in voting yes this Saturday. A yes not only for our schools, but a yes for our Braintree and our future. Thank you. Sean Powers Former Town Council President Former Chair of the School Committee