Chariho is desperate for more of your money. Their stated motivation is the credo, “All kids…all the time.” This is a powerful appeal. Of course, we all want to support the kids. So, when anybody challenges their motivation, it becomes important for them, the biased government special interest apparatus, to attack and discredit the challenger. Right now, Superintendent Gina Picard and Chairman Catherine Guisti have their ire trained on me. The attacks do not bother me. However, it is important to me that you know the truth. Because the growing leviathan of Chariho is drowning people financially by pricing them out of their own homes.

Let’s explore the first part of the district credo. All kids. What they mean is all the kids that attend Chariho and bring with them the associated tuition – which is all funded by you, the taxpayer. This money comes from your property taxes, your state income taxes, and your federal income taxes. The government apparatus jealousy defends their need for this money. When the number of kids declines, they still need more dollars.

There is little thought given to the portion of the “All kids” that attend private schools, charter schools, out-of-district schools, or are home schooled. These kids are viewed either as insignificant, or a threat to the district. The idea that the money follows the student is a lie. The public funding of education is an indispensable equalizer. School choice is the civil rights movement of our time. But the government schools don’t think so. Traditional government schools think they are owed all of that money. And they are using resources (that we provide them!) to continue to demand they get more. They do this via strategic lawsuits by the schools solicitor, complexifying their budget to the point of inaccessibility, and partnering with like-minded groups that seek endless funding increases. These groups provide sycophantic candidates and spend money to make sure budgets are passed.

Recently, Picard, sent an email to local town councils in an attempt to discredit me. As with all recent efforts, this was no doubt in close coordination with Guisti. Guisti was the deciding vote supporting the latest unjustified tax increase for Richmond and Hopkinton (especially for Hopkinton). In fact, Guisti was the only member of the Hopkinton contingent that supported this increase.

I claimed two things that Picard objected to. First, I claimed that I was the first school committee member to meet her after she was hired. Picard told me this when I visited her in her office on June 22, 2020. So, if she wants to correct this, that’s fine, but it means that she was inaccurate when she said this to me.

Second, I claimed that it was clear to me from our discussion, she viewed it as her job to get as much money as possible from the member towns. I stand by my perception of her attitude on funding. Maybe she was making this boast thinking I was sympathetic to a growing budget. In her recent email to the town councils, she actually quotes herself from the June 22, 2020 meeting: “as the Superintendent, it is my responsibility to advocate for students’ needs while ensuring we remain fiscally responsible.” This quote doesn’t pass the smell test. I submitted a public records request to access these “good notes.” Picard declined to provide them. Does anybody really believe that she said this? As we’ve seen, her version of “student needs” is extracting more money from the member towns. She was not concerned with student needs when it involved bullying in a bathroom – see a prior op-ed on RhodyReport.com: Chariho owes the Daigle family an apology (and answers to their questions). And, if Picard had said the words “fiscally responsible” on June 22, 2020 I would have further explored what she meant by that. She did not.

This dissembling by Picard needs to stop. Picard and Guisti think that they have a monopoly on the truth. They do not. The truth can be felt in your quarterly property tax payments. You are paying more money today for the fewest number of Chariho students ever. There has been way too much time and effort by Guisti and Picard to get more money for the annual budget and more capital dollars to knock-down and rebuild our elementary schools. The focus should instead be on reducing bullying and improving academic performance. This $150 million megabond is just another distraction from the core mission of the district.

YOU must be the deciding vote to defeat the April 9th budget, defeat the megabond bond on May 7th, and defeat Guisti, the rogue Hopkinton deciding vote for higher taxes, on November 5th.