Republicans Cut Social Services and Education for Similar Reasons

     Most of Vernon's Republican Town Council members resent the money spent on social services. They believe these services attract poor people to Vernon. Therefore they slowly strangle and sometimes completely gut social services accounts. (It's the old millworkers' housing that actually attracts the poor.)
   Most schools can educate the well-prepared children of the better-off. It takes an excellent school system with considerable resources to fully educate poor children whose parents often have minimal education, who have never used a computer, never had day care or pre-school, never had instructional videos or learning aids at home, etc.).
     Mayor Apel cut $1.5million from the Board of Ed's proposed budget. Republican town councilors cut an additional $675,000. This $2.175 million cut will insure that Vernon's school system doesn't have the resources (small class sizes, full-time kindergarten, etc.) to fully educate poor children.
     While the lack of educational resources will hurt all students, children from better-off families will still receive a good education in those schools with the fewest poor children.
     And if poor families leave Vernon seeking better schools for their children? That's not a threat to these Republicans, it's a goal.