Ludlow withdrawal

To the editor:
    I want to take a moment to share some thoughts on the withdrawal process from SAD 70 some are trying to push through our town of Ludlow.
    First, I’m angered at the fact that these people, once again pushing their petition, have this time sought to acquire the needed amount of signatures by deception. I say deception because apparently the petitioner was telling residents the town could save $78,000 by withdrawing from SAD 70 and switching to SAD 29. This figure had already been debunked way back in March as incorrect and a figure of $48,000 savings had replaced it. This petition was obviously circulated sometime in May or later, after the first attempt failed, so they knew $78,000 was incorrect.
    Secondly, where did the $48,000 savings figure come from, we are now in late fall and the figure has been changed to a savings of $43,000. I was at the public hearing last week and the figures that I heard were based on the SAD 29 2010-11 school year, which with all due respect, are completely irrelevant here at the end of 2012.
    According to the articles I read in May and June about the SAD 29 school budget, Houlton and its surrounding town members of SAD 29, saw increases in their portion of the school budget rise by plus or minus 20 percent. If we had been in SAD 29, wouldn’t Ludlow have seen these types of increases as well? Some town council members of Houlton fear that next year may be even worse. So now, is the $43,000 estimated savings we could achieve from switching from SAD 70 to SAD 29 before or after these increases? It matters to me because increases like that could eliminate any savings very quickly.
    In my opinion, the facts and figures seem to be very fluid, and transparency is limited. I would rather stick with a sure thing like SAD 70, a school district that has served this town and surrounding towns very well for decades.
Dan Howell
Ludlow