One small step for democracy in a 'Live Free or Die' town - The Boston Globe

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : The shocking budget cut meant that the school board suddenly had to craft a new financial plan, while many parents suddenly had to come up with thousands of dollars to keep their children in public schools.
50% : He argued that taxes for education had climbed while student achievement had not and that, based in part on the much lower tuition for some local private schools, about $10,000 for each of the town's 80 or so students was sufficient -- though well short of, say, the nearly $18,000 that public schools in nearby Newport charged for pupils from Croydon.
48% : They researched right-to-know laws, sought advice from nonprofits and contacted the state attorney general's office to see whether they had any legal options.
46% : For the higher grades, $9,000 allocated for each student would cover the cost of nearby private schools or an in-person online option -- "in a church, or town hall, or some rented space," Jody Underwood said -- but only about half the tuition for public schools.
44% : In pamphlets he brought to the meeting, Underwood asserted that sports, music instruction and other typical school activities were not necessary to participate intelligently in a free government and that using taxes to pay for them "crosses the boundary between public benefit and private charity."
42% : (Jody Underwood later explained that her husband's assertions -- including that education spending had gone up 30% in recent years -- had persuaded her.)

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