Hold on to your wallets again, Kennebunk. School consolidation has another zinger for us, $324,000 for a sloppy error in the district charter, that will be reflected in our tax bills annually.

The charter has made it difficult to close schools, even penalizing Kennebunk, should we vote to close any one of two schools outside town. Two studies have concluded the need to close schools. The most recent, by McCormick Facilities Management Company, was requested by the district and funded by the state.

Our failure to close schools continues to cost us: $1 million extra in administration, utilities and maintenance, our share 60 percent or $600,000 annually; $755,000 extra in teacher salaries, due in part to the inefficient use of staff, our share, $450,000 annually.

Wasting valuable resources makes it difficult to provide a quality education for children while also meeting the challenge of reduced state funding. I urge you to reject the budget for next year, until we have a commitment from the board to close schools and correct the charter provision that gave us the $324,000 expense.

Edward Geoghan

Kennebunk