To the editor: The future of Rappahannock County is

To the editor:

The future of Rappahannock County is threatened. The threat is posed by the very individuals entrusted with the county’s welfare, the board of supervisors.

Through their savaging of the 1985-86 school budget, they move in the deplorable direction of insuring that the children of Rappahannock receive an inferior education. Education is not a budgetary variable, to be funded as other obligations are met and as excess funds allow. It is rather to be viewed as a fixed charge to be met whatever the cost. The supervisors of Rappahannock, through their recent actions, place greater priority on dog pounds, jails and sewage treatment plants than the future of the county’s children. How else is one to interpret their actions?

The county is fortunate to have a school board dedicated to educational excellence. Through the. budget this group submitted to the supervisors, they yerbalized their faith in the county, its citizens, children and teachers. Their budget was a progressive one, focusing on improved facilities, offerings of additional educational programs, fostering continued professional growth by educators and compensating staff more competitively- lyWe

applaud the efforts of the school board; however, they cannot carry the entire educational burden. Citizens must shoulder a share. Your elected officials are not acting in the best interest of the citizens. We mus avoid a future of educational inferiority.

We, as professional educators, urge you to take action. Demand that your representatives on the board of supervisors support education, and thereby our community’s future, at the level deemed necessary by your school board. Should the supervisors fail to heed your directions and continue to sabotage Rappahannock County’s future, we urge you to take the only course left. Vote the incompetent and damaging members off of the board, and elect more members with the integrity and foresight of its chairman, Mr. Gilkey.