To the editor:

With the Tiverton School Committee's June 25 decision to fund all day kindergarten, 120 local children will receive a better education at a critical time in their cognitive development. The benefits of a full-day education will be seen for another 12 years in the Tiverton school system before they graduate as young adults. It is also a benefit they will carry forward their entire lives.

We believe this is a win-win for the community and sincerely thank everyone involved in planning, deliberating and approving the decision to implement all day K this upcoming schoola year and ahead of the R.I mandate for FY17.

Aside from the obvious benefit to the students and families, there is also an immediate benefit to the town of Tiverton. State assistance allows Tiverton more value for each tax dollar spent for all day K this fall, significant funds will go towards educating our children, rather than transportation, by the elimination of mid-day bus routes, and it was accomplished without raising taxes or dipping into the school system's reserve fund.

We also recognize that the work is not done. School Committee members were rightly concerned about the impact of this decision on the department's reserve given the projected deficit for FY17. No doubt there will be difficult decisions ahead. That said, the process does raise an interesting question — why was something so universally desired so difficult to achieve? Like our kindergartners will learn lessons over the course of this upcoming year and in many years to come, we too have learned some valuable lessons that we hope will help serve the town in the future to come.

Participation - This experience certainly has shown that with increased involvement the School Committee is stronger. Passionately voicing concerns and offering ideas encouraged the process of due diligence and further ensured decisions are aligned with the interests of all. The importance of this issue was validated by the reversal of the initial vote to postpone all day K. Social media is increasingly the channel where the most expedient communication occurs and we should work to use it to increase participation. If current rules inhibit this process, then we suggest they be revised. It would serve our town well to “keep up with the times.”

Process - Complex and conflicting state and local schedules appear to be a huge challenge to budgetary planning. With a state law that mandates fiscal balance and the inevitable flux that occurs as expenditures are estimated and then later realized to be much higher, there may be an opportunity to better accommodate the process to be more innovative for our schools.

Politics - The Tiverton school system represents a significant portion of Tiverton's yearly operating budget. Recent town referendums have shown that there are multiple perspectives to consider, all of which represent valid opinions regarding funding priorities. Unfortunately, bias in the local debate appears to be stifling a more thoughtful, forward-thinking and compromising dialogue necessary for change.

We believe the inclusion of all ideas, increased participation and efforts toward a more effective process will help Tiverton address upcoming FY17 concerns while continuing to fulfill its quest for educational excellence. A collaborative effort can only benefit our town now and well into our future.

Mike DeCotis

Jeff and Danna Spencer

Tiverton