Maine’s $56 million income tax surplus (BDN, July 22) is like cake before the eyes of starving children – the children in this case being the rural schools whose budgets were drastically slashed last year. Schools in the Down East region have been crippled by these cuts, which apparently weren’t necessary. In my town, the kids are looking at long bus rides, since their school is tottering on the brink.

Taking a school away is like ripping out the heart of a community. The majority of the townsfolk don’t want it. The kids don’t want it. It will further depress the local economy, affecting our hard-working small-business owners.

State legislators, give back some of the money you took away under false pretenses. The poorest regions of Maine where education is needed the most are being financially strangled.

Chris Crittenden

Lubec