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- A "Just Say No" sign in Milton
Updated on May 29, 2024.
Green signs printed with the phrase “Just Say No” in orange block lettering first appeared in South Burlington and Essex Junction ahead of those towns' school budget revotes on May 8.
Last week, the same signs popped up again, this time in Milton, in advance of that town's third school budget vote on June 4.
It's not unusual for signs urging people to vote in favor of — or against — school budgets to sprout up around the state in the spring. That's proven especially true this year, when education costs and property taxes are rising and taxpayers are feeling the pinch. But these particular signs bear a smaller line of text that says they were paid for by the
Chittenden County GOP.
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- Courtesy
- The small text on a "Just Say No" sign
The signs' small print has caught the attention of multiple Milton residents, some of whom worry about a political party getting involved in a local budget discussion.
Among those distancing themselves from the signs was state Rep. Chris Taylor (R-Milton), a Milton Town School District employee and selectboard member who said on Facebook that he was dismayed by the political bent of the messaging.
“I want to be extremely clear that I do not endorse these signs," Taylor wrote on May 21. "I actually find them counterproductive to the civil discourse that is hoped for in Milton ... it's important that we approach issues with thoughtful dialogue and understanding rather than through sign wars.”
On Front Porch Forum, a Milton resident wrote that she had removed a “Just Say No” sign that was placed without permission in her yard — next to one she
had put up in support of the budget.
Asked about the signs that their group supposedly paid for, members of the Chittenden County GOP's executive committee gave confusing — and sometimes conflicting — accounts of how they came to be.
Milton resident Chuck Wilton, the organization’s finance chair, said he did not authorize the purchase of the signs, nor did he know who put them up.
Vice chair Ron Lawrence, who lives in Essex Junction, told
Seven Days that the
Chittenden County Republican Party purchased the signs at the request of several “town-oriented committees.” He identified them as Students, Parents and Educators for Achievement Through Knowledge (
SPEAK) and Vermont Parents Against Critical Theory (
VPACT) — two groups that were formed to counter diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the Milton and Essex Westford school districts.
Two recently elected Milton school board members, Allison Duquette and Scott O’Brien, have been involved with VPACT in the past. In an email late Tuesday, Duquette said that "
neither I nor VPACT had anything to do with the Just Say No signs.
"I did not know they existed until I saw them placed around town," she wrote.
O'Brien did not respond to a request for comment.
Lawrence said the Chittenden County GOP purchased the signs without consulting the statewide Republican Party.
Paul Dame, chair of the Vermont GOP, told
Seven Days that “the state party has not been involved in funding any campaigns related to votes on school budgets” but did not respond to follow-up questions about whether he knew the signs were being purchased or whether he endorsed them.
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- A sign in Essex Junction ahead of that school district's vote in May
Last Friday, Lawrence sent "a correction" to his original comments, noting that the signs were first used in South Burlington and “not purchased specifically for SPEAK or VPACT.”
Meanwhile, Chittenden County GOP chair Janet Metz emailed
Seven Days with yet another explanation.
“The [Chittenden County Republican Party] was not involved in the planning for or production and distribution of the ‘no’ signs,” Metz wrote. “I was initially asked to place our information on the signs and agreed, but in the end they were paid for through private donations. Obviously, they went to print before that decision was made.”
Metz said she had “no idea how many signs were produced, at what cost, or where and when they were first deployed” but her understanding was that they were shared among multiple communities.
She declined to identify the private donors who paid for the signs but said Milton school board members Duquette and O’Brien were not among them.
Metz wrote in her email that it was "unfortunate" that “an overzealous person” placed a “Just Say No” sign on private property in Milton without permission, saying she did not believe a member of her group was involved.
“I hope we can put this issue behind us and concentrate on how to provide a high quality education to our young people at a cost that Vermonters can bear,” Metz wrote.
Heather Preuss, a 21-year Milton resident and parent of two school-age children, said school budgets in her town are often the subject of disagreement. This year is the first, though, that she said she’s seen the name of a political group on a sign encouraging residents to vote a certain way.
Preuss said it feels troublesome that a countywide political group is trying to sway town residents on school budget votes, which "are supposed to be local decisions."
Preuss said she also found it odd that Taylor, a prominent Republican in Milton, had publicly expressed concern about the signs.
“If he says they’re not cool, then who’s calling the shots for what goes up in Milton?” Preuss said. “Who made the decision to put these signs up?”
According to the Vermont Secretary of State's Office, "electioneering communications" must contain the name and mailing address of the person or group that paid for them. But that only pertains to "communication that refers to a clearly identified candidate for office and that promotes or supports a candidate for that office or attacks or opposes a candidate for that office.”
Signs that do not contain a candidate's name, such as the "Just Say No" signs, are not required to include information about who paid for them.
Last Friday, five "Just Say No" signs stood along main thoroughfares in Milton. Also planted in the grass were school district signs reminding residents to vote — for the third time — on June 4. Other signs said "Vote Yes" and "Support Our Schools!"
Milton is the only school district in Chittenden County that has yet to pass its school budget. The third proposal represents a reduction of around $750,000 from the original spending plan that failed on Town Meeting Day in March. It is expected to lead to an estimated property tax increase of 11 percent — several percentage points lower than the state average.
Taylor, the Republican legislator, has said he, for one, supports it.