To the editor: School branding bill amendment is ‘state censorship’

You know the saying “You’ll spend us into the gutter?” How about a Vermont version: “You’ll spend us into the ditch.’’ Vermont’s veto-proof state Democrats are doing just that: spending the people of Vermont into the ditch.

For example, there’s the mind-boggling education property tax? A half joke in Montpelier has it that only one person in Vermont fully understands the complex law, a fellow in the Joint Fiscal Office. We may not understand why, but, according to VTDigger, “the average Vermonter could expect education property tax bills to increase 20%.” Into the ditch we go.

Smack in the middle of the confusion and worry about the education tax law and extraordinary tax hikes, Reps. Heather Chase, who represents Athens, Chester, Grafton and Windham, and Emma Mulvaney-Stanak of Burlington have introduced a bill to amend an existing “School Branding” law. That law prohibits, among other things, the use of symbols that refer to the race of any group. The amendment would allow the Agency of Education to hold back funding if school districts don’t abide by the law. In other words, do as we say or we’ll punish you, big time.

Until recently, Green Mountain High School in Chester, one of the towns Heather Chase represents, had as its insignia “The Green Mountain Chieftains” that included the image of a Native American in a feathered headdress. The “School Branding” law defined the name and image to be “discriminatory” to Native Americans.

That’s one interpretation, but it’s a narrow, and negative interpretation. The word “chieftain” is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means a ruler or military leader, and is not particular to Native Americans. Feathered headdresses have been used in a number of cultures to denote high standing. The feathered “war bonnet” in the Green Mountain High School brand was used by some of the tribes of the Great Plains to represent leadership, courage and bravery. Each feather in the headdress stood for a particular act of bravery.

The proposed amendment to the “School Branding” law would allow the Vermont Agency of Education to withhold funds from any school district that doesn’t accept whatever interpretation of discrimination is dominant in Montpelier at the moment. This amounts to state censorship and is wrong. It is especially wrong as the state Democrats persist in spending us into the ditch.

Anna Vesely Pilette
Grafton