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Contributed commentary by Charles Uffelman, chair of the Montgomery County Democratic Party:

When Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board member Aron Maberry announced his run for the Tennessee House of Representatives, I, like many, assumed he planned to step down from the School Board if he won his state race. Why would anyone want to do both? We are a large county. Surely there are enough qualified people to serve on a school board, allowing our state officials to do their jobs. He won in November and assumed office soon after, and continued to serve in both offices, being eligible for a larger paycheck from the state in addition to his county income.

I was surprised to hear Rep./School Board member Maberry’s comments on the school voucher resolution that came up at the recent School Board meeting. When asked for a delay to the resolution so the board could have more than one meeting to consider it, he stepped in to add that passing it after he gets to vote on the issue in Nashville next week would not be “timely.”

Vouchers is a scheme pushed by Gov. Bill Lee that, along with the new TISA school funding model, shifts funds from public schools to subsidize students to attend private schools. The vouchers in the plan do not cover the average cost of a private school education, and experts warn after the end of the hold-harmless agreements by the state, our County Commission and School Board will have to decide whether to cut services, fire teachers, and close schools or raise taxes.

It’s inappropriate for a doubly elected official to sit on a school board and vote to change the position of that board on an issue that he will then vote on at the state level that will impact and likely de-fund, in the long term, our local schools which he oversees. If you’re confused by that sentence, then you see the problem created by the rep./School Board member’s insistence on double dipping in holding both offices. This week, he will vote on the largest funding change to public schools in state history while he receives a paycheck from our public schools.

He should have resigned his School Board seat and allowed our County Commission to choose a successor. Stop double dipping while you vote to de-fund our public schools, Rep./School Board member Aron Maberry.

Charles Uffelman

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