“Don’t punish the students.”

That’s a quote from a letter to the editor published last week, and we have to concur with that sentiment originally written by Bob Thomson. Many citizens are upset at the School Board for its controversial 4-1 decision to fire long-time FHUSD teacher Pam Aister, but we feel it would be misguided to vent that anger toward the “additional assistance budget override” (formerly capital override) question appearing on the Nov. 4 ballot concerning our School District.

Even Dr. C.T. Wright, the lone dissenter who chose not to vote to dismiss Aister, urged the crowd at the contentious public meeting to support the ballot measure.

We realize it was just a year ago that Fountain Hills voters authorized an $8 million bond package for the School District, approved a bond package to allow the town to re-construct Saguaro Blvd. and OK’d other FHUSD budget overrides.

But our community has given broad support to the School District over the decades, and that financial boost needs to continue with the seven-year renewal of this capital override.

The override money would be used for such things as software and hardware improvements for students, textbooks and online resources for pupils, building improvements for existing sites, student transportation vans and furniture and equipment.

The funds clearly don’t go to the School Board itself or to administrative salaries. They essentially go directly into the classroom, the same classroom where Ms. Aister taught her ACES for years and years. The electorate must separate the School Board’s action regarding Aister and the capital outlay override. We don’t think town officials would have liked voters turning down the Saguaro Blvd. bond package just because they were unhappy some mature trees were cut down on the Avenue of the Fountains to make way for median improvements. They are two totally separate issues.

And the same logic applies to the FHUSD capital override. We urge voters to support the override, regardless of how they feel toward the School Board or its Aister decision. FHUSD needs the funding to continue its pursuit of excellence in education. One may feel certain personalities are no longer suited to oversee the spending of this override money (there is a separate ballot issue dealing with three seats on the School Board), but we’re confident that the continued override expenditures will be justified and handled in a professional and student-oriented manner, just as they have been since 1999.