Disgruntled Mascoma Valley taxpayers who have filed a petition for a school district warrant article to fire Superintendent Patrick Andrew are brandishing a blunt instrument, and swinging and missing. Although such flailing is on the upswing in national politics, unfortunately reaching the highest office in the land, it’s less common to see it locally. The only saving grace is that as far as we know, there has been no use in this instance of Twitter.

Rather, traditional pen and paper were employed when 36 voters from Grafton, Dorchester and Canaan signed a petition calling on the School Board to give Andrew the boot and search for a new superintendent “who will take action to bring the runaway Mascoma Valley Regional School District budget under control.” That’s a job description that would certainly bring an interesting pool of applicants.

Their grievance: rising property taxes in Mascoma Valley towns. Indeed, taxes have risen, partly as a result of the $21.5 million renovation of the high school, but mostly because the district is not immune from the cost pressures all districts face. Note that these pressures come at a time when the Legislature has kept a lid on state aid for education, preserving the New Hampshire “advantage’’ — no sales or income tax — on the backs of local property taxpayers. And locally, direct responsibility for spending lies with the district’s Budget Committee and School Board. It’s the superintendent’s job to propose a budget he thinks is necessary to give children a good education, and it is the School Board’s job to take that recommendation and adapt it to match their best judgment of the communities’ capacity to pay for it.

The beauty of local democracy is that voters can fire school boards and budget committees at elections. They cannot dismiss the majority of voters, however, and if the majority repeatedly approve school appropriations, then so be it.

Opponents of “runaway’’ school costs have the option of participating in budget deliberations, school board meetings and, of course, elections, so they can take direct action. But those options would take more sustained effort than calling for the firing of Andrew, who by many accounts has contributed much to the district and its communities. His supporters point to improvements in test scores and completion of the high school renovation, which has greatly improved facilities and brought pride to those who now use them.

One of the petition signers said it puts the district School Board on alert, and that it calls on Andrew to “see what you can do’’ about cutting costs. It has no real power beyond that, since a March vote would be strictly advisory. Yet it would be fitting if voters alternatively gave Andrew a strong vote of confidence. The “you’re fired’’ theory of management works better on TV reality shows than in real life.