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In these times of shrinking services, no community is exempt.  Parents cannot be complaisant and must be active and involved advocates for children no matter where they live. No longer is moving to the suburbs a shoe-in for adequate resources for schools.  We’ve read about the “override Moms” in wealthy towns like Wellesley who work full-time drumming up community support for school funding, and an article in Sunday’s Boston Globe relates how Stoneham just barely saved their library from losing state accreditation, as well as many teaching positions and high school sports that were on the chopping block. Speaking of sports, parents in Stoneham will now pay a $300 per semester ’sports fee’ (some call this the ‘parent tax’). Times are tough all over, and as a Selectman of Stoneham says, “Now, the goal is to find more revenue.” Good luck with that! Why is Governor Deval Patrick seeking to bring casinos to Massachusetts and trying creative solutions like closing corporate tax loopholes and his municipal partnership act? With property taxes such a burden, override proposals splitting communities, and everything getting more expensive, one might well ask what does it take to run a civilized society, have a library, educate children, provide basic services, and what are we willing to pay for? Stand for Children has tried to get funding to answer the education question with their “Adequacy Study,” (see their 2008 policy platform). Of course, the study costs money, but it’s hard “to manage what you can’t measure.” For Stand for Children testimony on this issue before the Senate Ways and Means committee, see below: more »