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Last weekend, the Lowell High School Crew Team sent two boats to the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships in Cincinnati. Of the 142 teams from across the country that qualified for the event, LHS was one of only 20 public schools to compete in this prestigious regatta. The boys’ lightweight four (comprised of Mike McKeon, Cameron Crockett, Brandon Coombes, Josiah Todd, and Harry Finch) placed fifth overall in the grand final and was the fastest public school boat in the country! This was the third time in the past four years that the Lowell High School crew team competed at nationals. (Special thanks to Coach Jen Bauer for providing this information.)

Here’s what I heard last night from Lowell City Manager Bernie Lynch: We’re facing unprecedented cuts in state aid while dealing with skyrocketing health insurance costs. I get it—a similar situation exists on the school side. While local aid for the city is down $15 million and health insurance has increased $4 million, the manager presented a budget that asks for $11 million less than last year. (That alone is mind boggling when you consider how most everything, including the price of milk and eggs, has gone up.) I sat through only 3½ hours of this marathon council meeting, so I wasn’t there when the vote was made to cut the manager’s assistant and I’m not privy to details on the decision, but when looking at the entire organization, cutting a key management role during a fiscal crisis seems shortsighted. For more on this, check LiL.

The manager’s assurance that if more state funding comes in for the schools, it will go there, and the fact that he based the $5 million cut to the district on a $3.2 million state shortfall is appreciated as the schools face their own fiscal nightmare. His approach with his budget was to cut positions, raise taxes 2½ % which will cost the average homeowner $65 more annually, and adopt a 2% meals tax when it’s available. Since his budget is based on these revenue options, I support them because to cut deeper would severely hamper our quality of life and our ability to bounce back from this fiscal mess. (The schools will need to find an additional $400,000 without the meals tax revenue.) With that in mind, I am determined not to cut so deep into the schools as to completely erode the progress we’ve made or dismantle the programs with proven results (more on that later). The school budget hearing is tonight at 8.