No surprise local paper doesn’t support schools
No surprise that yesterday’s Lowell Sun sang the merits of the manager’s budget, especially his plan to cut $1.6 million from the schools. Anyone paying attention to past editorials and recent blog posts knows there’s an editor on a mission to denigrate our public schools—especially our teachers. It’s clear, however, that this person never spent a day in an urban classroom teaching anything to anyone—never mind 25 students, many of whom do not speak English as their first language. More importantly, the editorial failed to give historical perspective, such as the hits the schools have been taking since 2002, especially the budget cuts of 2003 (the year I ran for school committee). That year and the following, the city’s contribution to its schools was $12.7 million—its lowest since before 1992 when it funded the schools $25.5 million. Note that number: $25.5 million—the amount the city funded its schools in 1992. Taxes have been going up (about six percent over the last five years) but those tax revenues have not been for the schools. In 2003, the City Council cut the school department’s budget by $10 million, and 12% of school staff (more than 100 people) were laid off. And yesterday, this editor writes: “It is incumbent upon the teachers’ union and school administrators to participate in the efficiencies and cost-savings being implemented on the municipal side of government.” Pleeese! Although I’m saddened to hear of layoffs on the city side, I don’t recall any municipal layoffs in 2003 or any year in recent memory. Meanwhile, the school department continues to look for efficiencies. The current school budget is based on 25 trade-off positions—17 eliminations at the middle school level alone—as a way to use attrition to prioritize staffing needs. The schools are using data to better meet students’ needs and that requires staffing and programming support. That said, I agree the current city budget is comprehensive and includes actual expenditures, going back five years. Once you break out state support for education, chapter 70 funds, the city’s history of funding its municipal departments has been steady while its support for its schools has not.