Speaking of budget cuts…
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:
From https://www.stand.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Document.Doc?id=887
We are also asking you to allocate at least $150,000 for an education adequacy study. Only two years remain in the current rollout of chapter 70 reforms and increases, and we all know the foundation formula is woefully out-of-date. How can a formula derived in the early 90’s possibly satisfy the educational needs of the students in Massachusetts in 2008?Solve the problem now.
We understand some of your colleagues are worried that the costing-out study will result in significant sticker shock but this study is needed to identify best practices as well as plausible cost efficiencies. Without this study, we’re all just improvising policy. Districts are forced to make ad hoc decisions about what programs to axe – Do we close the library or cut the football team? Eliminate professional development, or wait another year to introduce the new science curriculum? This type of decision making is dismantling programs that distinguished some of our school systems as some of the best in the world. It is time to fund the study, figure out what the components of a globally competitive 21st century education really are and what they truly cost. Then we can work together to give the children of Massachusetts the education they deserve.