School Committee Public Hearing 3/23/06
I come here tonight to express my disappointment. I am not disappointed in the Superintendent or in his staff or in the School Committee. I know that they are trying to do the very best they can with what they have. I am disappointed in our Nation. I’m disappointed in a Federal Government that talks about improving public education, but continues to undermine our efforts by cutting back on funding for public education and the No Child Left Behind Act year after year. I am disappointed in the State of Massachusetts that refuses to acknowledge that this state funds public education at a lower level than more than 40 other states in the Nation, thus leaving cities and towns to find the funding for their own schools.
But more than anything, I am most disappointed in our community of Newton. I speak here tonight not only as the President of the Newton Teachers Association, but as a 30- year resident of the City of Newton. We live in one of the wealthiest communities in the Commonwealth, but this community is not willing to fill in the shortfalls of our education funding. I witness many of our residents coming to School Committee meetings or sending letters to the newspapers to question and criticize how the school dollars are spent. They do not understand how the yearly cutting of positions and programs leave our school system less robust and leave our workforce trying to do more and more with fewer and fewer resources.
I wonder why we continue to look within the system to find extra dollars rather than looking out to the community to find a way to make up for the increasingly inadequate funding from the State and the Federal Government. I am disappointed in a community that fails to acknowledge that a major part of the reason that their properties have continued to increase in value is that the quality of public education in Newton has been recognized as one of the highest in the area.I am disappointed to see members of a community who look to dissect a budget to find cost savings in every nook and cranny instead of looking at the bigger picture: the overwhelming need for more dollars to make this again the premier school system in the Commonwealth.
I see in Newton a population that rarely questions rises in costs for their doctors, their dentists, or their lawyers. They don’t even question when their plumber or mechanic charges more. However, these same people look at the place where the community’s most precious resource, it’s children, spend a major portion of their 13 most formative years, and they only want to scrutinize beyond reason the costs of the necessary resources. I am embarrassed when my own contemporaries, whose children have already gone through our schools, say that they do not want to pay any higher taxes. I ask them: “What if people had said that when your kids were in the schools? How would your children have gotten that fine education; one with small classes and almost unlimited electives and programs?” I ask: Isn’t it the responsibility of each one of us to take care of the next generation?
I want to see a Newton that serves as a leader in the Commonwealth. We need to serve as a model of a community that is willing and able to find a way to fully fund our schools; and can make up the difference from what is currently received and that which is necessary for the children. Our teachers used to be asked what they needed in their classrooms to improve things for kids. But now there is no money to do that. In fact, most teachers, on a yearly basis, spend many of their own dollars to fill in this gap.
Our school system is bleeding from all the cuts and it is our professionals in the schools who are serving as the Band-Aids. They can no longer control the bleeding. The system can not maintain the same quality as it has in the past at the present level of funding.
Many people listening to me tonight may regard me only as the President of the NTA and they may think that I came here only in that capacity. However, as the mother of three sons who have gone through the school system and benefited from their experiences here, my purpose is to state that we need a better-funded school system, that will provide the following:
1)
small classes for all students
2)
updated technology in every classroom
3)
a full time librarian in every library
4)
adequate school supplies in every building
5)
new textbooks and learning materials whenever necessary (rather than every 10 years)
6)
adequate options in elective classes in every secondary school
7)
fully staffed special education programs
8)
elimination of bus fees
9)
a full hour of art per week for every student in the elementary school
10) proper professional development for the teachers and other staff members
It is no longer possible to sustain the schools that people expect to see here in Newton on the present level of funding! I would once more like to believe that I live in a community that understands the importance of our children’s future as much as I do. Thank you.
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