School leaders unite to focus on funding
Believing that educational funding is in crisis in the state, several school districts north of Boston have decided to collaborate in a search for solutions.
School and other municipal officials recently created the North Shore Coalition for School Funding. The organization plans to work with legislators to find ways to ease the financial stress that afflicts their districts.
Districts that have joined or expressed interest in the coalition include Beverly, Gloucester, Hamilton-Wenham Regional, Ipswich, Lynn, Manchester Essex Regional, Marblehead, Nahant, Newburyport, North Andover, North Reading, Rockport, Salem, and Swampscott.
Swampscott School Committee chairman David P. Whelan Jr. said by banding together, districts can better promote changes they need at the state level to bolster their finances. "A small community like Swampscott has very little opportunity to affect legislation, to effect change," he said. "Coming together with all these communities is a way to create a bigger group that is going to have a louder voice."
Beverly School Committee chairwoman Annemarie Cesa said the intent is to find a approach that all communities can support. "No one is trying to pit one community against the other," she said. "This group is working together to come up with solutions that will work for us all."
Manchester Essex Regional School Committee chairwoman Susan M. Beckmann, who is chairing the coalition, said the idea for the group grew out of a meeting in August among local officials and legislators on school financing.
At the meeting, it was agreed that five local school officials would work together to develop proposals to bring to the Legislature and the Patrick administration. In the discussions, that group, which included Beckmann, Whelan, and Cesa, decided the creation of a grass-roots coalition was the best way to advance the agenda.
Lynn School Committee vice chairwoman Patricia Capano said she would like to learn more about the coalition, which is set to hold a meeting with legislators Nov. 14. "If it saves money and helps the kids, I will certainly listen," Capano said.
As examples of the struggles facing districts, coalition members note that Swampscott's state school aid has fallen $1.6 million in the past three years, resulting in the closure of an elementary school and the cutting of 40 jobs, mostly those of teachers. Next fiscal year, the district projects 20 more job cuts and possible closure of another school.
Since 2003, Gloucester has lost more than 100 employees through layoffs and attrition, and has closed its largest elementary school, redistricting more than 400 students. Beverly's state aid was cut by 20 percent in 2003, and the amount it currently receives remains below that level. The cuts caused the closure of the middle school in 2004 and an elementary school this year.
Beckmann said one of the coalition's initial goals is to have the state evaluate the adequacy of its school aid program to determine how dollars are being spent and "are we getting the outcome we need." Too often, Beckmann said, debates over school funding become emotional, pitting communities against one another, and boards within communities against one another.
"We have to stop doing that and pull back and say, 'Where is the money going and are we spending it in the right places,' " she said. Such analysis could lead to the conclusion that more funding is needed or that "we need to redistribute what we are paying for. Maybe some programs need to be shifted."
Beckmann said other solutions to the funding crunch could include expanded pooling of resources among districts, and legislative moves to enable districts to better control costs in areas such as special education.
Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee chairwoman Laurie Wilson said the coalition could press for an easing of state requirements on districts.
"If the money is not there, they need to take a look at some of those mandates because a lot of that is what is strapping us," she said, citing special education requirements as an example.
Whelan said helping municipalities save, such as by easing the process for joining the state employee health insurance program, also would benefit school districts.
"If you save money on the town side, it all comes out of the same pot of money . . . so by default it would help the schools," he said. 