Patrick to spare local schools in upcoming budget cuts

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!
FINALLY a Governor that supports PUBLIC education!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes We Can.

Funny how much local aid goes to schools
and kids still don't even know how to balance a checkbook or boil an egg

Where's my promised property tax cut?

First Obama is elected, then this news... my faith is restored !

Will those funds trickle down to Cape Cod's school's!!!!

How about if he stops giving away free money to all the failing biotech companies as part of his Massachusetts Life Sciences initiative? This program can save 100 million per year and it is a sin to see the wastefull
spending in these entities.

We all need to repeal Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 23I

I don't agree with this move. Pretty much all of the public services are "essential", and this just means the rest will take a bigger hit...

If this is true it actually might restore my faith in the Governor. And, for the first time make me proud of him and glad that I voted for him.

thank you Deval---I take back everything I said about you---you can keep your caddy too

And hack teachers unions apparently. So instead cops and firemen will be cut to the bone. Good call there Governor

Boston School Mom - - Your do not know what you are talking about - - local aid to school is one line item. Most school districts still get a signifigant amount in other revenue thru lottery and "general" non-chapter 70 or 90 state aid. He is cutting that - which in turn - means cuts to education at the local level. He is trying to look like the education governor - but he is playing a game - nothing more.

Yes We Can .... "Ignore those of us who minimize our burden on society by paying our own way and send our children to non-public schools." All we'd like is the roads and public safety maintained without paying ridiculously high local taxes. Why shouldn't the public schools share the burden?

Doesn't make much sense. Cuts should be balance across all areas. There is no evidence at all that indicates that more spending equals better education.

Well done DeVille, throw more money at a failed system!

Yah, with you disgusted. My neighbor is in his mid 30s, 2 young kids, wife doesnt work, bought a 1/2 million dollar house, both have cell phones and everything else. He's a school teacher. They basically work 2/3 of a year and retire at 58 with 80% of their pay. That's where our tax dollars are going. My wife is a medical professional and I am a professional in industry. We both work a full time job and are a bit older than our new neighbors. He's out in his driveway relaxing this past Sept calculating his retirement date and we have just lost a good chunk of our 401K.

Where's the justice.

IT IS QUITE CLEAR THERE ARE A LOT OF ANGRY WHITE MEN OUT THERE.
ASK YOURSELF, WHY U.S.A IS RANKED TWENTY-FIFTH IN EDUCATION WOLRD WIDE? OR DO YOU CARE? AS SOMEONE WHO HAS WORKED IN PUBLIC EDUCATION FOR FIFTEEN YEARS, IT IS CLEAR WE AS A COUNTRY NEED TO REEVALUATE OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

THERE ARE NO CUTS & PEOPLE ARE STILL COMPLAINING, MY GOD, BLACK MAN CAN'T WIN.

I don't know how they are living on one salary if he is a teacher and their house is 1/2 million dollars. Someone is helping them out in the family. Don't blame teachers; we work hard; the good ones at least.

Worried in the Burbs...either become a teacher or stop whining!

Invest in Springfield and Western Mass.....Eastern Mass has been sucking us dry long enough. Cut them hard.

For the folks who are bashing educators--take a chill pill, relax, and take a minute and visualized a world fill with uneducated people. Crime rate will be up and your life will be in jeopardy every minute of the day. Not many people can afford to send their children to private school, so thank you Governor Patrick for caring for the little people "thank God you have a heart."

If he level funds schools and significantly cuts everything else, guess what happens? Our debt will skyrocket, our buildings and roads will be more neglected and the cost of one stitch will cost nine later. The draining pension buckets will have to be replenished by taxpayers who have had their 401k's (nest eggs) drain, so we get a two tiered society, the private sector individual who has to absorb the economic meltdown and then on top of it, pay to replenish the public sector's nest egg, a pension system that was based several years ago when government employees made much less than the median income and there were significantlly fewer of them per 1,000 citizens.

The teacher's unions and the other unions want so much that they don't care if their fellow citizens quality of life plummets. Government workers and unions are self serving and because they have hired so many of them, they are a voting block that is a force. When you get too many self serving people on the dole who vote their self interest at the expense of the quality of life of other citizens you get a socialistic state that is directed through politics and not performance or merit.

I mean for God sake, they have public schools with golf teams, ski teams, they have busses that cart 6 kids on a tennis team across the State to tournaments. There is a lot of waste in school systems and because they are a political sacred cow, they can spend and spend and spend. I know a special education teacher who has seen more child abuse and more damaged goods kids because their parents are so strung out with stress. Most stress is financial stress. If you squeeze people and the government preys like a vampire on the private sector they will tear the social fabric, we will become less economically competitive, and with no prospects of prosperity people will turn to drugs and alcohol abuse and if we get drug traffic as we typically get with bad economic times, you'll get gangs to control the drug territories and markets and then schools will have prison rules mentalities.

We can't be in a delusional state, children are impressionable and we need to be real about what the situation is. If thousands and thousands and thousands of citizens/parents are so anxious and stressed that they're going to lose their jobs it is not a healthy environment for the children. If Massachusetts has the highest debt per capita and we become Taxachusetts we won't attract business and we won't have jobs. We have to be real and not delusional

Wow, "Posted by Worried in the Burbs." They both have cell phones. Well that clearly means they are rolling in it. I'm a teacher. I work at a private school that relies on funding from local communities. Without that income, I don't get paid. So good for Deval for not cutting that aid. Schools need the money.
I've also worked in public schools and just b/c you think teachers get paid a lot, you are sorely mistaken. I have friends who work in the private sector with less degrees than I (I have a B.A, and an M.Ed) who make at least 10K more than I do, and who won't be paying back student loans until they are 60. So don't criticize what you don't know.

To Worried in the Burbs, get back to work to make up for your 401k. It's not your neighbor's fault you lost a good chuck of it. And please support equal pay for women and flexible work schedules for all parents so she has a reason to go back to work.

gov Patrick, thank you for supporting the schools! Children are our future.

Patrick to spare local schools in upcoming budget cuts:

Accept one thing, the cities and towns decide where the money they get from the state goes not the governor. Who's to say what we the people wil decide to do with our money. The governor just does not want to take the blame. If stateaid is cut, towns will be forced to cut everywhere including education, this article is meaningless.

Worried in the Burbs.............If you were smart yoou would have become a teacher. Poor you you picked the wrong profession.

You chose your profession so don't judge others because they 'basically work 2/3 of the year and can retire at 58' as you said. Most teachers give everything they have to their students, a lot of times without any help from parents. Any insuation teaching is not a full time job is completely wrong. Try to get your facts straight.

Hope = Education = Our Children = Our Future

Please help drive more Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Initiatives. Excellence in those areas have always driven our economy!

God Bless You Governer...

Common Sense, There is no "more spending" in this. There are no cuts. A big difference. Worried in the Burbs, teachers work ALL YEAR ROUND, night and weekends. MOST of their hours are not billable. Cell phones are cheap - get with the 21st century.

Hey Lloyd Suffolk:

Ask yourself if the U.S.A. PAYS 25TH PER STUDENT! We pay the money per student but we don't get the results of those other nations. Maybe we need better quality teachers? Maybe we're throwing good money after bad?

What's with the race card? "BLACK MAN CAN'T WIN". What's that all about? Do you subscribe to the Chris Rock theory that Blacks can be racists and whites can't? My theory is that nobody can be racists.

One less emotional button to push just before taxes are raised...gasoline, meals, sales now the only buttons left to push are public Safety fire and police.
My hero. Just be sure the money is indeed for EDUCATION and NOT administration and Professional days!

Wow, some of these comments deserve to be on youtube. For the record, I teach and if you don't, please don't even pretend to understand. I was one of you until I started teaching and then... well let's just say my opinion changed drastically. It is like no other profession... NO OTHER PROFESSION!!!! It is a tireless, thankless job that we stay in for the greater good. For example, I'm chaperoning yet another 8th grade dance for 5 hours this friday night. Why? Because one of my students asked me to. It's that simple. Do I get paid for this? No! Is there any sort of reimbursement? Nope. And this is just one of many things we do. How many of you neigh-sayers have more homework than your kids every night? How many of you have stayed at work for 12 hours every day for a week (oh that's right we get out at 2pm... yeah right... not this guy) How many of you are asked to certify and re-certify yourselves over and over again using badly written, irrelevant tests that cost $140 a pop. Where's that money going I'd love to know! How many of you have no choice but to get a Master's (still trying to figure out how I'm going to pay for that one). The point is that yeah we have 1/4 of the year off (not two-thirds "worried in the burbs") but we don't get to pick when those happen by the way and most of us spend much of that time taking classes we are required to take and pay for in order to keep our heavenly jobs. For example, do you know how this teacher and his teacher wife are spending April Vacation? While most of our kids go off on family vacations (those that don't take time off to travel with their family during the school year and then complain about the makeup work), we will be in class 9-5 monday through friday. So please don't try and preach to those that do. While I feel somewhat upset about the imbalance of it (co-workers husband is a cop and brother in law is a firefighter) I can't help but feel (at least in my district) that it is more than just. Oh, and where is all this extra local money going into schools? Our district was so out of money last year that I spent close to $200 of my own money on Amazon buying used books for classes since we ran out of money. At least that's what we were told. Who knows, maybe that was BS too. Not to mention how much more we spend just trying to keep "instruction differentiated".

To worried in the burbs... the numbers you've presented just don't add up. Top pay tiers in education approach $70,000 for a public school teacher (at least from what I've seen) Half million dollar home? Relaxing in september? When all of us are scrambling with schedule changes and curriculum changes well past the end of the school day? I think not sir! Unless he's one of those useless administration types who are TRULY the cause of educations financial deficits or a pathetic excuse of a teacher, I call BS on your comments.

I just find it astounding the plethora of uneducated opinions on education. As an educator all I ask is that you become informed. Don't lump the entire educational system together; form a broad opinion, not one based on the few who "work" the system. Those individuals can be found in ANY industry. Take a deeper look at your school system; ask questions, talk with teachers and administrators, and get involved. I cannot deny that there are indeed some who don't deserve the compensation they get. But don't diminish the amazing and difficult work the vast majority of educators do on a daily basis. I have done everything from being a classroom teacher, building principal, and central office administrator and that journey has caused me to cross the paths of some of the most amazing people I have ever met.

Please, take the time to research the facts before sharing your opinions. As is true in politics and life, you are so much better off when you listen to BOTH sides and then form an educated opinion. Reactionary opinions are far too easy.

Worried in Burbs: How dare you blame teachers for your petty insecurities and problems? Having now taught for 15 years, I work three part time jobs to make ends meet. After 8 years of greed and mismangement, the Republicans have left us in this financial quicksand. No teacher on this planet can afford a 1/2 million dollar home without previous savings. Teachers do not relax. They bust their ass every day, contribute to society, listen to jerks like you come in and complain at conferences. I show up at work at 7am every day, leave at dark, attend school functions, PTO mtgs, weekend fundraisers, sporting events, bake sales, because I know the most precious commodity we have in this country is children, and they deserve every fiber of our being, and every penny in our pockets to become positive, productive members of society. Abandon education and the terrorists you fear so much every day will recognize our weaknesses and come knocking on your back door some day real soon. Only kidding....they'll probably walk in your front door because you are too busy hanging out in your back yard spying on your neighbors. Worry about your own hide, and stop being so goddamn cynical.

stop the state mandated investment in special education. local schools cannot afford to have 25 to 40% of their budgets go to special education.

Please take a breath.
The Governor is doing a mid year cut to local aid. There is no mid-year cut to schools. That is nice. What is left unsaid is what happens in the next fiscal year. The Governors and House budget numbers will be out in March.
The hit to schools will happen then.
It is time to freeze all salaries ( teachers and administrators) in order to prevent layoffs!!!

hold on brother firefighters... tough times ahead!

Just raise income taxes....raising fuel, sales, liquor and cigarette taxes are something we'll all have to pay for forever...income taxes are something we can all keep an eye on

After the Teachers Unions carried the water by spending millions on the No On Question 1 Campaign, it only makes sense that Cadillac Deval rewards his Cat's Paws by pretending to steer clear of education cuts.

It's all deception.

Don't think for one second that this headline in the truth. All this means is that the dedicated School Funds that the state distributes are not going to be touched. Many (If not most) of the districts in the state, this is less than 50% of the funds that towns spend on schools. The remaining money is alocated from the town out of the "general funds" that the state distributes to towns.

This "General Fund" money is being slashed left and right, which means that while towns are not losing their specfically labeled "School Funds" . In actuality, most school districts are going to see a considerable loss in funding because the towns no longer have as many General Funds dollars available to distribute.

Funny when Romney did the same type of action a few years ago, the Globe painted him as the killer of schools. Yet Patrick does it and he is sparing the schools.

Where is the MTA getting these facts out there?

I just wish Boston Public High School students would recognize the bending-over-backwards this State/Patrick is doing for them. Many do not even know beyond basic math, can't even name three Shakespeare works, or know the name of our govenor or Obama's vp.

Also, let's invest more into teachers and to after school programs. And programs for parents on how to encourage and discipline their children on the importance of GOING to school.

Instead, he is going to have Cadillac buses made for all the school districts for the low sum of 5 trillion dollars.

This does not mean there will not still be school budget cuts on the local level. It's just a move that makes you think the governor is such a good guy. In simple terms, it's less money allocated to the cities, therefore they will need to put money they would be spending on education to the other more essential places that are funded by the city... aka still budget cuts to the schools.

And to ThatGuy... couldn't agree more.

Just saved my job. THANK YOU

As a (somewhat) quick afterthought, I would just once again like to emphasize what ThatGuy said. Saying Patrick is going to "spare" public schools creates a false impression of the ramifications of his actions. The press and journalism has an important part in educating the people who come across it; I see this as a misrepresentation of Patrick’s actions. The facts are true, but they are spun in a manner that portrays his decisions in an unfair light. Now, people are going to be complaining about how the schools are getting so much more that other areas of the state budget, which, while true, may cause the average American to think that schools will be saved from budget cuts. However, as many people have mentioned (and I’m even repeating myself here), on the local level, schools will most likely still be receiving their budget cuts.

Thank you, though, for bringing up Romney’s actions and also the ramifications it will have on other areas of the state budget.

Worried in the burbs: No one ever believes that teachers work hard until he becomes a teacher or lives with one. But let me assure you, conscientious teachers work HARD, ALL YEAR ROUND. I teach in a high-performing, suburban district in which the pressure is immense. While I may leave the school building at 3:00, I keep on grading and preparing lessons from the time that I arrive home until the time I go to bed each night, as well as most of my waking hours on weekends--easily putting in an 80 hour week. When we were first married and my husband asked me if I would be "done soon," I laughed, because from September until June good teachers are NEVER done! In the summer, I write anywhere from 60 to 90 letters of recommendation, without compensation. Like my colleagues, I also spend my summers doing personal research and developing new curriculum units. People also forget that the reason that teachers retire so young is that teaching is enormously stressful work. We do not just teach our subject matter--we have to be able to give criticism tactfully, to respond to whining and criticism patiently, without ever losing our own tempers, to comfort our students when they cry. We do all this in full view of everyone, unable to relax privately in an office or a cubicle, but knowing that every action we take is meant to model mature, fair, and kind behavior for impressionable students. Try doing that for thirty years, and then tell me that the 80% retirement pay is undeserved.

Another shell game. Keeps chapter 70 line flat but the cherry sheets will still get whacked. You are no better off. He just made you feel good. Another Deval lie.

As a public school teacher who left the private sector to teach, I appreciate Patrick's commitment to education and understand the private sectors' concerns. When I left the private sector I took a 40% pay cut to teach in Boston. The salary I left after just ten years of working is more than I can max out at in Boston after 30 years. I believe part of the compensation of being a teacher is that though the salaries are lower in comparison to professionals in the private sector, some of the compensation is deferred until retirement with a higher guaranteed income after leaving the profession.
That being said, who knows whether or not the retirement plan is even going to be there? The state fund took just as big a hit as us 401k holders. Understand that if the state fund is gone then there is no safety net for teachers. Social security isn't there for us if the state fund hemorrhages and has to reduce the benefit level. 403bs and IRAs are essential for those who teach.
As for "working 2/3 of the year," try teaching sometime. It's the toughest and most rewarding work you'll ever do.

My 401k isn't huge and it's the only thing (along with a 403b) that I'm counting on being there when I retire. With all that's happened to private sector retirement programs recently (going bankrupt and into receivership) I honestly do not expect the pension system to be in one piece in 23 years and I think it's foolish for any teacher to do so.
We all make sacrifices in our career choices.

While the rest of us starve, there is a sacred cow drifting down the street, untouchable-the teacher's union...

It looks like the police departments will need to stop all the reckless overtime:
sucking all the towns money into a black hole.

wow...1/2 a million dollar house..must have family money..teachers do not make that much and let me tell you ...we do not JUST work 6 hours a day and 10 months out of the year...that makes me sooo angry when people say that ...we work with kids that amount of time..the rest of the 60 hours a week the good teachers put in and the 12 months of the year we are spent planning lessons..making sure that our lessons align with state standards and taking required courses that we are not reimbursed for whatsoever...and by the way ..we dont get a lunch because we are busy using that as a part of the prep that we really dont get...so please understand teachers do not have it easy and please if you want to say that spend a day shadowing one of us......you dont do this for the money..we do this for ou childrens future...

Take one day off from your job. Go to your city or town's public high school. Get a visitor's pass. Spend the half-hour before school, the entire school day, and a half-hour after school in that building. Watch what goes on, the good and the bad. Multiply that experience times 100, and you are now better informed about the job. If it's easy, go get your masters degree and join the fun. If it sends you running back to your private sector cubicle, that's cool too.

Get a grip. All the money receive from towns and cities are pooled together. just because the state gives 10 million for the local schools the budget is still 28 million for the total school budget. When they take away 750,000 some will come from the general operations (police, dpw, etc) and the rest from the biggest pie (schools).

This still means there will be cuts to education, unless you live Boston, Lawrence, Holyoke, Brockton where Ch 70 makes up the majority of your revenue and so much on my money goes to pay for your schools.

The municipal budget pays for so much more of school costs than local aid. As a rural/suburban district we get the minimum amount of Ch 70, about 17% so cuts to other areas of local aid + drop in property tax revenue and excize taxes = a loss in overall amount of money that can fund the schools.

As far as I am concerned this is a back-door cut that is going to effect schools in the end.

i guess our protest ment something.

Sad that if many of you spent one day trying to be a teacher, you'd walk away frustrated, impatient, and stressed. Say all you want about public education and your tax dollars, and how teachers only work part of the year, but we probably log more hours, overtime, and work at home than any of you. Walk a day in a teacher's shoes, then make your comments! Remember that teaching is the only profession that creates all others, and it's because of a teacher that you can write and read these posts.

Hi "Worried in the Burbs" or "Angry" or "Bored" or whatever the eff you are -- Your rich teacher scenario is pure fantasy. But of course you know that, right? Being a "professional?" If it's such a great deal, apply to the Boston Teacher Residency program. You can be teaching next September in my classroom. They're dying for professionals like you! It's such a good deal, right? Seriously, either your post is a joke or your "neighbor" is drawing off a trust fund, because I live in a 3-decker with my 3 kids and I couldn't go two months without my wife's income. I love my job, and have no complaints about my salary, but no one is getting rich off teaching. Except in angry fantasies, of course.

Just wondering, do all of you (who are not teachers) take the time and effort to support your childrens schools in such ways as donating time, money and effort to better your school? If your school needed a van repaired and you are a repairman, would you be willing to donate your services to the school to help defray that cost to help the school? That goes for any service... Just curious is all. If you find that you "don't have the time" ... or "don't feel like you should have to do that because you already pay your taxes" then you shouldn't complain when there are unfortunate downturns in the economy and something you stand for gets cut.

Dear All. I have a unique perspective on this. My father is a University Professor, and my mom is a high school chemistry teacher. For a short time after I received my doctorate degree, I did teach in University. Despite my mom being a high school teacher, most teachers are over-rated. Many of the bright kids become lawyers, doctors, bankers..hehehe (not so funny now), but a lot of lazier/dumber kids become teachers because of the perceived lower financial reward and easier life style (summer vacations). I am personal friends of multiple teachers (high school), and a lot of them are just B's and C+'s students. However, there are a few diamond in the rough educators who genuinely care about the students. Think about it - how many of your teachers actually - INSPIRED you, MOTIVATED you and ENLIGHTENED you. 10%, 20%? 30% if you are lucky. The truth of the matter is that our American Education system is broken - kids go to school hungry, teachers do not care, and parents do not participate in the process. So what do we do - go with an incentive program. A teacher salary will be reflected in the number of kids who do well in a national standardized test. If your students suck - then you get paid less. If your students improve - you get more. And more importantly - time to teach the kids the reality of life....WORK YOUR ASS OFF, or PREPARE TO GET LAYOFF!!!!! NOTHING IS FREE IN THIS LIFE, EVOLVE OR PERISH!