To the editor:
As newly configured school bus routes appear in area publications and families across the commonwealth gear up for the return to school, this school opening holds a particularly unique blend of challenges and triumphs.
We commence a new school year in the midst of an economy that is improving at a painfully slow rate. Fear of a burgeoning national debt and the end of one-time stimulus funding has resulted in dire predictions about future state and national educational spending. Limited local dollars drive increased scrutiny of every spending request and often pit municipal service providers against each other and local schools against their regional partners.
Yet each new listing of bus stops reminds us of the individual students who wait to embark upon the next phase of their educational journey and harkens us back to the heart of the educational mission.
Massachusetts is among 10 states just awarded coveted Race to the Top funds. This influx of $250 million in federal funding for education comes on the heels of the extension by Congress of enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages funding, which is expected to bring an additional $600 million to the state treasury this fiscal year.
In my role as president of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, I am privileged to have a front-row seat at state deliberations on how best to spend this money. The good news is that, while the national reform agenda may not be moving forward as swiftly as some would like, our state has led the nation in education reform and has not waited for federal mandates to do what is best for our students.
As the Race to the Top award confirms, Massachusetts is firmly entrenched in a culture of continuous improvement that need not wait for marching orders from afar. The dialogue now must breach polarized political agendas to maximize this infusion of funding to continue true education reform that will benefit all students in classrooms across the Commonwealth.
Economic challenges demand new strategies and creative engagement. We need to draw upon the diverse skills that industry now requires to forge new partnerships and engage the entire community.
I invite all school stakeholders to celebrate the vast potential of our student customers and to join educators and state policymakers in embracing the possibility of turning challenges into opportunity.
Dr. Michael F. Fitzpatrick
Superintendent-Director
Blackstone Valley Vocational Regional School District
Upton
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