News

Officials join forces in response to school cuts

By Cate Lecuyer
staff writer
Published: August 21, 2008

Frustrated school committee members across the North Shore have banded together in response to a wave of budget cuts that have resulted in layoffs and program cuts in the schools.

Representatives from school districts in Beverly, Danvers, Ipswich, Marblehead, Swampscott, Hamilton-Wenham, Manchester-Essex, Gloucester, Rockport and Chelmsford are talking about how to handle rising costs when they don't have enough money to maintain services.

As fuel, health care, special education and other costs increase, schools across the region have been forced to close, lay off teachers, increase class sizes and cut programs.

"We're really trying to work sort of as a geographical coalition to spread the word that the infrastructures of schools across the state are imploding," said David Whalen, chairman of the Swampscott School Committee.

The group plans to share ideas about how to most effectively use the money they have and is looking into how they can share services.

"We've all had a difficult budget season, and we're all saying, 'How can we work this out together?'" said Annemarie Cesa, president of the Beverly School Committee.

Foreign languages, for example, tend to be first on the chopping block when there's not enough money. But if one school offers Russian, and a student at another school wants to take it, there could be a way for them to do it, she said.

The collaboration is considering Gov. Deval Patrick's push for schools to regionalize. But the group is also identifying some of the larger issues that need to be addressed — like how the state distributes Chapter 70 funding.

Many feel the current funding formula is unfair, with some affluent districts receiving more money than some poorer districts.

"There's something wrong when a community that has double the income and property value as Swampscott gets more funding than Swampscott," Whalen said.

He came up with a proposal that calls for more money from the state to bring all districts up to a certain benchmark.

No government official has responded to the proposal he e-mailed them. The coalition of school committee members has yet to see it, but the concept of addressing the funding is something the group supports.

"People in this state need to realize there's a whole group of people who think this doesn't work," Cesa said. "Our goal is for the state to realize the Chapter 70 formula is broken."

While Patrick said as much when he was in Salem last month, the group hopes its collective voice will inspire action.

Beverly state Rep. Mary Grant, who attended the coalition's first meeting, said the state is already working on it.

"What is being raised by these school committees isn't new," she said.

The problem, she said, is that the state doesn't have additional revenue to help struggling school districts. Still, she said, analyzing the funding and having a discussion can't hurt.

"When the school committee members themselves come to talk together, they are the front line," she said. "Sometimes problems get solved there or identified there."