FRAMINGHAM SAVE OUR SCHOOLS
PETITION
We, the undersigned Framingham residents, are very concerned for the future of the Framingham Public Schools. Failing to provide level service budgets for the last four years has caused successive rounds of program and staffing cuts that have resulted in a significant decline in the breadth and the quality of the education being provided to the children of Framingham.
When this occurs, our community becomes less desirable for prospective homebuyers resulting in diminished property values, hurting all homeowners. More importantly, the children graduating from the Framingham schools will find it more difficult to compete successfully as they pursue higher education and employment.
As such we respectfully request that the Framingham Board of Selectmen, working with the CFO and Town Manager make it a priority to craft a budget in FY12 and subsequent fiscal years that includes sufficient funds to provide the Framingham School Department with level service budgets.
David Remis: Meeting Framingham's school challenge
Board of Selectman
Town of Framingham
150 Concord St. Room 121
Framingham, MA 01702
Dear Board Members,
Although I am representing the many town residents who comprise the group Framingham Save our Schools, I wanted first to share briefly with you my personal experience and explain why I became involved.
It was six years ago that our family “chose Framingham”, as the town’s recent marketing slogan urges. To us Framingham offered what my wife and I sought in a community in which to raise our three children: diversity, convenient location, but most importantly a school system with an excellent reputation. While initially happy with our choice, over the past several years we have seen a steady eroding of support for the schools in town, with clear negative effects on our children’s education.
My experience is not unique. Although our group reflects the diversity of our town in that it is comprised of people of varied backgrounds, some with children in the schools and some without, some lifelong residents, and some newcomers, we have all witnessed this disturbing trend in the schools.
The members of our group share a common passionate belief that providing a strong public education needs to be one of the major priorities for any local government. I believe this value is reflected in our town seal, which prominently features what is now Framingham State University, the oldest public normal school in the country.
So we came together several months ago in an effort to advocate for this belief in light of the significant program and staffing cuts implemented in the school department over the last several years. Nearly $20 million dollars has been pared from the school department budget over just the past 3 years.
One consequence of these cuts is that our school principals are now busy answering phones in understaffed offices, or directing traffic in front of our schools. We have school libraries that are shuttered more frequently than they are opened. We have our brightest and most gifted students getting only 1 hour per week of specialized enrichment. Teachers that just a few years ago had aides or curriculum coordinators to assist in their mission, now have to go it alone, in some cases with larger class sizes. Of course it isn’t the extra work for the principals or teachers that we find alarming, but rather it is the impact these changes have on their ability to effectively educate the children in our town.
As you likely know, parents have already made efforts to take up the slack. There are now numerous fees in place for things like busing, music, and sports. For some families these fees can amount to an outlay of more than 1000 dollars every year, on top of their tax bill. Sports teams and the drama department routinely raise tens of thousands of dollars annually to support their programs. PTO fundraising efforts also contribute town-wide, over $100K ever year back to their schools for the purchase of basic tools such as computers, AV equipment, books, classroom and office supplies. Then you have examples of one time big ticket contributions such as over $100K to replace the antiquated and dangerous playground at Hemenway, or $60K to remodel and outfit the fitness center at Walsh.
The point here is that parents are paying to fill the needs in our schools that budget appropriations have failed to address. The sad fact is that we still have computers in schools with floppy drives and it is the fundraising efforts of parents that are working to remedy this deficiency, not budget appropriations or capitalization plans.
Just as we have an obligation to provide adequate resources to ensure the public safety of our community, or as anyone who has driven in town these past few months has seen, the foresight to invest in our infrastructure, we also need to start investing money to provide an adequate public education for the children in our town. As a town we don’t have bake sales to replace fire trucks or sewer lines. We feel that the same commitment to our public education needs to be evident from our elected officials and town leaders.
For these reasons we feel strongly that a business as usual approach can not be applied to the FY12 budget as such an approach, applied to an already hamstrung school department, will result in unacceptable changes to Framingham’s education system.
What I’d like to present to you tonight are two items. The first is a petition signed by 2400 residents, calling upon your board to make level service funding of the school department a top priority in the upcoming fiscal year. The second, a petition signed by 39 realtors who work in Framingham, expresses their concern about the relationship between cuts to our schools and real estate values.
The 2400 residents whose names appear on this petition feel strongly that as a community we need to take a stand and say when it comes to cutting school funding, enough is enough. They are looking to your leadership, in addition to that of the school committee, to find ways to sustain our education programs and halt the trend of degrading the breadth and quality of programs delivered by the schools.
But beyond any moral obligation a community may have to provide for the education of their children, it is also fiscally prudent to prevent the dismantling of the strong education programs we have built and invested in over time. Just as a homeowner invests in basic maintenance such as a new roof or paint job to sustain their investment in their home, we as a community would be foolish to stand by and continue to underfund the school department and cause many of the fine academic programs we have spent millions to create, vanish.
Although not all taxpayers in the town have children, all will benefit from the town’s investment in a strong school system. The attractiveness of our community to many potential home buyers will directly correlate with the quality of our public schools as highlighted in the second item I will respectfully submit to the board. This is a letter signed by 39 realtors who work in Framingham. Their message is clear. A strong school system has always been a powerful asset in attracting families to Framingham. Unfortunately the past cuts and the specter of continued cuts seriously jeopardize this selling point. As a consequence we may all find the value of our homes declining at an accelerated pace in the coming years and be slower to rebound once the housing market begins to recover.
We fully understand that our town is facing unprecedented financial pressures in this economic downturn, like all towns across our Commonwealth. We are not asking for funding of the schools in a way that destroys other town services. Yet this real scarcity of funds does not in any way relieve us from our responsibility and obligation to provide a quality public education.
We know that at times in the past, the Board of Selectmen has worked diligently to find partial solutions to school funding challenges. In this time of crisis, we are looking to your leadership with the hope that by redoubling your efforts, you will be able to reverse the alarming trajectory of cuts over the years, and find a sustainable solution to the repeated degradation of quality and services provided to the children of Framingham.
I appreciate your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
We are always looking for new members. Give us a call anytime
Call (508) 380-1196 for details.
info@framinghamsaveourschools.org