Arlington at the Forefront of Fight for School Support

On Monday, May 24th, Arlington's Town Meeting passed a Resolution outlining principles for the public schools. Basically this resolution promotes the goals of a good education and calls on the town, the state and the federal government to support our children by providing the funding necessary to achieve these goals. See link or see below for the full text of the resolution. http://www.arlingtonspot.org/resolution.htm

Diane Mahon spoke for the Board of Selectmen endorsing the measure, saying that it would send a "strong voice to Beacon Hill."

Paul Schlichtman, chair of the Arlington School Committee and President of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees thanked the local group SPOT (Schools are a Priority for our Town) for initiating this resolution. He explained how the recent Hancock court decision ruled that there is a "constitutional mandate" in our state to educate our children. http://www.goodschoolsformass.org/ This mandate says that each school district must adhere to the 7 curriculum frameworks as outlined by Education Reform and that we must provide our children with highly qualified teachers for a minimum number of hours every year. In Arlington's current budget situation we are not able to meet these requirements. During this year we have not been able to provide qualified teachers in all of these curriculum areas, nor have we been able to provide sufficient hours of instruction due to a lack of funds. We have a long way to go before we will be able to meet the standards set forth by Education Reform and the ESEA/No Child Left Behind Act.

Senator Bob Havern hailed the placing of this resolution in the warrant this year as the Hancock decision was settled just one month ago. It is estimated that it would take $1.2 billion dollars to fully fund the cost of education in our state. And yet, the Governor is asking for a decrease in tax revenues which would leave us with a $1.6 billion deficit. As Arlington is considered to be one of the wealthier towns in our state we will be sorely hit if our local aid and Chapter 70 funds decrease thanks to the Governor's deficit.

Senator Havern said that although children make up only 18% of our population they are "100% of our future." He said that unless we are able to convince the state and federal government to fund these mandates that we will end up asking more from the property tax and we will still end up underfunding education. He said that education funding is "one of the most fundamental expenditures" we can make for our future. And he hoped that all communities across the state would pass this resolution! He ended his speech pleading with Arlington's Town Meeting to pass the resolution. It did pass overwhelmingly, with one lone dissenting vote.

If only it were so easy to find the resources to pay for it.

Full text of resolution: ARTICLE 93 RESOLUTION/PRINCIPLES FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION

To see if the Town will vote to endorse the following principles for public school education in Arlington:

All students have the right to a full and comprehensive curriculum taught by certified, competitively compensated, professional staff members, who are provided with appropriate professional development training.

Needs of diverse learners should be addressed for all students K-12.

A safe, positive school climate with appropriate programs to support the needs of our students will exist in each school.

Implementation of the District Goals for Arlington Public Schools, as approved by the School Committee, will be supported.

And resolve that the Town of Arlington and its elected and appointed officials and employees will:

Provide adequate funding to support these principles for the Arlington Public Schools; and

Urge the United States Federal Government and its various branches, representatives, and employees to provide adequate funding and support for public education; and

Urge US Congressional representatives and Senators to monitor the implementation of the ESEA/ “No Child Left Behind” legislation, change the accountability standards and actively work for additional monies for municipalities to fully fund this and the IDEA/Special Education mandates; and Urge the Massachusetts State legislature to provide adequate monies to local authorities to fully fund Special Education mandates and School Building Assistance commitments; and send copies of this resolution to our State legislators, Governor, U.S. Congressional and Senate representatives, and the President of the United States, or take any action related thereto.