April 11, 2003
Arlington School Committee
869 Massachusetts Avenue
Arlington MA 02476

Members of The School Committee:

Last year, SPOT, Schools are a Priority in Our Town, formed as an advocacy group to address issues and concerns that affected students K-12 in the Arlington public schools. As part of our work, we made recommendations on the FY ‘03 school budget and helped mobilize concerned citizens to get involved in the budget process. This year we hope to continue in that role, which we believe has contributed to an improved process of decision-making and better communication between concerned parties.

We appreciate the complexity of the work you have before you in deciding the budget for FY ‘04-‘05. These difficult economic times bring both unease and uncertainty. Making everyone happy is nearly impossible. Therefore, the best decisions we can make are those that represent what is best for the education of our children from K-12, separate from anyone’s favorite program or personal bias – which each of has. That is why, for the coming budget year, we are asking the School Committee, together with the school department, to develop the list of cuts in priority order – from most important cut to restore to least important cut to restore. We feel this is critical for the following reasons:

• It’s the right thing to do. Given the uncertainty of the numbers around the actual size of the budget cut, having a priority list, based on sound educational policy and reasoning, makes the cutting process understandable, orderly, and transparent. A prioritized list allows for the planning of different size reductions, without preparing multiple budgets that are easily misunderstood. It also identifies the staff and programs that have the most impact to the core mission of the system, allowing cuts in those areas to be restored first.
• It allows for orderly and flexible planning of programs and activities for the coming school year. As soon as the budget is known, school personnel can begin working on those programs that they are certain will be included next year. They will not have to waste time determining what will and will not go into the budget and then begin planning. It also allows people to more efficiently develop plans for alternative sources of funding for those programs that will not be restored through money allotted in the formal school budget.
• It helps the override effort. This list can be used to 1) show the depth and breadth of the cuts being proposed which will help more people see the seriousness of the situation, and 2) help people understand what will be put back as the result of a successful override and, we believe, make a yes vote more compelling.
• It reduces the panic that parents feel if and when cuts are made. Parents can see the list and hopefully, through a review process, understand and give input to that list before it is finalized. At the very least, they know in what order programs will be restored and can be reassured that sound educational philosophy has been used to determine priorities.

Similar to last year, we believe that all potential cuts should be viewed in light of their impact on direct services to students, kindergarten through 12th grade. It’s important that potential cuts do not fall inequitably over one specific group of students, and that we look at the long term affect of any of the cuts on overall learning.

We appreciate that there are mandated costs that must be attended to. But we ask that those costs continue to be carefully critiqued to determine if there are possible reductions in the obligation amounts or different ways of meeting those costs and request that you actively engage experts in the community to help in that process.

Finally, we ask that this priority list be developed and distributed for review before the public hearing on the school budget scheduled for May 1st.

Thank you in advance for your time and response to these suggestions.

The SPOT Organizing Committee:

Cindy Friedman
Jennifer Potter
Sharon Grossman
Nancy Barry
Cathy Clement Saleh
Leslie Mayer
Mary Megson
Marvin Lewiton