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Dr. David Hopson |
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June 21 , 2007 On June 20th, Gateway held an informational meeting on expanded learning time (ELT). While fewer than 40 people attended, there was much discussion and many questions. As stated at the meeting, Gateway is still in the planning stages under a state grant. As we progress through the summer and early fall, we will once again reach out to the community to obtain additional input and suggestions. No final decisions will be made until this winter. Even if we elect to move forward with expanding time in school, the state still has to appropriate the money to implement such changes. To review the information shared at this meeting, please log onto the district’s website (www.grsd.org) and browse to the ELT section. Linda Ray and I also attended a regional school legislative caucus in Boston on the 20th. The purpose of the meeting was to update the Governor’s educational advisor (Dana Mohler-Faria) on issues facing regional school districts. It was great to be able to see legislators from throughout the state serving as members of this caucus and to be able to present information. Familiar issues were raised once again—regional transportation reimbursement, the R.E.D. circuit breaker, the inadequacy of state aid to education (Chapter 70 Aid), and the need to alleviate the financial burdens of our towns. As one of the examples provided by Gateway, we compared the Gateway school district with the 8 schools systems in Massachusetts that serve the largest number of students. A comparison of these 8 cities and our 7 Gateway hilltowns shows that we have a larger land area than the 8 cities combined, and that there are more students in Lawrence (the 8th largest school district for student population) then we have for total residents in our 7 towns. In another comparison, revenue from residential property taxes in the cities averages just under 23% of total city revenue; for our 7 towns the figure is 54%. The average amount of city revenue spent on education is 48% (of which the state pays an average of 75% through Chapter 70 aid) compared to our towns paying an average of 57% of their total revenue (and the state picking up only 41.9% of Gateway’s net school spending) you begin to see the need for some adjustment for regional schools. As we all know, the biggest impact on local school assessments in the district has been the decline in state educational aid to Gateway with a decrease of 25% from Fiscal Year 2000 to Fiscal Year 2006. The corresponding average decrease for the 8 comparison cities was 2%. As I’ve mentioned before, we must take the initiative and ensure that legislators and the executive branch hear from us consistently regarding these inequities. To that end, I appreciate the efforts of the Blandford PTO in arranging the first meeting to support the “Unite and Write” campaign in the district. The Friends of Gateway is developing an electronic mailing list of local citizens who are willing to receive bulleted information that they can use to write letters to state officials. If you’d like to be included, please send an e-mail to Friendofgateway@hughes.net. ### |
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