But look what happened. People started to get informed and started talking with the Mayor and other elected officials. Parents from Bridge Street and all the other schools began calling and writing School Committee members and the Superintendent. Without splitting into factions, we sent out the message that we are all in this community together and we are going to work hard to come up with solutions. We are definitely having an effect, but we must keep the pressure on.
On 3/24 we held a NEAT planning meeting at Jackson Street School Library. Over 30 people showed up (on a night where the Mayor and Superintendent were holding a meeting in Ward 3) to lay out strategies and plans for the urgent crisis, the local efforts and statewide efforts. Here's how you can help. Take a look at what's going on and who the contact person is. Send them an email and let them know you are willing to help out. Even if you can't attend meetings, you can always make a short phone call or email (the phone calls take less than a minute and all you usually have to say is what you stand for and that you want to be counted). We are working on the imminent issues of this year's budget as well as taking time to plan for the future. School budget problems don't just happen, they are part of a structural issue that must be addressed. We are hopeful yet cautious. That's why we all must step up to the plate and do our part.
1. WIN A DELAY ON SCHOOL CLOSURE. We are working with a smaller group to continue to oppose the closure of an elementary school. There is much to be done with several important tasks coming up. The first is the signature letter. PLEASE collect names of supporters to the letter to the school committee (below) urging delay on a decision to close a school. You can give Megan the names of all who agree to sign. We're already up to close to 200 signers and we think we can get to 500 by Monday, if every one of us collects 5-15 more names. We plan to deliver it to each school committee member on Monday, in time for them to mull over the community passion prior to their Wed. meeting. Send the names to Megan.
Here is the letter we are sending -- please help us get more signatures:
___________________________
Dear Elected Officials of Northampton,
There's no question the budget climate is brutal, and that as much as we are all heartsick about it, very painful cuts will have to occur. One possible cut is the closing of an elementary school - a move would be felt far beyond just the children themselves. This decision would affect the entire city. Therefore, we strongly urge you to do the following:
Defer the decision on closing a school for one year.
And during that year, conduct a due diligence study on the full impact (educational and economic) of closing a school, including everything from city property values and the quality of learning to traffic flow and gymnasium crowding.
Show us that every scenario has been considered, and involve the community in the process. This will give us a chance to see - and ideally be part of - the thoughtful and painstaking planning that a permanent step like this deserves. It is in keeping with the city's pledge of transparency and long-term sustainability. It will ensure that as a community we make the best
decision possible. For this year, make cuts that COULD be reversed if the financial
situation changes. Buses can be re-deployed, supplies can be bought, technology can
be upgraded, aides can be rehired.
If, after a year, we've exhausted all possible cutbacks and new revenue sources and are still facing a massive deficit, then we can revisit the option of closing a school. By then the entire community, including planners and educators, will have had the opportunity to weigh in on exactly HOW to do it in the least devastating way.
You have the pledge of parents as well as community members to spend the next year working with you on ways to ease this burden and maintain our wonderful school system. The good will, commitment, and energy of the people of Northampton are among the best things about living in this town.
Please don't squander them.
Signed,
NOTE: IF YOU WANT TO SIGN ON TO THIS LETTER, JUST SEND A NOTE TO Megan.
2. Write a letter to mayor, superintendent, school committee and city councilors to delay closing and support full funding of the school budget (see a previous posting for all of their contact info).
3. Write a letter to the editor. We are crafting an op ed piece but your letters are truly having an impact to support funding of public education. Just go to Daily Hampshire Gazette Letters to the Editor and it's quite simple, actually.
4. Raising Local Revenue. Joel Feldman described how other communities have developed partnerships with local colleges (Wellesley has been giving their town funding since 1928 and it's up to $600,000 this year, Williams just built a $1.5 million elementary school in their town and the list goes on). Smith is not the only local entity we could tap. If you're interested in pursuing this topic, Joel, Kristen Edmonds and Deborah Christakos are working on it and you can contact Joel to get more involved.
5. Raising State Revenue. If you are interested in legislation on the Meals Tax, Closing Corporate Loopholes, progressive taxation, or talking with our State Legislators, there's a lot we can do. We just heard that the Meals Tax bill is currently stuck in the House. It passed a few years ago, only to be vetoed by then-Governor Swift. Let's not let that happen again. But we've got to act quickly. We are setting up constituent planning meetings with Sen. Rosenberg and Rep. Kocot, so please let Pam Schwartz know if you are interested in one or both of those meetings.
6. Proposition 2 1/2 Override. Alden Bourne gave a great update on Proposition 2 1/2 and the pros and cons of doing an override. If you're interested in further strategizing on this, contact Julie. This group hopes to set up a meeting with the organizers of the last override effort for a rundown of how they ran that campaign.
Because of the 2004 setback of trying to get an override and failing by 7 votes, this is a direction we want to choose carefully. No decision on it yet, here's where we are to date.
Alden Bourne did some great research on how to get a Proposition 2 1/2 override passed. Here's what needs to happen:
We first need to decide when we'd like it on the ballot. There has been some talk about trying to do it in June through a special election, so that the additional money could reach the city's coffers sooner rather than later. However, Wendy Mazza, the city clerk, told us that holding a special election on the issue in June versus putting the question on the November ballot would cost the city roughly $30,000 extra for election workers and printing up the ballots. If we target November, the question would just need to be added to the state ballot. We think asking the city to cough up $30,000 - especially in light of the pending budget cuts - would cast the entire effort in a negative light. We should also consider whether there are factors that would make a November proposition more likely to pass. Obviously, turnout would be much higher with the Presidential election, but that could cut both ways.
We first need to decide when we'd like it on the ballot. There has been some talk about trying to do it in June through a special election, so that the additional money could reach the city's coffers sooner rather than later. However, Wendy Mazza, the city clerk, told us that holding a special election on the issue in June versus putting the question on the November ballot would cost the city roughly $30,000 extra for election workers and printing up the ballots. If we target November, the question would just need to be added to the state ballot. We think asking the city to cough up $30,000 - especially in light of the pending budget cuts - would cast the entire effort in a negative light. We should also consider whether there are factors that would make a November proposition more likely to pass. Obviously, turnout would be much higher with the Presidential election, but that could cut both ways.
If we go for November, the city clerk needs to notify the state by August 6th that the question has been approved to put on the ballot. To get on the ballot, we need the agreement of 5 out of 9 of the city council members (a vote on a tax decrease can be initiated just by petition, but a vote on an increase requires the city council's assent). The vote by the city council could happen at any of their upcoming meetings, which are held the first and third Thursdays of the month. However, nothing can go on the city council's agenda for discussion without the mayor's approval, so we need her on board as well. I think it's important to note here that we're not necessarily asking the mayor or the city council members to come out strongly in favor of an override, just to let the people vote on it - to let democracy happen.
To get the mayor and a majority of the city council to vote yes, we think a petition drive in favor of adding the question to the ballot could be crucial. If we collected enough signatures, the mayor and the city council would simply be carrying out the will of a significant portion of their constituents. Phil Korman, who's played a major volunteer role in Northampton school issues, points out that a petition drive is also a great method of education. It would force us to talk about the issue with our neighbors and people we don't know. Those who have signed may also feel more committed to the cause on election day. The petitions need to have the Northampton voter's name, address, signature, ward number (if known), and most importantly, the specific wording of the question to be added to the ballot.
This final piece - the exact wording of the question - is the most immediate issue at hand, and obviously, quite critical to whether we could get an override passed. According to state law (M.G.L Chapter 59, Section 21C), the question has to be worded as follows, "Shall the (city/town) of _____ be allowed to assess an additional $_____ in real estate and personal property taxes for the purposes of (state the purpose(s) for which the monies from this assessment will be used) for the fiscal year beginning July first, two thousand and _____. The wording of the 2004 proposed override is below.*
A few questions to consider on the language:
a. Do we want an override that would just cover education or the city's full multi-million dollar shortfall? Would those without children in school be more likely to vote for a larger override that might benefit them too, or would the much larger increase in property taxes that would be required make it even more unpalatable to them?
b. If we just try to cover the schools, how much should be requested? We think it's important to wait until the dust settles with the school budget this spring, so we know exactly how much money is really needed. In the last few weeks, the school shortfall has gone down because of lower gas prices, and there's a history of the town finding money to cover at least part of the shortfall at the last minute. We don't want voters to sign petitions that ask for a $700,000 override, only to have them read a few weeks later that it turns out the schools just need an extra $300,000.
c. Should seniors be exempted in some way? Apparently, there are two ways this could occur. The first is through explicit language in our override question. The second is if we pass a standard override, and the State Senate approves a bill now before it that would permit towns to exempt seniors. More specifically, the proposed legislation would allow cities and towns to exempt seniors who make less than $60,000 a year from overrides, as long as their real estate taxes exceed 10 percent of total income. Seniors living on fixed incomes are undoubtedly the voters most likely to vote against an override.
If we can get on the ballot, we would have to undertake a serious political organizing effort leading up to election day. We would need volunteers to cover every neighborhood of Northampton. They would be responsible for contacting all the voters in a precinct to find out how they're voting. On election day, we'd mount a standard Get Out The Vote operation: volunteers would be responsible for calling all their yes votes on election day and confirming that they've voted.
The document below is a primer by the Mass. Teacher's Association on passing an override. It's a few years old, but definitely worth checking out.
http://www.massteacher.org/member_services/comm/override.pdf
http://www.massteacher.org/member_services/comm/override.pdf
If you'd like to be more involved in this effort, we are planning a meeting soon and you can contact either Alden Bourne or Julie Starr.
Meeting updates:
-- Ward meetings with the Mayor -- latest schedule: Tuesday, April 2, for Ward 7 at Leeds School cafeteria; Monday, April 7, for Ward 6 at the R.K. Finn Ryan Road School gymnasium; Tuesday, April 8 for Ward 1 at the Jackson Street School library; Wednesday, April 9, Ward 5 at Florence Civic Center; Wednesday, April 23, Ward 2, in the Little Theater at Northampton High School. All meetings are to run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the scheduled days.
--The Ad Hoc Committee of the City Council on Best Practices will meet on Thursday, March 27 at 6:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Department of Public Works, 125 Locust Street, Northampton. This is the third meeting of the committee established to create and oversee a public process for reviewing municipal decision-making in the City of Northampton and make recommendations to the City Council on ensuring the use of locally and nationally accepted best practices in our community. You can find our more about this committee, their meeting agenda, minutes, etc. at www.northamptonma.gov/bestpractices/ This will be a chance to express your thoughts about this process (or lack thereof) with this threatened school closing.
--Next NEAT meeting: We had initially stated that the next NEAT meeting will be on 4/14, but we realize that may be too soon with all the work going on and the time needed to do it before meeting again. So stay tuned.
--NEAT organizational meeting: For anyone interested in discussing or being part of NEAT's internal structure, we are having a meeting to discuss where we go from here, e.g., do we reinstitute our prior model of a steering committee with representatives from each school or consider other possibilities? We know it's time to formalize our decision-making structure once again, so for all of you who like to talk or DO these matters, this meeting is for you! (If not, you get a reprieve.) It's on Monday, April 7th, 7:15-8:15 pm, at Pam Schwartz and Joel Feldman's house, 22 Columbus Avenue. If you would like to participate but can't make it, please let us know. You can leave a comment at the end of this posting.
We'll have more to report next week. But for now, keep those calls, emails and letters coming. And please comment here on the blog if you have any further updates so we can all join in the conversation. And if you're having trouble with doing that, just contact Jane.
If you know others who might be interested, please pass this along to them. If you'd like to get on our mailing list, just email Megan.
