Of course, while we here in Belmont sharpen our claws for the expected battle over school funding, including a 1% funding increase for full day kindergarten classes, there is the possibility (albeit remote) that we all may end up raising champagne glasses together and toasting our good fortune. I’m talking, of course, about Gov. Patrick’s proposal to increase education funding to cities and towns by an estimated $368 million in the next fiscal year.
Those of you who read the Globe this week will recall that our Governor is proposing (as reported by the Globe) an additional $223 million for local communities to use for education, including a doubling of money spent on extended day programs to $26 million, $15 million for 892 prekindergarten classrooms and $8 million to help 440 of the state’s half-day kindergarten classrooms expand to a full day. That is money that would be eagerly welcome in Belmont, and would essentially eliminate any fiscal (and, I would guess, political) justification for not creating full day kindergarten classes. Proposed increases in spending on tutoring could also help Belmont defray costs incurred by the Federal No Child Left Behind Act and State MCAS requirements.
Of course, proposing something is very different from actually seeing it enacted. And, according to published reports, there’s deep suspicion of the Governor’s proposals from business-minded legislators on Beacon Hill.
In fact, in the short term, the Governor’s proposals might make it difficult to get funding for FDK passed in town, should the powers that be decide to wait it out while the legislature decides whether to approve the educating funding increases.
Still, it’s a rarity these days when the public sector steps in at the right time, rather than playing catch up after the damage has been done (as with, say, the sub prime lending debacle). Let’s hope some of the Governor’s proposed increases get approved. In the meantime, we can dream, can’t we?
Paul,
Governor Patrick is chasing the easy short term fix of Casino License revenue to keep a Campaign promise to reduce the local tax burden. He has been told by both Houses “NOT” to include the $800m in revenue in his budget. The problem with campaigns based on “Hope” is many times it turns out to be “False Hope”. Will the Governor point blame at the Legislature if they reject Casino’s or will he cut spending in order to keep his promise? I’m not a fan of creating more gambling addicts and ruining families but I also understand the argument that the revenue flows to CT anyways. He shouldn’t be creating division when he campaigns on “together we can” He is bullying the Legislature.
Seeing almost all signs point to the US being in or about to enter Recession. It’s time to understand the differences between Need and Want. I find the article in Minyanville.com to be spot on.
I believe that in time, historians will define the last twenty years in America as the “Age of Aspiration” where, thanks to unprecedented levels of credit, Americans could become anything they wanted. Where, thanks to zero percent down debt and a seemingly robust economy, we could own bigger homes, fancier cars, and more lavish vacations – where our bounty was limited only by the boldness of our wants.
Well, I, for one, believe that our Age of Aspiration is ending. And, with its conclusion, we must, for the first time in almost a generation, begin to reconcile our wants with our means. We must choose what to do without, rather than what more to do with.
When anything is possible, everything is possible. Few of us have really had to choose. And, like it or not, all of us will need to return to our vocabulary a simple phrase that I believe has been lost over the past twenty years: “I can’t afford that.”
So as we approach 2008, I wish the Minyanville community the wisdom to prioritize well, the courage to make the hard, and often painful, choices, and, most of all, the strength and conviction to follow through.
Minyan Peter
For some more info and analysis, see this report from the Mass Budget and Policy Center:
http://www.massbudget.org/article.php?id=606 It talks about the costs, state-wide, of full-day K, a longer school day and school year, and early education (which has steadily increased in Belmont, especially for special needs kids).
With the pushback from the minority in Belmont on costs of full-day K, imagine what the pushback on a longer school day and school year…