by GOPMOM

Created on: June 03, 2008   Last Updated: June 04, 2008

During elections last month in my town, a school district budget override was defeated. Surprisingly, less than 30% of the eligible voters showed up to vote, and the override failed by a mere 400 votes. They will have to cut half from a 6% increase. The school board is fuming. In the local paper, they claimed they are 'shocked' by the result. They are promising deep cuts, including busing. Of course, this appears in the same paper that reports on the next page that high food and gas prices are sending more people to the local food bank.

I voted against the override, which would have resulted in an additional $180 in property taxes for us this year. It's not that I can't afford the tax hike, I'm just tired of paying more and more. And I send my kid to Catholic school, so I pay even more.

Supposedly, I live in a town with a 'nationally recognized' school system. But I also live in a town close to one of Massachusetts largest cities (and not far from Boston), so we have started to see a disturbing trend. As the left-leaning government in town pushes for more affordable housing, more non-English speaking families move in. And their children start attending the public schools. The effect in the classrooms, especially in the elementary program, is devastating.

The district must hire more teachers' assistants and specialists to help them in dealing with these students, many as old as eight or nine years old, who cannot read or write in English. Some barely speak English. The time taken to offer individual instruction to these students takes time away from the overall curriculum being taught in the classroom and all students are negatively impacted.

When I speak to my friends, they regularly complain about the changing standards. As their younger children move through the system, they are noticing drastic changes year to year - less challenging topics and assignments, less homework, more confusion and more apathy on the part of the teachers. The district's answer is to annually increase the budget for assistants and specialists, which takes away from all the other extras' the district provides, such as art, music and athletics. This year, with budgets tighter than ever, they came asking for even more. But the voters said no.

I don't often get into numbers, but I did some research and found the comparison worthy of sharing. My town has a budget of $27,800,000 for the 08'-09' academic year to educate 3000 students in 14 grades, with Pre-K and K families contributing extra

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