Dr. David Hopson
Now that 2012 has started, the school committee will be spending a great deal of time preparing the Fiscal Year 2013 budget (for the 2012-2013 school year). As a change to this year’s process, the district will make all early budget documents public as they are reviewed by the school committee – specifically the budget worksheets from each administrator, the recommendations of the leadership team, comparisons of spending by individual line items, and the initial total expenditure budget. All of these items will be located on the district’s website under the information tab (>budget>2012-13 Budget Documents). I hope this helps us meet the desire for information on how district decisions are made, and how budgeting plans are developed, which was indicated in last year’s National School Public Relations Association survey of Gateway parents.
We will only present the expenditure side of the budget during the month of January. As many of our constituents know, the first hint of state revenue isn’t released until the Governor’s House One budget comes out at the end of January. Until final passage of the state’s FY’13 budget (usually in June), any revenue (Chapter 70, Transportation Reimbursement, etc.) is a prediction, at best. Thus the question that seems to be key each and every year – “what are our assessments?” – will still only be an estimate when the revenue side is first released in February. Perhaps this will give everyone the chance to focus first on the actual expenses in operating the district, rather than being solely concerned with the potential impact on local taxes.
With that in mind, I’d like to highlight a few findings from the 43rd Annual PDK/Gallup Poll of Public Attitudes towards Public Schools. This year’s poll found that respondents thought that a lack of money is the biggest problem facing public schools. This was also a local finding from those who participated in the Gateway 2015 planning exercise, was the second most commented on item in our local NSPRA survey, and is tied to the number one issue of Gateway parents (the need for increased course options, electives, AP courses, and a smaller emphasis on MCAS scores combined with support for athletics and extra curricular activities). The PDK/Gallup poll also found that people thought highly of the school their oldest child attends (79 percent ranking them A/B), which then dropped to 51% schools in their district their children didn’t attend, and dropped to only 17 percent for the nation’s schools overall. The PDK/Gallup Poll also showed that respondents thought highly of quality teaching and would prefer larger class sizes with more effective teachers, or access to higher quality on-line instruction, over smaller class sizes with less effective teachers. Additionally, although almost half of respondents believe teacher unions are hurting public education, over half of respondents would also support teacher unions over state officials in disputes over teacher collective bargaining. In short, respondents appeared to be proud of their local, and well-known schools, and think less of the schools they don’t know, even if those schools are within the same school district.
Surprisingly, given the current debates at the national level on teacher quality, teacher pay and benefits, and making teachers more accountable, many respondents saw a need for great teachers. This statement was supported by 74 percent of those polled saying they would encourage the best and brightest person they knew to become a teacher; 76 percent of respondents believing we should recruit high-achieving high school students to become teachers; and 67 percent of respondents saying they would encourage their own child to take up teaching. In reading other studies, blogs, and articles in the news recently, it seems that there is a disconnect between our citizens’ wanting the best and brightest young people to enter education while at the same time business leaders and politicians appear to be advocating for decreased pay and benefits for teachers, less opportunity for teachers to make professional decisions based upon their knowledge and expertise, and decreased respect for the teaching profession overall. It does not appear that this disconnect occurs in those countries that are held up as “models” of successful public education by business leaders and politicians – hopefully we can learn from these examples and restore public education to a more positive and supportive environment for those employed to prepare our children for the future.
