WESTFIELD – At a meeting of the Gateway Regional School Committee Wednesday evening, District Superintendent Dr. David Hopson referenced a letter sent by over 60 legislators to outgoing Governor Deval L. Patrick on behalf of the Commonwealth’s regional school districts urging him to restore his recent $18 million 9C cut to regional transportation funding.
Hopson said all of the legislators representing the Gateway District signed the letter except one.
“(Representative) Peter Kocot was the only legislator from Gateway who did not sign the letter asking to restore that funding for regional transportation, unless I missed his name,” said Hopson.
Kocot, a Northampton Democrat who has represented the 1st Hampshire District and the Gateway Regional town of Montgomery since 2002, said that while his signature may have been missing from the letter sent by former state Rep. Anne Gobi, he has taken other avenues to express his opposition to Patrick’s cuts.
“It’s been made clear that the House and Senate are going to wait to address all of the issues that relate to our budget shortfall,” said Kocot. “I’ve spoken to the House Chair of Ways and Means (Brian Dempsey, D-Haverhill) about regional transportation and I’ve made my feelings well known to him.”
Kocot added that a letter sent by an outgoing member of the House – Gobi, a Spencer Democrat, won the election to fill the seat held formerly by outgoing Sen. Stephen Brewer, former chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and vocal advocate for regional transportation funding – isn’t the only way that he can communicate with leadership in the House.
“I’ve had several conversations with Rep. Stephen Kulik, as well, who is the vice chair of the House Ways and Means and represents towns served by Gateway,” said Kocot of the Worthington Democrat. “I’ve made my feelings well-known to them that I’d like to see a solution to that proposed cut.”
Regarding the potential for seven teaching positions to be eliminated in the Gateway District due to a $241,000 district budget deficit as a result of the Patrick 9C cut, Kocot said deficits like these are an example of why he is opposed to the cut.
“The mere fact that they cut regional transportation – which is not at the 100 percent reimbursement rate that it should be – that is a cut that disproportionately affects western Massachusetts,” he said, adding that western Mass. has more regional schools than any other area of the Commonwealth. “If, in fact, the 9C cuts had been more uniform, that would have been one thing. But that is not the case.”
“I’m very much opposed to it and we’re working very hard to make sure that those cuts do not happen,” Kocot said. “We have a governor who will be walking out the door of the State House in a few short days and a new governor coming in.”
Kocot acknowledged the state’s fiscal woes and stated new governor, Republican Charlie Baker, may be facing a budget shortfall between $800 million and $1 billion.
“There are certainly going to be major challenges to the Governor, House and Senate when we’re sworn in next month to make up this gap,” he said. “But be confident that every legislator from the western part of the state that has a regional school has expressed their opinion on this in one way or another.”
“There isn’t just one way to express opposition to a particular thing – there are many and sometimes a letter isn’t the best way to do it,” Kocot said. “The people who are going to be dealing with this are not the people that the letter was sent to.”
