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"We need to talk education"
By Kathy Staub, Guest Columnist, Manchester Express, October 19 - 25, 2009, Volume 4, Number 42, Page 13
These are difficult times in the Manchester School system. A third year of level funding has resulted in larger class sizes, supply shortages, and potential loss of valued programs. This has occurred in spite of the fact that the state increased our adequacy grant by $7.4 million.
Truth be told, homeowners in Manchester spend considerable less on education that residents in other communities. For example, last year if you owned a home in Manchester valued at $200,000, you paid $1,196 in local property taxes to support our schools. If you lived in a similar home in Hooksett you would have paid $2,128 toward schools, in Goffstown you would have paid $2,136 and in Nashua your bill would have been $1,558.
Ever since the adequacy grants started, the more money that the state gives us, the smaller the percentage we are willing to put in ourselves. The state has given us multiple opportunities to keep the plane flying while we redesign it, but we have consistently chosen to be penny-wise and pound foolish. We want everything to be funded, whether it is textbooks, smaller class sizes, athletic programs, music programs, out of district placements for special ed. students, or assistant principals but we don't want to pay for it.
Manchester is no longer just a District In Need of Improvement, now we are a District in Corrective Action. If we don't do something about our schools now, our city will no longer be an attractive place for working middle income families. Anyone with children who can afford to live elsewhere will choose to do so and pay their share of taxes to someone else. This will also make us less attractive to retailers and employers, and will eventually lead to a decline in home values and the erosion of our tax base. ....
~Kathy Staub is a Manchester resident and candidate for at-large school board member.~
