ROWLEY — A last minute grassroots effort brought more than 30 parents to Monday night's selectmen meeting to enlist their help in putting an end to the state cuts to regional transportation funding that is forcing severe cuts at Triton Regional High School.
To make up for the $390,000 cut, the district administration was forced to make a reduction of 13 staff positions in the Triton district, which includes classroom and music teachers and clerical staff.
"Our purpose tonight is to ask the selectmen to help us get in front of the right people," said Kate Scalley, president of the Rowley Education Fund who spoke on behalf of parents. "We are not asking Rowley for money — we know they cannot give it to the school at this point — we are asking to come together and demand that our state legislators stand for us and the best interests of our children on Capitol Hill."
When Gov. Deval Patrick announced in early November his plan to balance the budget, it included an $18 million, or 42 percent, cut from the reimbursement accounts for regional school transportation. These cuts were made with the statement that education funds would not be cut. This can be said because the cuts were to Chapter 71 funds, not to Chapter 70 funds, which are generally referred to as "education funding."
Chapter 71 funds, which cover the extra costs to bus students around a larger geographic area, as is the case with Triton, are offered by the state as part an incentive to regionalize. These transportation cuts, though they do not fall under "education funding," leave the schools to make educational program changes, because they cannot simply stop busing students to save the money and, at this point of the year, they cannot ask for more money from the towns in the district — Rowley, Newbury and Salisbury.
"The state promised us 100 percent transportation reimbursement if we agreed to regionalize with Salisbury back in 1993," Scalley said. "We are the only school district in the state that is comprised of noncontiguous towns; therefore, our transportation costs far exceed that of the other districts due to geography, yet the state has continued to¬ decrease its reimbursement to us year after year — this is what we need help in fighting."
Chairman Dave Petersen explained to the parents that as a small town, Rowley doesn't have a lot of political power to influence these issues, and he recommended the parents get vocal and write and visit local legislators asking for fair and equitable cuts across all schools, not just big hits on the regional districts. "My suggestion would be to get other regionalized schools involved and plan a march on the Statehouse — to be professional demonstrators and get the publicity to call attention to these issues," Petersen said.
Selectman Dick Cummings suggested the group take advantage of the office hours state Sen. Bruce Tarr has in town and get a group to visit. "The only way you'll get the attention of these legislators is if you let them know it will cost them votes in the next election."
Parents were encouraged to address these issues with the school committee and administration as well. "I have tried to talk to the School Committee and got no response or positive feedback," said parent Carla Panciera, with whom many parents present agreed. She said she was hopeful for the chance of having a new superintendent who would run things differently.
Parent Hilary Odoy spoke out for better communication from administration regarding these issues. "We as parents were not given enough time or information to provide input on these cuts, having received a brief e-mail from the superintendent only days before the cuts were going to be publicly announced. We are a group of empowered, energetic people who would have liked the opportunity to make recommendations about these cuts or confer with our school committee before they were thrust upon us with no recourse."
Selectmen Vice Chairman Bob Snow encouraged the group of parents to not give up and to keep fighting for education.
"Form a group, make action plans — you can make a difference by continuing to carry this message to other towns and legislators," he said. Snow also promised his support via his work as a member of the superintendent search committee, vowing to seek out the very best candidate for the job. He also promised to march on the Statehouse should the group decide to undertake that task.
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