Nashua budget would cut govt. school spending 5% :)

[Dave Ridley]

Mayor Streeter could use some emails of support!   Looks like his budget has really touched a nerve!

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By MICHAEL BRINDLEY, Telegraph Staff
mbrindley@nashuatelegraph.com

Published: Thursday, Mar. 23, 2006

NASHUA ? Some estimated the turnout near 1,000 people. Rick Lydon wanted one more person to show up.

?Where?s Bernie now?? shouted Lydon, a teacher at the city?s alternative middle school. Lydon was one of hundreds of parents, students and district staff marching Wednesday afternoon in front of City Hall, urging Mayor Bernie Streeter not to cut the budget for schools. Tonight the mayor will present his budget, which he has said will cut city spending by 5 percent.

?The superintendent has done her job,? Lydon said, referring to Superintendent Julia Earl?s budget proposal. ?As a teacher, I can see that.?

As those outside shouted ?save our schools,? Streeter sat at his desk. The sounds of the rally were as clear inside his office as they were outside.

?Obviously, they have the right to do this,? Streeter said. ?I?ve seen crowds as large as this before. But these are very well-meaning people.?

Streeter had no plans to go down to talk to the crowd, which reached between 800 and 1,000 people, according to an estimate by one of the protesters, teachers union President Jackie McKnight.

Streeter is promising to cut the city budget after a petition drive last fall that gathered more than 3,000 signatures to force him from office, led by people who blamed him for high taxes and overspending. A judge?s ruling saved him from having to fight for his job in a special election. Voters also bounced three incumbent aldermen from office in November, and installed a more fiscally conservative majority on the board of aldermen.

The mayor asked all city departments, including the schools, to cut 5 percent in their budget proposals. Instead Earl and the school board proposed a 2.2 percent increase, a total of $85.7 million.Streeter wouldn?t say what he will propose to the aldermen tonight, but said only that any cuts wouldn?t be significant enough to affect school services. He has recommended the district close an elementary school to save money, arguing that there is enough room in other schools to take in those students.

Earl has declined to say what would be eliminated if the cuts were imposed. Parents at the rally said their concerns were larger classes sizes, school closings and an overall impact in services.

Some of the signs at the rally, many being held by children, read, ?Back off Bernie,? ?Don?t leave me behind,? ?Invest in the future? and ?No one can handle 30 of me.?

Lori and Hubert Hein came out with their children, Dan, a student at Pennichuck Middle School, and Megan, a student at Charlotte Avenue School. Hubert Hein said he puts the blame for the city?s financial situation squarely on Streeter.

?He?s just not doing a good job,? he said.

Lisa Law, a parent at Mount Pleasant School, brought her first-grader, Hunter. They were standing inside the City Hall foyer, warming up before heading back out.

?I?m worried about the future of the schools,? Law said. ?Dr. Earl said that if the cuts happen, that all nonmandated programs will have to be cut.?

Law said she?s not just concerned about Mount Pleasant being closed as a result of cuts to the school district, but also about cuts to other departments. But it was the proposed cuts to the schools that ultimately brought her out.
ENLARGE PHOTO
Linda Walsh, a teacher at Pennichuck Middle School, was dressed as an apple during a rally Wednesday in front of Nashua City Hall in favor of the school budget.
Staff photo by Don Himsel
Linda Walsh, a teacher at Pennichuck Middle School, was dressed as an apple during a rally Wednesday in front of Nashua City Hall in favor of the school budget.
Order this photo

Law said she would be upset if Mount Pleasant were closed, because it?s a tight-knit school community.

?Because it?s an all-walking school, all of the parents meet out on the front lawn and talk,? she said.

Several police officers were on Main Street for crowd control. Law said she wasn?t concerned about bringing her son to the rally, saying it?s good for him to be involved.

Loredana Shepard, a parent from Broad Street School, was walking with the teacher of one of her two children at the school, Joyce Adams.

?They?re doing amazing things,? Shepard said, adding she didn?t bring her children out because they hadn?t finished their homework.

Stephanie Keating-Bayrd is a teacher at the alternative school, but also has three children in the school district. She said her role as a parent was her primary reason for coming out.

But she said she?s already made plans to move out of the city because of the constant threat of cutting education money. Lydon said Earl has done her job by developing a conservative budget.

Superintendent Earl arrived at the rally and spoke briefly to the crowd. Kim Shaw, the school board president, told the audience that this is just the beginning of a long, hard fight.

Alderman-at-Large Steve Bolton spoke of the ?foolishness of these bottom-line cuts? that are being imposed without any regard to their impact. Debbie Root, the Mount Pleasant PTO president and one of the organizers of the rally, said she was pleased with the turnout.

Many parents said they heard about the rally through PTO newsletters sent home with their children. Streeter said he had no problem with the rally, but that it was inappropriate for schools to send home newsletters with children to encourage attendance at a political rally.

Earl has denied that anything sent home with children had any kind of political overtones.

Valerie Harvey and Sandi Angeletti were two of the last parents standing after the rally was over. They said they were concerned about cuts to special education and they didn?t buy Streeter?s claim that his cuts wouldn?t negatively affect what the city schools can offer.

?I don?t see how it can?t,? Harvey said.

Michael Brindley can be reached at 594-6426 or mbrindley@nashuatelegraph.com.

[Fluff and Stuff]

Good stuff but I don't see anything that says the budget will be cut by 5%.  At best, it looks like the new (higher budget) will be cut by 5%.  That is still something, though 

[Dave Ridley]

here is the dialogue page from which you can email anyone in Nashua city government

http://www.gonashua.com/emailDept.aspx

I just emailed the mayor a note of appreciation as a person who has to pay nashua taxes here and there.

[mvpel]

Good stuff but I don't see anything that say's the budget will be cut by 5%.  At best, it looks like the new (higher budget) will be cut by 5%.  That is still something, though 

Ken Coleman here in Merrimack, one of the architects of the near-doubling of Merrimack's school budget in the last several years, complained that a 1.3% increase in the budget was actually a "cut."

That's just how they think, apparently.

[Dreepa]

In Hopkinton, the School board wanted a 8.76% increase on a $13M budget.  The budget committee said no only a 4.1% increase.  First order of business at the school meeting?  Putting that $ back in to make it a full 8.76% increase.. it is for the children after all.

Line's used 'My child learned how to read...this money would affect them.'
               'It is the cost of a nice dinner. Aren't our kids worth it?'  --coming from a lawyer who makes $250K.
               'Our teachers deserve it'   -- it is the budget not the salaries...

AHHHHHHHH

[pounaw]

Nashua School Budget Fight Turns Nasty

http://www.nhpr.org/node/10646

This clip is a sob story about how draconian the budget is.  You can almost hear the violins playing.

Crying wolf: The city schools' tiresome game
http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=705cba97-3260-4888-b2e5-f892ac1afed3

Give 'em hell, Bernie.

[Dreepa]

Welcome Pounaw!

[Atlas]

Nashua School Budget Fight Turns Nasty

http://www.nhpr.org/node/10646

This clip is a sob story about how draconian the budget is.  You can almost hear the violins playing.

Crying wolf: The city schools' tiresome game
http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=705cba97-3260-4888-b2e5-f892ac1afed3

Give 'em hell, Bernie.

Welcome!

[Zork]

Our local district fires all it's untenured teachers every couple years and then asks for more money so it can hire more teachers due to a "severe shortage"