We learned recently that
due to the state’s budget shortfall, the METCO program will sustain additional
funding cuts jeopardizing services for over 3,300 students in Massachusetts, including 140 in Needham. Governor Deval Patrick, whose past budget recommendations
for METCO reflected a lack of interest in the program, cut the grant program by
1% before he left office. Governor Charlie
Baker has followed up that original $300,000 cut with an additional so-called “9C”
cut of over $900,000, bringing the total reduction to over $1.2 million, or about
6%.
There is no justification
for this level of cut, especially when the Governor’s Budget
Chief Kristen Lepore had stated that “the 9C cuts are being meted out roughly
across the board in state government.”
Of course, that can’t be true if most cuts to departments were below the
6% level. According to WBUR, Lepore also
stated that the cuts are focused on programs not
yet “off the ground,” and the reductions will have a “minimum impact on core
state services.”
Respectfully, Ms.
Lepore, I disagree.
Here in Needham the
total cuts from Governors Patrick and Baker total $56,742. We use those funds to transport and tutor
real kids who are attending school now. We use those funds to train and support staff
and provide services to assist families and students now. Without those funds,
services are in jeopardy today with
little lead-time to adjust and prepare.
I understand that the
state’s budget plan changed, and the Governor needs to make hard choices to
balance it by June 30th. All
state programs should be scrutinized and considered as part of a broad
solution. I get it. But the METCO cut is an unfair hit at this
time of the year, especially when other reductions were at a lower level.
We are looking carefully
at our budget and other resources to see if we can scramble to come up with a
plan that least impacts students. The
Needham community is caring and resourceful, so I expect we can minimize the
impact of these cuts. But for next year,
I urge the Governor and the Legislature to make a commitment to fund METCO at a
sustainable and fair level, one that will provide a reasonable level of
services for one of the state’s best education programs.
Governor Baker: Congratulations on your new role as Governor
of this great state. We are excited a
native son is in the corner office on Beacon Hill! Please consider this an official invitation
to welcome you back home to Needham to see first-hand the power and promise of
the METCO program in our schools.
To watch a recent
WGBH Greater Boston program featuring Needham High METCO students, click on the
link: METCO Program: WGBH
To read a 2011
report, commissioned by Harvard and the Pioneer Institute, about the promise of
the METCO program and the perils of its consistent underfunding, click this
link: METCO Merits More Report (Harvard and Pioneer Institute)
