Override Alternative Would Be 'Devastating' To Melrose: McAndrew

The following was submitted by Melrose School Committee Member Jen McAndrew:

Our community is in need of additional resources to respond to challenges, ensure the health of a growing and thriving school district and preserve vital, efficient city services. Securing those resources requires an override of the current tax levy as soon as possible. We do not have enough revenue to meet our operating needs. Our alternative is severe cuts to teachers, school resources and other city departments. This alternative would be devastating to the Melrose we know and love.

Those who say we can get around this fundamental math problem have not demonstrated that possibility, despite years of asserting otherwise, nor have they put forth a plan to do so. The reason is because it is impossible. The current model of funding public education in a community like Melrose, which is mostly residential, is not sustainable without occasional, limited and reasonable increases in funding via property tax overrides. Giving communities the flexibility to do this on their own terms was the original intent of Proposition 2 1/2 when it was approved in 1980. Melrose has not approved an operational override in over 25 years, and now is the time.

As we each make our individual choice in the voting booth, we all should understand that we will not receive additional state funding to close the gap. There is a clear reason for this: the state considers Melrose to be a community capable of meeting its funding needs locally. While changes to the state funding mechanism can help minimally and around the edges, the basic model will not change unless state income taxes are increased dramatically and swiftly, an improbable option to say the least.

And so we have three choices: we can pretend that someone else will solve our challenges; we can attempt to withstand devastating cuts that will fundamentally harm our schools and irreversibly damage our city services and our community's character; or we can make the choice to invest in Melrose.

We can invest in our shared community. As a member of the Melrose School Committee, a 13-year resident of Melrose, and a parent of three children in the Melrose Public Schools, I know that the facts support an override. We have already cut, including four middle school teachers last year. We have already garnered efficiencies, regionalized services and trimmed school and city budgets to the bone. Our teachers are among the lowest-paid in the state. Our per-pupil spending is almost unbelievably low. Our enrollment is increasing across the district.

Thankfully, we can make a difference together. The override request is reasonable, well designed and informed by the public, and it is based on current needs and current challenges. Programs are in place to mitigate the hardships of a tax increase on the most vulnerable among us, including our seniors.

I will be voting yes on April 2. I urge my fellow Melrosians to do the same. Our community's future depends on your action.