It is with some reluctance that my husband and I enclose a donation to the 2007 Save Our Schools campaign. We love our school system, and it is most certainly a worthy cause. However, having had children in the regional system since 2001, we see a disturbing trend forming.

As you know, this is the second time in the last five years that SOS has quickly raised private funds to “save the day” and prevent the loss of a number of public school programs and services in response to under-funding by the towns of Wenham and Hamilton. While the goal is laudable, this is surely a short-sighted way to fund our schools. How can we continue to attract and retain high-quality teachers and administrators when their positions are at risk year after year? How will our high school maintain its accreditation when we cannot guarantee funds to maintain the facilities from year to year? And yet, by not pressuring our town administrators, school committee, and fellow citizens to come up with long-term solutions to our budget woes and then “coming to the rescue” at the last minute with private funds, we encourage the trend to continue.

Several emails and letters that we have received in the last few weeks from SOS speak of addressing the immediate needs now, and working towards a better solution later. This year, let’s make sure there IS a later. Please honor these donations by remaining active long after we’ve plugged the hole in the dike. Continue to keep us informed of SOS news and we will help! Encouraging the school board to present a more inclusive budget in future years is a start, but it won’t fix the bottom line, which is clearly a lack of town revenue. Many of us can afford higher tax rates, but many, especially seniors, cannot. And I believe there are some sticky ethical issues regarding private funding of public school systems. This is a district-wide problem that requires participation of the whole district to solve it!

I’ve read that the town of Hamilton is paying $2500 to work with Northeastern University to examine ways to bring businesses into town without ruining the rural character that we all appreciate so much. Could Wenham be involved in something similar? Expanding our commercial tax base would be a boon to the town treasuries, and I personally would feel better about donating funds for a similar collaborative project, if money is not available in the town coffers, than I do about donating funds directly to the public schools. It may not solve the entire problem, but it would be a start.

Funding our wonderful school system is going to be expensive and problematic for the foreseeable future. Together we can demand long-range planning NOW and stop settling for the last minute, “let’s wait and see” approach.

In closing we thank all of you for the hard work you have done to save our schools once again. Our towns owe each of you a debt of gratitude, and we want you to know how much our family, in particular, appreciates what you’ve done this year.

Very truly yours,

Kim Aalfs and Chris Needham

Now, how many do they teach in a day. . maybe 23? So that’s $23.76 X 23 = $546.48 a day. But remember they only work 180 days a year! I’m not going to pay them for any vacations. Let’s see that’s $546.48 X 180 = $98,336.40 (Hold on! My calculator must need batteries!)

What about those special teachers or the ones with master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage just to be fair. Round it off to $7.00 an hour. That would be $7 times 6.92 hours times 23 children times 180 days = $200,541.60 per year. Wait a minute, there is something wrong here! There sure is!!!!!

Over the past years, we have watched with sadness as our towns have failed to adequately fund our schools and the value of a Hamilton-Wenham education has fallen. Since 2002, we have eliminated the equivalent of eighty full-time teaching positions—a devastating blow to a district this small.

Yes, the override passed but that override was so inadequate that the District still faces a $1,000,000 gap in order to provide the same services it provided last year. Having already cut its teaching staff, the District is forced to increase class-size to achieve the savings its vastly under-funded budget requires it to make.

Next—having cut staff and increased class sizes—our District is forced to trim curriculum. At a time when there is a nation-wide movement to spread the Advanced Placement curriculum, our high school offers very few AP classes. Electives? The High School is cutting music programs, theater programs and any elective class that is not crammed full of students. Languages? As it phases out French, Hamilton-Wenham will earn the distinction of being one of only three districts in the state that offers only one foreign language (Spanish) – and the other two towns in this abysmal category are towns I had never even heard of.

Sports? We are now the only district in Essex County that charges parents a 100% user fee.

Technology? Many of the computers at the High School are so outdated that they cannot support current software. The High School’s computer labs are inadequate and much of its existing software is out of date. There are not enough computers in classrooms. The science labs lack appropriate storage space for chemicals. Even the phone system needs an overhaul.

What can you do? First, give as much as you can to Support our Schools— a private fundraising drive to meet some of the gap in next year’s budget. These funds will all be turned over to the School District to fund budget items according to District’s list of priorities. (Those priorities are listed on the SOS web-page: http://www.hwsos.org). In the first two weeks of fundraising alone, SOS raised close to $200,000, including pledges and matching gifts. Many, many families have given over $1,000 each. Indeed, if each school family gave $295 for each schoolchild, SOS would achieve its goal of raising $600,000 towards the district’s $1,000,000 budget gap. However, every dollar counts and high participation levels will send the message that we need our government to adequately fund our schools.

Yes, we should be deeply concerned when there is a need to ask private donors to fund a public school’s operating budget. However, once programs are lost, they take years to rebuild. The devastation next year’s cuts will otherwise bring means that every family in our District—and everyone in our community who cares about education or our towns—should support the SOS effort. (Make checks payable to the Hamilton Wenham Regional School District and send them to SOS at P.O. Box 2445, South Hamilton, MA 01982. SOS needs the money by June 15th to meet the District’s hiring schedule.)

What else can you do? Put the “public” back in public education. Private funding is a short-term bandage that cannot heal the bleeding that is happening in our District. Insist that our town leaders adequately fund our schools. SOS’s effort addresses immediate needs but cannot address the larger issues facing our schools or all of the severe cuts in curriculum and staff throughout our District. And waiting for the state or federal government to fund schools in Hamilton-Wenham—where the median home value is a hefty $540,000—is like waiting for the tooth fairy to arrive.

The excellence for which our District was known took decades to build. If we let that excellence vanish now, we may never gain it back. We have lost too much already.

Marie P. Buckley