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Subject: Override Must Pass: Five Reasons

Dear Mr. Linsky, Ms. Johnson, and Ms. Albright,

I have been a Ward 2 resident since 1994 and live at 154 Beaumont Ave.

I am writing to you because I am alarmed at the potentially disastrous consequences for city services in general and public education in particular if a rational Prop. 2-1/2 override is not passed this year.

I support the original override proposal made by the mayor, but I am open to modest modifications that would preserve its objectives.

Here are five reasons why I believe an override is now absolutely essential:

1) Failure to pass an override will result in a self-inflicted wound of unprecedented depth to the staffing, programming, and overall quality of our public schools. The cuts that will be necessary will compound the substantial damage already done over the last decade by year after year of lesser cuts.

2) We have no alternative source of revenue that can be arranged and agreed upon in time to prevent the cuts that will occur without an override. I am among those who strongly favor a shift away from local property taxes and toward statewide revenue sources for the funding of public education and other local services. Those who argue that property taxes are disproportionately burdensome on lower income residents are correct. The public as a whole must accept the need to pay for what it demands in a more equitable and sustainable way. However, we cannot afford to let our common infrastructure decay further while we negotiate a better way to pay for its maintenance in future years.

3) Setting aside for the moment any notions of shared responsibility for the children of Newton, short-term economic self-interest favors an override. Residential property values depend more on the perceived quality of a community's school system than on any other factor. Out of pure self-interest, those without children in the Newton Public Schools cannot afford to allow them to deteriorate further. Notwithstanding the heroic efforts of our teachers and school staff to do more with less year after year, the reputation of our school system is not what it once was, because its staffing and programming is not what it once was. All homeowners would be wise to secure their investment in Newton real estate by supporting an override.

4) It would be foolish and utterly misguided to allow a mature assessment of the merits of an override to be hijacked by our feelings about Newton North. I share in the widespread frustration about the spiraling cost of rebuilding Newton North, but failure to pass an override will do much more harm to the rest of the city's infrastructure than it will to affect the construction of Newton North. How did a proposed $40 million renovation ten years ago evolve into a nearly $200 million project? This is a good question, but it is a red herring with regard to the merits of an override. The vote on a new Newton North has already occurred, there is already a large hole in the ground along Walnut St., and a new Newton North will be built with or without this override. I, for one, would have preferred a more modest design (e.g., would educational effectiveness have been significantly diminished without a separate theater in addition to an auditorium?). But it is not clear that the design can be significantly altered now without a paradoxical increase in the bottom line cost. We have a lot learn from the Newton North story, but slashing our existing infrastructure is not a rational response to it.

5) Finally, there is no separating long-term self-interest and the wellbeing of the community as a whole. No amount of personal wealth can compensate for the lack of a healthy society to live in. We all drive on the same roads, and we all call the same police and fire department in an emergency. Regardless of whether one has school-aged children or can afford to send one's children to private schools, the quality of the society we all inhabit depends more than anything else on the social, civic, and economic competence of the youth who emerge from our public schools. A vote for them is the best investment any of us can make in our own future.

 

Sincerely,

Seth Rafal

154 Beaumont Ave.

Newton, MA 02460