Author:
Kathy O'Reilly Larmand
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Date Posted: 08:56:28 08/21/03 Thu
In reply to:
Karen
's message, "Ya Gotta Love Those “Christians”!" on 10:14:01 08/19/03 Tue
To those parents who attended the Dracut School Committee meeting to support the school committee's decision to terminate the busing of private school students, I respect your opinion. However, with all due respect, I would like ask you to keep in mind that as residents of Dracut, taxpayers of Dracut and supporters of all community initiatives to better the lives of families and children in Dracut, ALL children should come first, regardless of where they attend school! Please do not turn this into an "us vs. them" issue. No one should be asked to take sides on this issue. This is about what is best for ALL children. Please do not penalize children who do not attend public school.
Please allow me to also enlighten you on how the termination of buses to private school students will affect ALL Dracut residents and taxpayers, regardless of where their children attend school, and regardless of whether they even have school-aged children.
The move to save $48K by cutting out parochial school busing this year will actually cost the town at least $53K this year as the first 7 or 8 kids transfer in from parochial schools; $165K next year, and CONSERVATIVELY (if only 3% more parochial students migrate per year): grow to $1.5M per year by year 10. Given the above, the aggregate cost impact on the town of cutting this $48K per year from the budget is an astounding $7.3M over the next 10 years.
The total annual savings to the town of the 832 parochial or private school students NOT going to Dracut Public is: $5.3M and the equivalent of 28 additional class-rooms and teachers with 30 students per class! Can the town afford to have even half of these students migrate back into public schools over the next several years? That would be: $2.65M per year and 14 new PORTABLE class-rooms and 14 new teachers with 30 children apiece.
The school-committee cannot find the $48K to bus these 250 Dracut students, and avoid these financial repercussions, but they are in the process of building a $45K new parking lot to park 24 cars of kids whom they already pay for to take the bus; renting six more portable class-rooms; and buying a $100K video surveillance system during these difficult economic times!
While it is understood that there is no requirement to bus the parochial school students, neither is there a requirement to bus juniors and seniors at any distance, nor middle school kids within 2 miles, nor to provide late bussing. Busing these parochial students pays tremendous dividends to the town. It is the equivalent of a 3,125% annual return on A $48K investment!
The most simple economic argument is this: 13 years of Dracut school public education at $6,407 per year per student =$83,291, far greater than the $48K it takes to serve the busing needs of the 832 parochial or private school students today.
The above are fundamentally financial arguments. This decision is not about whether the town should or should-not bus parochial school students. The town simply cannot afford not to do so. We cannot afford to have one-third of the parochial school kids show up to be educated at the Dracut taxpayer's expense.
Why do you think Dracut continues to attract new families to town? It is not for the MCAS test scores; it is not for the current town rating in Boston Magazine's review of the top cities/towns in Massachusetts; it is because Dracut is one of the few suburban towns north of Boston to offer low taxes. But the taxes will not remain low for long once private school students begin to migrate into the public school system.
But as I end this note, please remember to not make this an argument about which child is more important and deserves more services over another. ALL of our children deserve the best and we as a community need to keep that in mind.
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