As parents of children enrolled in the Harvard public schools, we’ve watched the slow but inexorable toll taken by succeeding budget cuts. A talented and dedicated (and shrinking) staff, and generous and committed parents, have done much to blunt the effects of these cuts, but their impact is obvious to anyone with school-aged children. On the other hand, it’s no surprise that many people without children in the schools believe that annual overrides, mostly allocated to the schools, must mean that money is flowing freely and significant cuts have not been taken. Of course, this doesn’t square with the fact that enrollment numbers increase each year, and most costs go up more than 2.5 percent annually, thus giving the schools more to do with less. In fact, spending per student is now down to 1993 levels. But as with most things, your view of events depends on where you’re sitting.
About 45 percent of Harvard residents have children in the schools, yet there is only one such member on the Finance Committee. Until quite recently, that number has been zero. Doesn’t it make sense for that number to be significantly higher, given the fact that almost half the people in town have a direct interest in school funding and firsthand knowledge of its impact? And doesn’t it make sense to give some other voices in town a voice on this important committee, instead of automatically reappointing anyone who wishes to stay for unlimited numbers of terms?
The citizens who signed the petition asking for election of Finance Committee members were not trying to toss a bomb into the political process. Quite the opposite. Like us, they are seeking to make our representative form of town government a little more representative.
Maria Kaufmann and Robert Benson
South Shaker Road
