On Brookline

Tomorrow evening, the group studying the need for an Proposition 2.5 over-ride for Brookline will hold a public hearing on the matter.

Good for them. Too bad for us.

Look, this hearing will be like every other in Brookline - it will be over-run by those trying to protect their narrow interests. Earlier this week, Superintendent of Schools William Lupini sent an e-mail to Brookline High School parents urging them to attend the meeting, saying:

Much of the override discussion has focused on our proposal to lengthen the school day in order to increase student-teacher contact time and make us more competitive in attracting and retaining teachers. In addition, we have worked closely with the Committee to examine the proposed elementary world language program, the continuation of our Brookline High School tutorial program, and the annual challenges in creating our operating budget.

The last I knew, extending the school day is an option and, because of that, teachers are paid overtime, maybe we don’t do it; the elementary world language program is a roughly $1.2 million program; and the so-called Tutorial, until last year, had been financed by the wealthy white person’s club known as the Brookline High 21st Century Fund. (I’m sure that if it’s a choice between funding the program and senior citizens losing their home due to increased property taxes, our 21st Century elitistse will dig deep again. Let’s have a gala!)

Sure, there are challenges with the Schools’ operating budget. But it’s a challenge brought on by the incompetence of town managers and the Brookline Selectmen over the past several years. They’ve overspent, underfunded the pension account, lost all control over finances (due to the absence of a genuine auditing function) and continued on this path in the face of significant economic pressure in the community.

And we’ll reward that incompetence by giving them more money to waste?

Folks, the only way the Town can get you to support an over-ride is through a scare campaign. Town Hall is the Bush White House, writ small. The cronies in town government are about to launch their own WMD campaign, except this time the fear campaign will feature Warnings of Mass Desperation in the schools.

The question for voters (and there will be a question on the ballot) is this: How is it that a Town with a $12 billion total valuation and a $200 million municipal budget can’t meet the “challenges” facing them with the resources they have?

The answer will reveal a lot about the state we’re in.

Update: And remember, the School Department budget is under strain because the School Committee has agreed to the terms of a “Town/School Partnership” that splits the municipal budget (after the Town takes out its fixed expenses) equally. If the Schools need money (say, for a World Languages Program), they can tear up that agreement and pursue the additional money during budget deliberations.

What the so-called Partnership ensures is that Brookline Town Meeting and the School Committee are free from having to decide the Town’s priorities. And that means we end up spending hundreds of thousands in budget dollars for an Economic Development Department that serves as a PR adjunct for local developers, while we fall behind in language instruction.

It says something about the hostility that the cronies on the 6th floor of Town Hall feel towards school funding when you see that there needs to be a treaty ( the Partnership agreement) in place so that students can get a predictable share of the municipal budget.

If town managers actually lived in Brookline, they’d see that people aren’t spending $1 million on a four bedroom house because the golf course has new cart paths. They’re here for the schools.

And don’t think for a minute that the WMD campaign focusing on the schools will do anything but drive those buyers away. You know, to be neighbors to those who screw up our town by day.