Hundreds pack meeting against school cuts

A Northeastern snow storm that eventually dumped over seven inches on the area that day didn't stop over 800 teachers and their allies from packing the Central High School auditorium here on March 1 for a public speak-out to tell the city's Finance Control Board: Hands off teachers and all city workers!

The public forum, part of an ongoing campaign by the Springfield Education Association, exposed the control board's attempts to move money out of the already-strapped school budget to pay for other city expenses; its unilateral cuts in benefits that will cost city employees, including educators, thousands of dollars; and its threats to cut even further the wages and benefits of teachers and other city employees.

The SEA, an affiliate of the Massa chusetts Teachers Association and the National Education Association, represents 2,500 teachers and 3,000 retirees.

An 'out of control' board

The supposed mission of the five-member Control Board is to make Springfield "solvent." The board has full control of the municipal budget and spending, and its decision-making powers supersede the mayor and the City Council, thereby legally side-stepping elected city officials. But the board members' salaries, as well as those of an executive and assistant director, are paid by the city.

The Massachusetts legislature created the board in early July 2004 through a bill signed by Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican. The justification was Springfield's deficit of $23 million in last year's annual budget of $442.3 million. (www.mass.gov)

The composition of the board shows the determination of powerful financial and political interests to protect their investments in the city.

Although SEA president Tim Collins sent a letter on behalf of the union inviting Control Board members to the speak-out, most didn't show. Invited but not present were state Revenue Commis sioner Alan LeBovidge, a former vice chair of Price Waterhouse Coopers; Jake Jacobson, a Harvard and MIT graduate billed as a "turn-around specialist"; Tom Trimarco, former chair of the state's retirement fund; and the board's executive director, Philip Puccia, who is a former adviser at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The SEA placed effigies with name tags of the no-show board members on stage and a banner declaring, "Control Board is the Death of our City." Mayor Charlie Ryan and City Council President Tim Rooke, members of the Control Board by virtue of their office, did attend. In an attempt to circumvent the March 1 public speak-out, the Control Board scheduled a March 7 speak-out at City Hall during morning school hours.

"If there is one group of people in the city of Springfield that is not responsible for this financial crisis it's the children in our public schools, and the governor's 'out of control board' seems intent on balancing the city's budget at their expense," said Collins at the speak-out, addressing teachers wearing green "Helping teachers teach" T-shirts and "Save Spring field's Schools" buttons.

School system has been starved

Dozens of teachers spoke, many describing the tall odds they face to educate Springfield's children, a majority of whom are African American and Latin@. In the face of increasing budget cuts, many teachers work extra non-paid hours and purchase supplies with their own money so students can receive an adequate education.

A Springfield elementary teacher since 1978, Sally Suomala, said: "Springfield schools were very highly rated. My kids had opportunities that kids don't have now, like elementary gifted and talented programs. Art and music programs are now down to the bare bones. In Spring field, kids today just don't have a full, well-rounded program."

According to a recent SEA survey distributed at the speak-out, 80 percent of teachers contemplate leaving the Spring field school district and 40 percent have sent resumés to other districts. Recent Massachusetts state budgets have cut more in per pupil spending than any other state in the country. These cuts have had their greatest impact on urban school districts. In Springfield this has led to the loss of 300 teaching positions and 200 teacher aid positions. (www.seateachers.com)

The board's freezing of wages and threats to cut benefits have made Springfield's teachers the lowest-paid in Hampden County. Due to wage freezes, Springfield schools have lost over 160 licensed, highly qualified teachers to surrounding communities, where they are earning anywhere from $3,000 to $12,000 more a year.

Union members and allies at the speak-out also emphasized that the city's situation is a crisis manufactured at the state level because the city historically has received less state funding than more affluent and majority-white cities, and thus is at a constant disadvantage in meeting its budget needs.

Suomala, like her fellow workers, stresses that a fight-back approach is correct but depends on unity and solidarity.

"We have to instill a spirit of hope," she said. "We have to believe that if we stick together we can get through this and restore our school system to what it used to be."

Catherine Donaghy of the Western Mass International Action Center said workers and students alike eagerly scooped up hundreds of March 19 "Troops Out Now" leaflets connecting the war with workers' issues. In cities across the U.S., including Springfield, the U.S. war on Iraq and the increasing Pentagon budget have led to draconian cuts in social programs and public services.

"The forum was full of energy, and the teachers are determined, focused and angry about the control board's actions to attack them and all workers in Spring field, union and non-union, and their communities as well as making the children suffer. Many of the teachers expressed solidarity with the March 19 actions," said Donaghy.