Teachers union president: James should thank, not insult us
Editor, Townsman:
Former School Committee member Tony James should be congratulated for calling attention to the latest figures concerning Andover's rank in its per pupil spending. He states that for FY2008, per pupil spending in Andover was, "slightly above the state average." James cites the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Web site as his source. His quote can be substantiated by pursuing the Web site.
Members of our teachers association also utilized that site to make the claim that Andover's per pupil expenditure rate was below the state average. One of the reasons for the discrepancy was that the data from the site was recently updated to include FY2008. Until recently the per pupil expenditure rate for communities in the Commonwealth were based upon figures from the FY2007 school year. The reason for the DESE lag time in presenting data is the it takes a couple of years to aggregate the information. Communities often construct their own accounting procedures and each town's data must be integrated into an equalized formula, which takes a significant time. For James to conclude that we attempted to deceive people when we utilized data from the same Web site he did is both disingenuous and unfair.
In addition, for James to feel proud that Andover is now slightly above the state average for per pupil spending when the community is 170 percent above the median income for the state (Moody's Investment Services 2009) seems to be equivalent to declaring victory when two football teams have a tie score. Vince Lombardi once said that a tie is much like kissing your kid sister; there nothing in it to brag about.
On a more serious note, it is important to recall that members of our association have helped to provide direct funding for students by giving back portions of our health insurance benefits over the past two contracts. This has enabled the community to put more money directly into student services such as instruction and counselling. I think James should thank teachers for all that we have done and continue to do rather than insulting us.
Whether Andover is slightly behind or slightly ahead of the state average for per pupil expenditures is really not the issue. Neither position adequately funds the school system. We invite present and past School Committee members and all stake holders in our schools to work with us to obtain the level of funding necessary for Andover to continue to be a high performing school system.
Tom Meyers
Lawrence
President,
Andover Education Association
