Under current state funding proposals, Medford Public Schools stands to lose between $700,000 to over $1,000,000 next year. Medford’s initial state funding estimates are the worst in the Commonwealth second only to Boston.  

This drastic cut to the annual public school budget will negatively impact educational opportunities for some of the state’s most vulnerable children. In fact, nearly half of all Medford students receive free or reduced priced lunch. Decreased funding of this sort will likely result in:

• Cuts to teachers and support staff
• Increased class size
• Increased parent contributions to cover core running costs
• Further reduction in classes such as music and languages
• The achievement gap becoming larger

Educating ALL children of the Commonwealth should be of the utmost importance to Governor Baker and ALL legislators. We demand that our state government address this major flaw in the attempted correction of the Foundation Budget, which does not keep pace with the state’s funding mechanism for Charter Schools and diverts the lion share of cost to the local municipalities.

The children of Medford deserve fair funding and a quality education! Residents of Medford are signing this petition so that its representatives understand the importance of this issue to the community. We are counting on our elected officials to ensure ALL Medford’s students can continue moving forward. 

WE THE UNDERSIGNED PETITION THE LEGISLATIVE BODY OF MASSACHUSETTS AS FOLLOWS:

To pass a fair budget that won’t result in a net loss for the Medford schools.