The following appeared in the Monday, Oct 25 Newport Daily News:
To the editor:
As a candidate for Portsmouth school committee, I am deeply concerned with school funding, and urge Aquidneck Island voters to consider local budget implications when evaluating candidates for the state legislature.
Last year, the state passed an education funding formula which will mean over $2M in cuts for Portsmouth, $207,000 a year, beginning in the 2012 budget.
I testified before the House Finance Committee last spring, opposing this formula as inherently unfair to all East Bay communities. My argument was that municipalities were being presented with contradictory laws: the funding formula, which explicitly states that Portsmouth has additional taxing capacity available to increase our contribution to education, and the S3050 tax cap which prevents towns from complying with this mandate.
If elected, one of my priorities would be to go back to the legislature and seek resolution to this paradox. And that's why, in this session, having a delegation attuned to this issue is critical.
In the Senate, Chuck Levesque (11) has been a strong supporter of education, and recently said in the Daily News forum that the formula was "inherently unfair."
On the House side, candidate George Alzaibak (71) has called the formula "another unfunded mandate," and incumbent Jay Edwards (70) voted against it and has promised to support re-opening the question in the upcoming session, saying "We need to come up with a different formula."
Rep. Ray Gallison (69) is a powerful ally for Portsmouth education. He sits on the House Finance Committee, where he opposed the measure, as he did, forcefully, when it came to the House floor for a vote. He told the Daily News that he is "very optimistic we can change it."
And Rep. Amy Rice (72) mounted a spirited offense against the formula when it came to the floor, offering a series of amendments which would have reduced its impact for our towns. She would provide a strong voice for change in the next session. Both Rice and Gallison quoted from my House Finance testimony during the floor fight; they genuinely share the concerns we have in Portsmouth about education funding.
You can read my complete testimony on my blog at harddeadlines.com, where you can also find everything else I've written about Portsmouth education for the past four years. I know our schools face funding challenges at the local level, and I'm asking the voters of Portsmouth to trust me to tackle those. I'd also ask you to support a legislative delegation that will work with the local school committee to get us a fair shake from the state.
John G. McDaid
Candidate for Portsmouth School Committee
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