At their March 24th meeting, the Regional School Committee voted unanimously to develop a statement for use in lobbying our legislators regarding restoration of regional transportation reimbursement. Staff, parents, and community members, are encouraged to contact our state legislators by phone and email about this issue. The following text that can be used as a script:
"As you know, the Governor’s Budget (House One) included cuts to Regional transportation reimbursement. Now that the initial distribution of fiscal stabilization funds has been used to increase all districts in the Commonwealth to foundation levels, I encourage the legislature to use a portion of the remaining stabilization funds to make whole the cuts to Regional transportation. Cuts to transportation reimbursement equal cuts to the classroom because transportation costs must be borne by the district in one way or another. In addition, these cuts are particularly problematic as local districts are being encouraged by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to explore the possibility of regionalization. Thank you for your continued support of our schools. "
Contact information for our legislators can be found on the district website at www.arps.org/node/147 .