Letter: Commonsense/Common Good

Kudos to Northampton School Committee member Karen Foster Cannon for her vote against a proposed Northampton Public Schools budget that would increase spending by 17%, necessitating deep cuts in other city services [“Board takes stand for no school cuts,” Gazette, April 13].

Karen was the sole member of the School Committee speaking up for a longer-term, whole-city perspective. She explained that while she agreed school funding in the state of Massachusetts is “structurally flawed,” so far as the municipal budget is concerned, she was looking through “a little bit of a bigger lens” — beyond the student experience to the entire childhood experience.

Children also benefit from the many necessities provided for all city residents, such as safe streets, libraries and recreation programs. As the only elected School Committee member who had previously served on the City Council, Karen shared her viewpoint on the overall city budget, in which she knew there wasn’t any “fluff” to cut from the budgets of the other, much smaller, departments.

Everyone in Northampton wants to see the public schools receive as much funding as possible, but well-intentioned, imbalanced budget decisions will degrade essential city services and create harmful inequities, affecting adults and children alike. Karen’s brave and difficult “no” vote brought attention to this common-sense reality.

Lida Lewis

Northampton