One Franklin is a municipal ballot question committee formed by concerned residents. We are dedicated to addressing critical funding needs for essential town services such as education, public safety, and infrastructure. If we do not act, $6+ million in cuts to our public schools will occur for the upcoming school year (24/25). These cuts will be felt most significantly to our public schools, but also to our Police, Fire and DPW, as education mandates must be prioritized. We have not had a proposition 2 1/2 override for 16 years. if the town does not act now, our kids endure the shortfall. Let's come together to show our teachers, police, firemen and all those that serve our community.
One Franklin 2023 began in 2023, but the original filing began just before the pandemic. Things stopped short when the federal government gave our schools covid-relief funding. This infusion of free cash allowed us to retain teachers, as many will remember in the article below where they marched down 140 in solidarity, and get us to this tipping point. We are fighting so that teachers and programs for our kids do not get cut next fall, or so we don't need to be rescued by departments with no room at all to spare.
We have been asking our Town Council and School Committee to address the demands of our community through transparent dialogue between all departments and residents of Franklin. This resulted in a 9-0 vote by our Town Council May 1, 2024 to hold a special election to prevent these devastating cuts to our public schools.
We ask that you vote YES on June 11 to ensuring our Franklin public schools, emergency services and other stressed departments have the resources needed to protect and serve our community.
WHO ARE FRANKLIN'S ELECTED LEADERS WORKING TO SOLVE THIS FINANCIAL DEFICIT?
Listen below to Franklin Matter's Steve Sherlock speak with both the current School Committee Chair, Dave Callahan & former School Committee Chair and Franklin educator discuss the threat to Franklin Public Schools and it's erosion over time.
On March 6, 2024 the Superintendent presented on his concerns around the proposed $6+ million in personnel and programming cuts to our schools, as well as fee hikes to families. This was presented to the Joint Budget Subcommittee so that our elected leaders could take action to prevent this from happening.
Since then, there have been many public meetings discussing this concern, and on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, the Franklin Town Council voted unanimously to approve a special election for residents to vote to approve a $6.8 million dollar override of proposition 2 1/2 to stabilize our schools.
Purpose: The Joint Budget Subcommittee promotes communication and collaboration among the three most relevant finance related committees who are involved in the Town's annual operating budget process: Town Council, School Committee and Finance Committee.
It is well documented that Franklin budgets and spends conservatively. This has earned Franklin a AAA bond rating for financial management and creditworthiness, and has enabled us to maintain one of the lowest tax rates for residents in the region. The community demands of both emergency services and public education have increased much more than the allowed 2 1/2%.
Things like rising healthcare, and inflation around expenses have far exceeded this allowed increase over the last 16 years. This is stressing our departments. which are unable to fully keep up with demand of our town. Over that time our school district has had to eliminated significant curriculum that will never return, Our public schools have increased class sizes to currently having 25 children in kindergarten classes, our schools have over 100 teachers without professional status due to a large uptick in turnover creating an insecure culture of scarcity difficult to manage, administrators are more difficult to recruit, and the need for counselors and intervention for children continues to climb as schools are asked to do more to assist with the mental health needs of the children of Franklin.
The school's need our help. Other departments do not have a lifeline to give. Our Fire Department is handing an unsustainable amount of calls, has a third ambulance that Franklin is looking to staff full time, and we are forced to call-out to surrounding towns for help with our residents. Police are dependent on capital funds for essential equipment. Those capital funds are not for this purpose, and would be better served going toward capital projects such as providing our Police Department with a much needed new building that is adequate to meet their needs.
The last operational override approved by residents of Franklin was 16 years ago, in 2008. The One Franklin initiative was started well before the pandemic started, when residents in town will recall over 100 of our public school teachers standing out on Route 140, in solidarity (more on that below).
When the pandemic of 2020 began, this override effort was put on hold as funding from The "Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund"", also known as ESSER, provided temporary relief due to the pandemic. Over the last year our Town Council and School Committee have spoken at length in public meetings, warning that we must come together to solve this looming deficit because the funds we collect as a town will not sustain current level services. We hear over and over by our Town Council that "the pot is not big enough" and that cuts are inevitable unless the residents decide otherwise. We are those residents trying to educate our friends and neighbors. Some think we have not felt enough pain to show up an vote, but we are going to work as hard as possible to prevent that pain from happening.
Let's work together as One Franklin to show we value our town and those who serve our residents!
The override amount is $6.8 million
This would increase your ANNUAL taxes by $0.85 per $1000 of your home value.
Franklin's average home value is currently $650k Meaning a home of that amount would see an increase of:
$552.50/year
or
$46.04/month
or
$1.53/day
For less than the price of a cup of coffee, together we can preserve Franklin's future, and stabilize our school district!
Hundreds march in support of 103 Franklin teachers June 2020 (watch coverage HERE)
Work to develop an override started years ago, and the public school budget deficit has continued to grow. This has resulted in an erosion to the quality of education our children receive. Year after year, other departments have sacrificed to try and bridge the gap, often resulting in tension. We are One Franklin, coming together to solve this once and for all benefits everyone, protects our reputation, and maintains our strong home values and town culture.
Franklin Massachusetts
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