Time To Fire Financial Planners

Essential shift

A familiar and deeply flawed argument is being aired once again when it comes to the way state funds are distributed to district and charter public schools. This time, officials in Fitchburg are lamenting the fact that the North Central Charter Essential School is looking to increase its enrollment by filling 50 open seats, a move they view as a potential loss of $250,000 in state money at a time when the district faces a $5.6 million shortfall for fiscal 2012. The combination of changing demographics and competition can surely play havoc with any school district’s budget, but school officials must stop blaming charter schools and funding formulas for their problems. Students and their families want innovation, freedom and excellence in education, and they will not be denied. Public schools must rise to the challenge. Those that fail to do so will quite rightly continue to lose students and funds in the years ahead.