YES! Grafton lobbies for override, plans June 8 session

A group of concerned Grafton citizen formed YES! Grafton, a ballot initiative committee calling on voters to pass an override that would help fund Grafton’s public safety and provide level services to Grafton public school students. 

YES! Grafton is a grassroots organization chaired by Grafton resident Elizabeth Spinney in response to the Board of Selectmen’s call for a $4 million dollar override to address critical town needs. Its goal is to educate Grafton voters about the necessity of the override. Grafton residents will vote on the override on June 23, 2020, or can request an absentee ballot here. 

The override proposal includes $3.2 million dollars for Grafton schools and public safety departments. The override would ensure adequate funding for the town’s police and fire departments, close a school budget gap that will otherwise lead to the layoffs of dozens of teachers over the next several years, and avoid the elimination of school programs like art, music, technology, and athletics. 

Indeed, while Grafton’s students’ test results are in the top 30 percent statewide, the town’s per-pupil expenditures are in the bottom third, and this override would merely close a budget gap to maintain current school services rather than adding additional programming or increasing expenses. The remaining $800,000 will be used to address a growing backlog of capital repair and maintenance needs. 

YES! Grafton stresses that the failure to pass this override will cost Grafton residents more over the coming decade and will result in further deterioration of the town’s capital needs, understaffed and under-equipped police and fire departments, teacher layoffs that push elementary school classroom sizes to 30 students per class, elimination of any non-mandated school programing, and an increase in expensive out-of-district special education placements. This will negatively affect the quality of Grafton’s school system and, by extension, town property values.

“There is no way to fill a three-million-dollar budget gap in a district that is already at the bottom three percent in funding in Massachusetts without it being devastating to the school district,” said Dr. Jay Cummings, Grafton Superintendent. “The existing pattern of insufficient funding will result in a decrease in positive results and the dismantling of the system through larger class sizes and fewer supports to students.” 

“Underfunding will unquestionably have a direct impact on performance,” he said. “This reality brings us to a tipping point in terms of what the future of our schools holds.” 

“I’ve experienced first-hand the detrimental effects of a school district that was forced to make the kinds of cuts Grafton is now facing,” said YES! Grafton Chair, Elizabeth Spinney. “My high school had no money for updated books, our classes were large and very limited in options, we had leaky roofs, and we were severely lacking in educational tools like science equipment. Only a small handful of my classmates went to college. Even though I was class Salutatorian, when I got to college, I was woefully unprepared. In my first college chemistry class, I didn’t even know what a Bunsen burner was. I do not want to let that happen to my children or anyone else’s.” 

Spinney continued, “We are all stakeholders in this override proposal. We recognize that this is a hard time for many of our Grafton residents, but we have also seen during this time how vital our schools and public officers are. During this pandemic, they were the first to step up and lead. We can’t desert them now when they need us most. Grafton is at its best when we work together to make sure we are meeting our residents’ needs, and that includes having level-funded schools and fire and police departments.” 

YES! Grafton is holding a virtual outreach meeting on Monday, June 8 at 7:00 pm. Attendees can watch the meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82000335905. If you are interested in volunteering to help ensure that the override passes, please contact YES! Grafton at yesgrafton@gmail.com. Please also visit YES! Grafton’s website and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more information.