Another Override Attempt

School Committeeman James Connors is expected to file a petition today for a $6 million override to benefit the city's school (Sentinel, Telegram). The debt override would pay for, in Connors view, building repairs, computers, textbooks and other materials.

This isn't a new idea. The School Committee has been sniffing around this idea almost non-stop for a while. It's a school system desperate for cash.

As usual, however, there are few real details. What, exactly, does this money go to. How much for books? What kind of repairs? Where will the computers go? We could go on and on.

$6 million represents between 10 and 15 percent of the current school budget. That's a big increase. Is the $6 million just a shock figure, with plans to eventually come in and say, "We really need $6 million, but we understand we can't ask that of taxpayers, so how about $4 million?" How much does this effect the average taxpayer? Deval Patrick has been touting an increase in local aid since he started running for governor. Shouldn't wait to see if he's elected and what that really means for local aid?

We ask these questions now, but they'll only get tougher if this thing moves toward the ballot. Consider a local election is barely a year away, we're not convinced this makes it to voters between now and November 2007, but once again the override effort is cranking up.