Milford schools need effort, not money

It’s unbelievable. Milford’s Board of Education is about to approve a long-range plan that has cost $90,000 and hundreds of man-hours and that will make everything worse. Their answer to overspending is additional spending. Their answer to poor academic performance is to ignore the issue and focus on shiny new programs.

Academically, Milford’s schools have been below average when compared to similar school districts in the state and our high schools have been significantly below average. The high schools generally rank 22nd or 23rd out of 24, almost dead last. It’s not because we don’t spend enough. We spend more money per student than every other similar district in the state except for one.

During the planning process therewas no real attempt to study and understand why so much is being spent and so little is being accomplished. The plan makes no serious attempt to address the overspending issue. In fact the decision to introduce even more special programs in the schools will result in increases in spending.

Even worse than the failure to address the spending issue is the failure to address our high schools’ unacceptable academic performance. Rather than fixing what’s wrong, the schools will be focused on adding new programs. The result will be a further deterioration in academic performance. Right now our high schools don’t need to do more; they need to do a better job performing their basic function.

Milford and our kids deserve better than this.