SIGN THIS LETTER NOW!

Sign on to a group letter to City Council TODAY!

https://rallystarter.com/rally/2590/city-council-step-up-for-schools

Holy moly. If you tuned out of the school committee meeting after the powerful testimony during public comment, you missed major budget fireworks.

Judy Pineda Neufeld announced that TONIGHT City Council, in a Finance committee meeting, will be taking up an order that would change the City Council's power to potentially adopt a HIGHER schools dept budget if the School Committee recommended one higher than the Mayor allocated.

Right now, as things currently stand, the City Council does NOT have this power.

But that's because they never adopted a State law, chapter 329 of the Acts of 1987, that would give them that option. (To be clear, the law is specifically only about school committees being able to approve an alternative budget, this law applies to no other City department).

The City Council needs to adopt this order with a 2/3 majority AND the Mayor could unilaterally veto it. BUT BUT BUT... how could the Mayor ever justify vetoing a more robust budget for our students and educators????

This is a last-minute Hail Mary that would give School Committee the leeway they require to pass a significantly higher budget than what the Mayor asked for.

This has never been done in Somerville. There's literally TODAY to email City Council to tell them we need their unwavering support.

This is an amazing example of the Power of the People. They're listening. We can't stop shouting.