Radio Roundtable: Worcester Schools Budget & Mill St. Decisions

Photo- Radio Worcester

Worcester, MA- First up on this edition of the Radio Roundtable the recently voted Worcester Public Schools Budget. Matt Wally does an excellent job of detailing the budget, the $22 million dollar shortfall, the challenges facing the Superintendent and how she met them. Gary Rosen felt that different decisions could have been made and that indeed in the 6-3 vote to pass the budget, the three dissenting votes had it right. Climate and Cultural positions should have been eliminated before teacher positions. Randy Feldman strongly disagreed. Saying that in an urban school environment the climate and cultural positions are needed and that the Superintendent and School Committee made the right choice.

Another sharp disagreement on Mill St. Rosen felt that Kate Toomey, who emerged as the swing vote, clearly bowed to pressure from the Mayor and that she should have voted to move Mill St. back to its original configuration with cars parked against the curb. Rosen said if Toomey believes the cars should be parked against the curb then she should have voted that way. Matt Wally said Toomey’s vote was a practical one. That she wanted more data and that in six months she will get that data. That the City Council will be able to make a more informed decision. Wally said he personally agrees with Councilor Bergman and that we do need enforcement. Wally said the City Manager has showed a lot of backbone on this issue supporting his people on the changes. Feldman said he doesn’t see that many bikers in the city, yet, and he said Mill St. is different than Hamilton St. and Bergman and Toomey made reasonable suggestions.