The Portsmouth Town Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed 2007-2008 budget this Wednesday, June 20th at 7pm in the Portsmouth Middle School on Jepson Lane. You can get the agenda here. You can pick up a hard copy of the budget at Town Hall, since there have been significant changes since the Town Administrator's proposed version posted on the Town web site.

As has been widely reported, the Town has cut funding for the Portsmouth School Department building and technology warrants, which means an unrecoverable $700K gap. Unless at least part of this is restored, the school will have to shut down their computer network because they will not be able to pay for existing licensed software. We need to show up and advocate for a solution that restores this funding, or at least a reasonable compromise such as that proposed by School Finance Subcommittee chair Dick Carpender to split the warrants between the school and Town budgets.

Also, as I've reported, there are some on the Town Council (I'm looking at YOU when I say that, Ms. Gleason) who have advocated further cuts to the School Department. Without a strong showing by school supporters, similar proposals could easily resurface. If you have a kid in elementary school, this is of particular interest to you, since Gleason's proposal was based on cutting a school nurse, librarian, and guidance counselor.

I try not to cry wolf about showing up at a particular meeting, but this public hearing — and the Town Council's budget workshop — really are critical steps in the budget process. I know there were a lot of people who voiced regrets after the fact last year, when we ended up wasting a whole lot of time and energy on a Caruolo action because of unsustainable cuts to the School budget. This is everyone's opportunity to be heard up front.

Really hope to see you there both nights. Please pass this info on to anyone who cares about the schools.

UPDATE: The Town Council budget "workshop" originally scheduled for this Thursday June 21st at 7:00 p.m. has been postponed to June 25th at 5:30 p.m.