06/14/2026
Lorinda Visnick made the below statement to the Beverly City Council in June 2017. Nine years later, it is frustrating how familiar it still sounds. The same core issues remain: Beverly’s schools are still underfunded, student needs have continued to grow, and educators are still being asked to do more with less.
Nine years later, Beverly is still asking educators and students to absorb the cost of underfunding.
But her statement also reminds us of something important: the City Council has leverage. As councilors consider the FY27 Beverly budget, they have an opportunity (and a responsibility) to look honestly at whether this budget meets the needs of our students, staff, and community.
The question is no longer whether Beverly’s schools are underfunded. The question is whether our city leaders are willing to do something about it.
If you believe Beverly can and should do better for its public schools, please contact our city councilors and show up at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. There will be a gathering outside City Hall at 6:00pm to voice our concern, and we encourage everyone who is able to attend the meeting at 7:00pm.
How many more years are we willing to accept ‘not enough’ as good enough?
Lorinda Visnick School Committee statement from June 2017:
This is my statement from the city's public hearing on the budget. If you have similar feelings, PLEASE reach out to your city councilors (ward rep and at large members) before they vote on the budget next week. The contact information for city councilors is here: http://www.beverlyma.gov/boards-commissions/city-council/
My name is Lorinda Visnick. I live at 39 Middlebury Lane. I am here this evening as a resident – I am not the school committee president and as such, I do not speak on behalf of the school committee.
I come to you today because it is my opinion that the school budget is insufficient to provide the education that our students deserve. I expect you will hear tomorrow night that the school budget is educationally sound. I think that simply means that it is adequate. I will ask you: is adequate good enough? Or should we strive for more? Are our schools good? Sure. But I ask another set of questions:
- What is best for our children?
- Can we do better?
- Is this what we want for our city?
A city’s economy, property value and reputation rise and fall with the success of its school system. As a community, we need to insist on a school department budget that allows it to be excellent, as this makes our entire community excellent. I want a budget for the school system that will allow our community to be excellent.
The school committee’s policy states that the goal is to produce the nation’s best. “The mission of Beverly Public Schools is to maximize academic achievement and personal growth of every student”. I would argue that this budget does not allow the school district to meet that stated goal. Although it’s late and we all want to go home, if you stay with me I will justify that statement.
Before I dive into a series of facts, please let me be very clear: I am NOT in any way, shape or form meaning to disparage any of our teachers or administrators. Quite the contrary, I give them THE most amount of credit especially given the conditions in which we have placed them. In general, I do not believe our society values teachers as much as it should. Teachers are not paid nearly what they deserve given our FUTURE is in their hands. Here in Beverly, we are resting our future on THE highest student to teacher ratio in the surrounding communities.
We are resting our future on paying our teachers below the average pay rate state wide; below that of our cohorts. We are resting our future on an increasing enrollment with increasing needs – all the while, providing barely enough funds to cover contractual and benefit obligations. In the original proposed school budget 90% of the increase will be consumed entirely by steps, columns, reserved for negotiations and increases in pay and benefits. After those obligations, there are no significant funds to infuse to CHANGE or IMPROVE our educational offerings. You might wonder: Why do we need to improve or change our educational offerings? Let's take a look.
I said I would justify my statement that we cannot maximize academic achievement and personal growth of every student. Let’s start the justification with facts around per pupil expenditures. From the Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE), we trail Salem, Gloucester, Swampscott, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody and the Massachusetts state average in per pupil spending. In 2010/11 our per pupil expenditure was $635 below the state average. In 2014/15 (the most recent school year for which DOE has data) our per pupil spending was $1,748 below the state average. Please allow me to put that in context for you. For the 4500 students enrolled in our schools in 2014/15, to add $1748 per pupil so that we were at the state average of per pupil spending, it would cost our city 7.8 MILLION dollars. In fact, no one is asking that the city council allocated 7.8 million dollars to the schools; however, this should give you a sense of the gap that exists.
In addition to per pupil spending, there are many other metrics that the Massachusetts Department of Education tracks which indicate that the needs of Beverly students are rising dramatically:
1) Over the past 3 years Beverly has gained 60 English Language Learner students.
2) This year, 20.6% of our students, or 1 out of every 5 children is on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Three years ago there were 92 fewer students on IEPs.
3) Over the past 5 years only 2 of every 3 students on IEPs graduated on time; furthermore, on average 12% of that cohort drops out of school.
4) Today we have nearly 200 more high needs students than a mere 3 years ago. Today we have 1,850 high needs students. That equates to 2 out of every 5 students.
Our needs are great and growing.
NEXT, let us look at special education. There are no funds in the proposed budget to hire a special education pre-school principal. Our Special Education director, Stacy Bucyk said at our last meeting that we will start next year with an additional THIRTY special education students. Thirty MORE – all of the existing students with special education needs AND 30 more. Given this statistic, it’s hard to imagine that the proposed budget does not include a preschool principal.
Next, let us look at what our constituents are saying. Please try to recall the number of speakers at this very podium last year asking for more funds for the schools. I believe a number of you attended the school committee’s public hearing on the budget last month. A large number of families sent emails and attended the school committee’s public hearing. We all know that when things are good, these seats are EMPTY. Most meetings are attended by only those elected to office and the speakers for the evening. How can we ignore the themes repeated throughout each of the communications from constituents? I have asked “Are our schools good enough?” It is clear that our constituents are not happy with the services being provided. No one knows a child as well as the parents of that child. If parent after parent takes the time to write or speak at a meeting, I think it sends a huge message that we have a problem.
Next class sizes. We are asking too much of our teachers. As you have heard from others, Beverly’s student to teacher ratio is greater than Salem, Manchester, Gloucester, Swampscott, Hamilton-Wenham, Marblehead, Danvers, Peabody and the Massachusetts state average. Our ratio of 14.2 to 1 is closest to Peabody’s 13.5 to 1 Perhaps you have heard these numbers before, but let me give them some context. To simply match Peabody, we would need to hire an additional 17 teachers.
How can we possibly maximize academic achievement and personal growth of every student given a growing enrollment with growing needs, the highest student to teacher ratios, no Special Education principal, low teacher salaries and the low per pupil expenditures?
Before I conclude, I’d like to take a minute to address the issue of sustainability. Many have said we cannot increase the school budget because it will not be sustainable. Let’s use an example of 100 children in a grade within a school with 4 teachers – thus giving us 25 children per classroom. Imagine if we hire a teacher for just ONE year for that group of children. Instead of 25 children in a classroom, 10 of whom have high needs, there would be 20 in the classroom and 8 high needs students. That might not seem like a HUGE difference, but it is a difference. If you could have a better experience for your child for a year, wouldn’t you want that? Even if we cannot afford to keep that teacher the following year, we will have provided a better environment for 100 children for ONE YEAR. The fear of needing to lay off that teacher is unfounded. In the last 5 years of data from the DOE, roughly 10% of the Beverly teaching staff turns over each year. Thus even if we are unable to sustain that additional teacher, the added teacher may remain in our district, no longer as an additional teacher, but rather as a replacement to a departure or retirement.
While we are addressing issues, let’s talk about this question that I am certain many city councilors have: “If the school committee wanted more money in the school budget, then why didn’t the SCHOOL COMMITTEE vote for a higher budget?” During both the public hearing and deliberations on the budget, the school committee was told, and I quote,
“The way our charter is written, it’s the mayor's responsibility to submit a budget to the city council that he or she believes is in the best interest of the city that is sustainable that will fund our community the way it needs to be for the coming year. The city council is limited by our charter to only cut it, they cannot add to a line item. Nor can they cut a line item and redirect to another line item. Their power is to cut as our charter is written.”
I have a letter with me that I will leave for all of you written by a member of the charter commission who is an attorney. His view of our charter – the VERY charter he helped construct as a member of the charter commission - contradicts what the school committee was told. Namely this letter users references to our charter and the MA General Law to clearly outline the fact that unless the Beverly home rule charter explicitly overrides or changes something in the MA General Law, it obtains all rights for the citizens as available via MA General Law. MA General Law states very clearly that the ONE place where the city council CAN ADD to a budget is in the area of the schools. If and when the School Committee votes for an amount, and the mayor lowers that amount, the city council, by a 2/3 vote can reinstate the higher amount. We cannot know for certain if this information had been available, if the school committee would have voted differently. We simply cannot know; however, I bring this letter forward in the hopes that we can all understand the charter and what possible actions are available to us moving forward.
Education for me was transformational. My education has provided me and my family a life that otherwise would not have been possible. My father was a mechanic; my mother did not graduate high school. None of my 5 siblings attended college. Yet my PUBLIC school experience gave me a chance to break the cycle. Education is the great equalizer. It is THE chance for some of our students to break the cycle. I ask you again: are our schools GOOD ENOUGH? Are we confident that we are doing all we can do to put ALL our children in a position to excel? I can think of no greater joy than seeing and hearing a child stand at this podium somewhere in the future to advocate for something – and having that child say that his or her educational experience in the Beverly Public Schools was transformational.
As many of you know, as of this time last week, I had not yet pulled my papers to run for re-election. I reviewed my time on the school committee to date; I reviewed what I set out to do, what has been accomplished so far, and what remains to be done. In the most recent state of the city address, it was stated that Beverly makes “instructional excellence, academic achievement, and our children's well-being and healthy development our top priorities”. Given the data I have outlined here tonight, I am not convinced our city is actually doing that. Are we really doing all we can do? Is our current state of affairs what we want as a community? I don’t think so. I think there is work to be done; thus I pulled my papers. I decided that I do want to fulfill the mission statement of the school committee – and to do so, we need more funds. I stand here and ask you for the last time this evening: What is BEST for our children? If you believe we can do better, that our community wants education to be a priority, then my final ask for you this evening is for you to help make our schools better by doing what you did last year: find funds in the budget and request that they be allocated to our schools.
Mr President, I thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak this evening. Councilors I thank you for your time and dedication to our city. Great things happen in Beverly MA!
Scott Houseman, City Councilor, Ward 4
Danielle Spang, Ward 2 City Councilor
Committee to Elect John Mullady
Julie Flowers, Beverly Councilor At-Large
Keith Sonia for Beverly Councilor at Large
Steven Crowley for Beverly Ward 3 City Councilor
Matt St. Hilaire
Todd Rotondo - Ward 1 City Councilor - Ryal Side
Kathleen Feldman, City Councilor, Ward 5 Beverly
