Revere superintendent weighs in on state school aid: ‘Everyone’s on hold’

REVERE – Superintendent Paul Dakin can count on state money to pay for a new Paul Revere School, but he is less confident the School Department will receive more tax dollars to keep existing schools open.”Everyone’s on hold,” he said, counting himself in with superintendents across the state who are wondering if local aid to schools will be cut.Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to talk about aid to schools today at a meeting of the Massachusetts Municipal Association. The governor is seeking ways to address a $1 billion budget gap reflecting sharp state revenue declines.”The intention is to do as little damage to Chapter 70 as possible in the next couple years,” Education Secretary Paul Reville told the State House News Service. Cities and towns received about $4 billion in Chapter 70 funds this fiscal year, an increase of $223 million.Revere relies on state tax dollars for nearly two-thirds of its $65 million school budget. Dakin said he needs $5.8 million from the state to maintain current school programs and vowed, “I refuse to look deeper than a level funded budget.”He has joined other superintendents in endorsing Patrick’s plan for a federal stimulus package aimed at providing billions of dollars in education aid for the state, in addition to tax cuts for the middle class, infrastructure investment and funding for food stamps and other safety net programs.”We hope (President Barack) Obama has something up his sleeve or this will be disastrous,” Dakin said.With state money available to the city to build new schools, Dakin is preparing to plan construction of a new McKinley School even as work on a new Paul Revere begins.Demolition crews are slated to tear down the existing school and haul away debris by mid-February. Workers will then begin grading the building site and start foundation work. The current schedule calls for the new school to be completed by May 2010 and outfitted for the start of the 2010-2011 school year.”My focus is to get work on this building off and running so I can start the work of making sure McKinley comes online in a seamless fashion,” Dakin said.McKinley is one of the city’s fastest-growing schools with 444 attending the school last year compared to 225 in 2001. Paul Revere’s students are attending the Beachmont School while construction is underway.Dakin hopes a new McKinley’s construction can start in January 2010. He supports replacing the 105-year-old school as a way to provide “equity” for students in Revere’s central neighborhoods.McKinley students browse through library books on shelves in the school’s hallways while the library is reserved for computer learning.The school’s top floor doubles as a cafeteria and music room but the students learn on a state-of-the-art computer phonics program and classroom “smart boards.”