Presence

Baltimore, if you aren't already, please pay rapt attention to what's going on in Lawrence, NY right now. Steven I. Weiss is doing a great job covering the proceedingss in the proposal to find a way to leverage the public school system to lessen the tuition burden on working families.

Baltimore, we need to pay attention to what is going on up there. For the 75% of us who don't pay full tuition, it behooves us to take into consideration the 25% of us who do. My tuition bill for the coming year is over $12,000 (for two kids: one first-grade boy, and one three-year old nursery girl, and that's nothing compared to what some people have to pay), and it only gets worse. B"H we can afford it, but it makes things much more difficult, not the least of which is the fact that we are required to be a two-income household. The situation as it stands today is unworkable and broken, and without some form of action taken by the community, it will not get better on its own. We need to explore every option that will enable us to better educate our children and provide for our families. We owe it to our families, our children, our community and to ourselves. Thank you.

Note: I'm not advocating one solution or another; the political climate and community composition of Baltimore vs. Lawrence are very different. What is important is to watch how this goes down, and see if there is anything we can learn from it.