Dear Mayor Gray and School Committee,

We the undersigned support investing in schools to ensure that children in Amesbury have an education comparable to those in surrounding communities. The cuts currently planned for 2014-15 fall far short of this goal and we call on you, our elected officials, to provide the necessary funds to avoid these cuts.

While we recognize the State's failure to equitably fund schools, we feel it is important for Amesbury to utilize some of the excess levy capacity to preserve current programs and staffing levels at both the high school and middle school.This is necessary for several reasons:

1. In order to ensure the safety and well-being of every child in Amesbury's public school system, we have a responsibility to maintain the necessary staffing levels. We believe the current cuts do not meet this basic responsibility of preserving safety.

2. These programs in some cases are requirements for our children to attain further education. Every parent and every child in this community expects that their child will, at the bare minimum, be eligible to apply to any 4-year college if they choose to enroll in and fulfill the required courses. We believe the current cuts will not allow many students to achieve this goal.

3. We believe in order for children to fully engage in the learning process, class sizes must be conducive to effective classroom management and differentiation. We believe the increase in class sizes that will result from the current cuts will dilute the learning process for all.

We also believe it is fiscally responsible for the City to continue investing in schools in order to make Amesbury a desirable place for families to choose when looking for a place to raise their families. Investment is not measured by any given percentage of monetary increase in any given year. It is measured by the learning experiences of our young people and their ability to compete and thrive upon graduation from Amesbury Public Schools.

In short, we the undersigned urge our elected representatives to provide the funding necessary to maintain level services in the 2014-15 school year.We know you have the legal authority to do it. Please show Amesbury voters that you have the moral fortitude to do what is right for our community and our children.