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Dear Davebarry109,

You are absolutely right. That surplus is there contractually. And the School Department has absolute control over it. And that surplus has been MORE than was needed for the last 16 YEARS IN A ROW!!! AND it has grown every year FOR 16 YEARS IN A ROW!

So Dave, we have 2 choices. Keep money in a fund that was more than we needed FOR THE LAST 16 YEARS IN A ROW!!! Or... take a million out of it now, today, leaving a healthy $2,300,000 in it and buy the Chromebooks that our children desperately need TODAY!

Dave, we MIGHT get hit with a new expense next year that we never had in the last 16 years but I think we can agree that the need for Chomebooks is much more important and much more "immediate". I have spoken many times about the "Students First!" part of my platform. In essence it means that the teachers are important. The union is important. The taxpayers that are paying $60,000,000 in taxes to fund the schools (almost twice what Providence pays) are also important. But no one; NO ONE is more important than our children. Our schools went from 19,000 students in the 70's to 9,100 today. We must improve the quality of our childrens education. Everything else is tied for second place.

Can we agree?