Newton vs. Public transport
This past November, the Newton school committee voted to cut funding for the transportation of private school students, causing families across Newton to scramble. This budget cut was a break in precedent. Newton has provided public transport to kids in private schools since the 1980’s. This practice is in accordance with Section 1 of Massachusetts State Law which states, “pupils who attend approved private schools of elementary and high school grades shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as to transportation to and from school as are provided by law for pupils of public schools”. This law stems as far back as the 1930’s. The amount of money that Newton will save through this budget cut is far less than originally expected and far less than other proposed budget cuts. Considering Newton is no longer in accordance with MA state law, the city may end up losing whatever money they saved. You might think, who cares that some rich private school kids do not have free transport? Here lies the common misconception, public transport was not only used for fancy private schools, it was also used for several religious schools. This budget cut plan comes to fruition starting this upcoming school year, and will leave many families uncertain about the future. Public transport is not just a helpful tool, for many it is a necessity. A large majority of parents in Newton work 9-5 jobs or longer, having to get up extremely early to make their way across town to help support their family, and do not physically have the time to drive all of their children to school. I have utilized public transport my entire life, taking a bus back and forth to school every day since sixth grade. I could not imagine what my life would be like without free transit to school. What would my parents have had to sacrifice to get me and my siblings all to school on time? This situation not only questions how families will counteract the cuts, but also why Newton thinks public transport for students is disposable. How can a city, known for their excellent education system, hurt the ability of religious students to even get to their school in the morning?
Buses are not the only transport problem that the city is facing, concerns surrounding the MBTA and their budget cuts have been heating up in recent years. Newton has been proud to be an MBTA community for years, providing transport for people to access all parts of the city and the greater Boston area. I myself relied on the train for years as a means of transportation, and my childhood would've been drastically different had that same service not been available. However, now public transportation in the city of Boston is threatened by old infrastructure and dwindling funds. The entire point of the MBTA communities act is if a community has a public good (transport to Boston) it should have to have housing. Obviously, we believe in the housing part, but isn’t it somewhat of a false promise if the public good just isn’t very good. If the MBTA is slow, unreliable, and unsafe, what is the point of attracting more people to Newton? Newton desperately needs more housing and more business. One crucial step in that fight is good transportation. However, we do recognize that this is not up to Newton city councilors.
To sum things up, Newton needs better public transport. Across the country we have seen new developments for things like high-speed rail crumble under environmental and zoning regulations. If Newton wants to be a progressive city it should take a page out of Boston’s book. Mayor Wu is working on improving the MBTA and making it more affordable. Newton should do the same. Cutting access to public-transport for those receiving private education seems counterproductive. What is that money going towards? Our non-existing affordable housing project? Newton needs to evolve with the cities around it by guaranteeing good housing, transportation, and education to its residents.
