Kate Schmeckpeper, School Committee Vice-Chair
On June 9, I will be enthusiastically voting YES on Questions 1, 2, and 3.
My strong support starts with Question 3: $15 million in funding for municipal and school services, phased in over three years. It represents the best opportunity we have to invest in Marblehead's future. Voting YES on all three questions maximizes the power of your vote, so I urge every supporter of Question 3 to vote YES across the board.
For the Marblehead Public Schools, Question 3 does four critical things:
Protects our educational core by addressing a significant anticipated budget deficit in FY28 — avoiding the kind of deep cuts that would damage programs and staff we cannot afford to lose.
Invests in full-day kindergarten — a proven foundation for long-term academic success, and a program our students deserve.
Restores an in-district special education program for 18–22 year old students — keeping Marblehead students in Marblehead, and creating the potential to generate tuition revenue.
Funds $500,000 in annual capital needs — enabling us to proactively address facilities and equipment needs rather than scrambling to react to crises.
For the decade my children have been in the Marblehead Public Schools, I've watched our district trim and tighten the budget year after year. School leaders and frontline educators make it work time and again, but there's a limit to how long that approach sustains a great school system.
Voting YES on Question 3 is a vote for a different approach: one where we stop managing decline and start investing in our future. I hope you'll join me.
