What do I do first?

A number of people have said, "This is awful! I want to do something about it! Where do I start?" Don't feel overwhelmed; do one thing at a time.

1. Write to the City Manager. The budget is put together by City Manager O'Brien and his office. It is then presented to the City Council for adoption. As I've said here before, once the budget is put together, no money can be added. The City Council can rearrange the money, and it can cut the money. It cannot add more. Only the City Manager can put money in the budget. As this $5 million request is for additional funds, it can only come from him.

2. Then (and only then) write to your district councilor. Your district councilor is responsible for and to your district only, and so each of them is most responsive to requests within his or her own district. They're always the place to start.

3. Next, write to the Education Sub-Committee. This is Councilors Eddy, Smith, and Toomey (depending on where you live, you may have already covered one of them with #2). They are having a joint meeting with the Business Sub-Committee of the School Committee about funding at some yet-to-be determined date. They also are the ones who are assigned directly to work on education.

4. Then, write to the rest of the City Council. They as a body make the determinations regarding the budget. For too long, they've heard nothing other than "don't ever raise my taxes!" It's time they heard from people concerned about school funding, people who are even willing to pay for it!

A tip, by the way: a letter on actual paper is always going to be taken more seriously than an email. Emails are easier, yes, and so letters have more weight. Barring that, call them.