Questions from City Council: $250,000 for where?

Councilor Rushton is referencing an order he's cosponsoring at tonight's City Council meeting:

9a.

Request the City Manager include the $250,000 realized as a result of new negotiations with MassPort in the Fiscal Year 2009 budget of the Worcester Public Schools for the purpose of reducing class size or increasing funding for instructional materials or for implementing new technologies. (Rushton, Toomey, Germain, Rosen, Smith, Eddy)

Where would they put it? the councilor wants to know.

Deputy Superintendent Mills goes back to Councilor Eddy's question about class size in referencing the continued emphasis on class size (in asking the question, Councilor Rushton said his wife sent in 27 cupcakes to kindergarten this morning for his son's birthday). What else would they consider funding? A health science program in association with UMass, that was once funded by a grant. STEM courses (Science, Technology, nope, missed it) in conjunction with WPI. These programs exist, but they are a shadow of what they were; he'd like to bring them back.

(One wonders, incidentally, how much of this is a chance Rushton is giving for Mills to put on a show, as Rushton has said previously he thinks we should just hire Mills to replace Caradonio.)