The RIF plan is going to ruin Brookdale. Tuition needs to increase (as it should) in order to keep Brookdale as the great college that it is. This tuition increase could save the college. If tuition does not increase by $15 a credit, and nothing is done to stop the RIF, Brookdale will fall apart, and it is unfair to the students.

As a school community, Cambridge CSD has already made significant reductions to critical components of our annual school budget as rising costs outpaced revenue. Staff positions, class sections, and services have been reduced for students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. We are working together as a district to make difficult decisions and reduce spending. Now we need your continued support to ensure the adopted state budget upholds the funding promises made to school districts across the state, by eliminating the GEA. This year alone (in the 2014-15 state aid calculations), Cambridge lost $891,670 in funding that was promised to our district, but taken back to balance the state budget. Every year since 2009, Cambridge has lost an average of over one million dollars to the GEA, and this disturbing trend must be addressed. We ask you to take immediate action to prevent long-term negative effects on the quality of public education for Cambridge students. Abolish the Gap Elimination Adjustment in this year’s state budget.

These institutions should distance themselves from their role in the CIA torture program in the strongest possible way.

I have not been personally affected by bullying; however, I do work with children who have been bullied at school or in their community. The effects of bullying on these young lives is horrible. These children fear going to school, which should be a safe place to learn and grow. These children live in fear of their bullies and learn to self hate. Bullying is an issue that needs to be stopped; we need to build up our youth NOT let them tear each other apart. Maybe if our youth learned how to be more respectful, kind and accepting of others' differences from the start, in their adulthood there could be less hate.

I have not been personally affected by bullying; however, I do work with children who have been bullied at school or in their community. What bullying does to these young lives is horrible. These children fear going to school, which should be a safe place to learn and grow. These children live in fear of their bullies and learn to self hate. Bullying is an issue that needs to be stopped; we need to build up our youth NOT let them tear each other apart. Maybe if our youth learned how to be more respectful, kind and accepting of others differences from the start in their adult future there could be less hate.

Connecticut deserves a qualified educator to head its Department of Education to preserve public education and to implement policies that are best practices and researched-based.

Aloha Aina = Decentralize the Hawaii Department of Education We call on the immediate resignation of State Superintendent, Kathryn Matayoshi, for (the people’s opinion) poor leadership qualities and for harnessing a toxic organizational culture Failed Impetus of Hawai'i's State Government I'm an Independent constituent who is an expert in applied systemic theory. With clear conscious, the State of Hawai’i’s government is imperiling due to the mismanaged structure of its Department of Education. The Department of Education accounts for about half of the State’s budget. This means its equivalent in size to the Executive Branch and to some extent the State’s Superintendent is as powerful as the governor. As an individual who has worked in Special Education, some of my colleagues are tired of legislators probing the lack of funds available to this department. Some of my colleagues at HSTA (teachers and principals) are tired of the distress that centralized education yields. This yield indicates there are too many managers and not enough front line workforce employees; thus, the deficiency of educational services. Furthermore, DAGS lacks the capital for improvements. Children shouldn't have to sit in classrooms with 30 or more students in decaying environments. This legislative session the people call for decentralization of the Department of Education and want to empower their Complex Area Superintendents, as well as their communities to have the resources to provide Hawai’i’s children with a high caliber of education in a healthy platform. We call on the immediate resignation of State Superintendent, Kathryn Matayoshi, for (the people’s opinion) poor leadership and for harnessing a toxic organizational culture. This restructure will do several things. First, vet toxicity out of the Department of Education with too many managers and provide DAGS with capital improvement equity to provide harmonious workplaces and high quality learning environments. Furthermore, this initiative will increase the number of front line employees, such as more teachers (help with attrition), empower Complex Area Superintendents, and communities to take ownership of their students’ learning. This will put a little common sense back into the Department of Education by not putting schools in toxic areas, such as where Monsanto and DuPont operate. True leadership would understand the profound impacts this has for children and State employees or at least be the necessary change to secure their safety.

As part of the HSE school redistricting initiative our neighborhood has been proposed as the only one that will be split into 3 different schools. In addition, the schools proposed for our children are a wholesale difference from current state and involve much longer bus times and 2-3x greater distance from our home. Especially at the intermediate/junior high level, it is so important that kids can stay together as a group that feed to HSE. Right now, all the options have our kids going to schools that funnel to FHS (in some cases a 65/35 split which is entirely unacceptable) when our children will be sent to HSE HS.

The Boston City Council has begun a series of hearings to address diversity in Boston's institutions of higher education. While some institutions claim these hearings are not necessary, we believe that the hearings are necessary and we expect full participation from the Presidents and leadership of Boston's institutions of higher learning.

My children attend public schools and we are about to lose 8 teachers in our district due to state education budget cuts. Our children's education should be our top priority, and this plan needs to be stopped.

As a school community, Galway CSD has already made significant reductions to critical components of our annual school budget as rising costs outpaced revenue. Staff positions, class sections, and services have been reduced for students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. We are working together as a district to make difficult decisions and reduce spending. Now we need your continued support to ensure the adopted state budget upholds the funding promises made to school districts across the state, by eliminating the GEA. This year alone (in the 2014-15 state aid calculations), Galway lost $920,128 in funding that was promised to our district, but taken back to balance the state budget. Every year since 2010, Galway has lost approximately one million dollars to the GEA, and this disturbing trend must be addressed. We ask you to take immediate action to prevent long-term negative effects on the quality of public education for Galway children. Abolish the Gap Elimination Adjustment in this year’s state budget.

The landlord won't renew the bookstore's lease. He wants to rent to someone else, but Wellsboro needs a bookstore. The store has always paid rent, and never been late. It's a small town and there's just not anywhere else for the store to go.