I live in a small, median town pretty far away from Beacon Hill and Washington, or at least so we thought when we moved out here. But in the past year, our local public school has taken a beating, all inflicted by bureaucrats in Boston and Washington.

We've suffered a perfect storm of budget cuts and mandated changes in curriculum, and on top of that, the federal government, with the encouragement of our state Department of Education, says our school is "inadequate", even though our school has above average standardized test scores.

Our school has been an attractive "choice" school drawing kids from surrounding towns; but it seems this sort of "choice" is out of favor in the rarified atmosphere of Beacon Hill and Washington, where "public" schools are supposed to become lowest common denomimator drill factories (preferably run by corporate managers), and "Choice" means either a charter school or a private school.

We want the Department of Education to be more responsive to parents, more respectful of teachers, and more critical & independent of the federal government.

We want our school back.