PRESS RELEASE: Center School Air Quality Shows the High Cost of Low Funding: Fully Fund Peabody Public Schools!

On March 31, 2025, Safety Environmental Consultants released a report on the air quality inside the Peabody Center School – the elementary school where two of my kids were taught before we moved to South Peabody. This report shows higher levels of certain fungal spores known to be harmful to health compared to samples taken outside. The causes identified by the report included a leaky roof. To fix the problem, the consultants recommend fixing leaks as soon as they are discovered and properly maintaining the HVAC system to keep the moisture down.

3-28-25-Center-Air-Test.pdf

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Did we really need a report to tell us that when you don’t fix a leaky roof, you get mold?

            The real cause not mentioned by this report: our failure to fully fund the Peabody Public School System. According to an article in the Salem News from May 23, 2024, Peabody school officials felt an ideal budget for the 2025-2025 school budget would have been about $98.6 million—a $5.6 million increase from the year before.[1] City leaders told school officials that kind of increase was not possible,[2] so the school committee cut $4 million dollars from our public schools, which required eliminating 22 full-time equivalent positions.[3] This is but one example of the political chicanery at work that is robbing our kids of the education they deserve.

This pattern, repeated over and over, year after year, has terrible consequences. Teachers don’t get paid what they are due. Repairs go unmade. Facilities degrade. Children suffer. And—if you are not convinced by the moral argument—it’s wasteful and will cost the Peabody tax payer dearly in the long run.

            Imagine you had a car that needed an oil change. To “save” money, you decide to skip oil changes all together. Eventually, your engine seizes up and all that money you “saved” on oil changes is being spent on a new car—and then some. It’s the same thing with our public schools. It is a foolish waste of public resources if we are not adequately funding our schools to maintain basic repairs. We have old buildings that need to be taken care of or we need to build new facilities. Don’t be fooled – anyone telling you we don’t need to fund our schools is going to cost you a lot of money later on. I am calling on the Peabody City Council to explore additional revenue streams, including repealing the ban on cannabis sales in the city and ear-marking every dime in revenue earned for a Peabody Public School facilities fund. It’s long past time Peabody get serious about fully funding Peabody Public Schools.  

Tristan R. Brown is a candidate for Peabody City Councillor, at-Large. For more information about the campaign, please contact info@planforpeabody.com or go to www.planforpeabody.com.

[1] Caroline Enos, Peabody sees strained budget for school year ahead, Salem News (May 23, 2024) available at https://www.salemnews.com/news/peabody-sees-strained-budget-for-school-year-ahead/article_8767b464-12fe-11ef-9cec-f310140d8e7b.html 

[2] Caroline Enos, Peabody School Committee passes tight budget for FY25, Salem News (May 23, 2024) available at https://www.salemnews.com/news/peabody-school-committee-passes-tight-budget-for-fy25/article_3f375486-2291-11ef-ada0-8bbee2923ffc.html 

[3] Caroline Enos, Peabody sees strained budget for school year ahead, Salem News (May 23, 2024) available at https://www.salemnews.com/news/peabody-sees-strained-budget-for-school-year-ahead/article_8767b464-12fe-11ef-9cec-f310140d8e7b.html