The Shame Of Boston

BOSTON SCHOOLS may shut down some time in the next two weeks, a month ahead of schedule. There are plenty of shocking things in this state, but if there was ever an indictment of the political process in Massachusetts, it is this: a city too poor to educate its children.

Villains in the mess are many, chief among them Mayor Kevin H. White, the Boston School Committee, and the Boston City Council. White for many years enjoyed a reputation as a benevolent dictator, he continues to be a dictator, but--despite the best efforts of a small army of public relations officials--his shine is increasingly tarnished. Like the council and the school committee, he has put politics far ahead of people, misshaping the priorities of the city and creating a complex mess.

It appears that Boston's residents are finally beginning to wake up; of late, South Boston, East Boston and Charlestown residents, alarmed at the padlocking of police and fire stations, have "liberated" them. They need money more than symbols, though, and so they have lately begun to block traffic around the city in an attempt to dramatize their plight. We applaud their actions, and call on others to join them. For a little while it may work, as Boston borrows its way out of immediate trouble.

But it is unclear how much long-term good the protesting will do. Boston's problems this year have been created by its politicians; next fiscal year's even bigger crisis will be largley thanks to state voters and Proposition 2 1/2. Like every other city in the Commonwealth, Boston desperately needs large increases in state aid and the quick establishment of a new tax code that will fairly apportion the cost of running a city humanely. Until they come, Boston schoolchildren will receive an all-too-realistic lesson in how not to run a city.