By Erika Cohen (school board member in Derry, New Hampshire) includes “Over five years, I have learned that those facts are usually numbers, but the words I use to explain them are even more important. That’s in large part because I can choose the words, even though the math is out of my hands — and getting tougher each year. … What’s tougher to explain is why the school budget keeps going up without new programs or more students. The reason is the revenue we get from the state keeps shrinking, even though our needs haven’t changed. …”