Schools
ABOUT TOWN: Stoughton Schools Get Additional Funding; Is Town Meeting Running Out of Time?
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TOWN MEETING, NIGHT III: Town meeting picked up Wednesday night, May 29 where it left off following the May 22 session - with debate on a motion by the school department to add an additional $308,000 to the education budget ($237,708 for the Stoughton Public Schools and $70,292 for Southeastern Regional), making the total budget $40,707,147.
On May 22, there was over an hour of debate on this motion from the Superintendent of Schools, Dr.Marguerite Rizzi.
On the 29th, School Committee Chair Deb Sovinee gave a 12 minute presentation to open up the meeting. She reminded members that Stoughton was 235 out of the 351 towns and cities in Massachusetts in total per pupil spending. After that, the debate continued.
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Janice Lindwall of Pct. 5, a retired educator, said the demographics have changed since her children attended the schools. “We're compared with Canton, Sharon, Easton, Randolph, Brockton and even Dorchester. They move in from Dorchester. They bring lower socio-economic groups, and more learning, behavioral, social, and emotional issues. As our schools go, our town goes.”
Chris Shannon of Pct. 3, a mother of a 1st grader and kindergarten student, who is an educational consultant and classroom teacher, said additional funding does not necessarily bring added value, adding, “We are all trying to do more with less. I wonder if this is the right time to ask for more money. I’d respectfully ask to fund the additional request of Southeastern Regional ($70K), but not the other 238,000.”
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From the same precinct, John Roch said, “What the schools are asking for is not unreasonable. We’ve approved positions on the municipal side. With the schools, we have a tendency to micro-manage. I don’t see the same scrutiny in other departments.”
Elliot Hansen, Pct. 1 Chairman, told members, “They are using the school department as a hiring agent for friends and neighbors. That really doesn’t help the students. They are adopting Common Core. That is a dumbing down of the schools. Hiring another person to implement Common Core is a waste of money.” Hansen also questioned where all the money from the water vending machines in the building went. “I don’t see it in the budget.”
School Superintendent Rizzi explained that the food services department is totally self-sufficient, and doesn’t cost the town anything. They keep in their revolving fund all moneys from lunches, snacks, and drinks. As for Common Care, Rizzi said that, “We have no choice. We must adopt Common Core over Mass. Standards. It’s a mandate.”
Pct. 5 Town Meeting member Bob Cohn, said “it’s what the parents do for the students, along with the teachers and schools. It’s not the money.”
Pct. 1 member John Linehan, waving his daughter’s diploma from Endicott College, said, “The teachers in Stoughton are great. There have been changes in the student body. Some parents need to become more engaged. That’s the missing link. It’s about pulling up the bottom.”
It’s obvious everyone wanted strong schools. There’s certainly proven evidence that good schools contribute to higher property values. The question was, did members feel that an extra $300,000 would make a worthwhile dent in the 40.7 million dollar school budget?
The answer came after another hour of back and forth discussion. And, after Moderator Howard Hansen, with assistance from Town Clerk Cheryl Mooney, had counted the votes, the schools won their fight, by a convincing 83-38 margin.
The additional $238,000 for the Stoughton Schools brings their budget to $39.5 million, a $1.8 million increase from FY13, which is in line with what the School Committee had originally requested. The remainder of the $40,707,147 goes to Southeastern Regional and other vocational schools Stoughton students attend.
The Town, after moving funds into the Selectmen’s account to cover collective bargaining, then approved a final FY14 town budget of $76,341,448.
The additional $312,000 restored to the collective bargaining reserves line in the Selectmen's budget, will help in contract negotiations with the five municipal unions still bargaining.
The next hour and a quarter of Annual Town Meeting was taken up by a very informative presentation by Finance Committee Chairman Rick Hill (a Pct. 2 rep, as well) on the town’s debt, which currently sits at $27,134,576. Authorized and unused debt totals $21,182,105.
Hill said the philosophy of Fincom has been to keep as much cash as possible in stabilization accounts, and borrow (at less than 2%) to boost the town’s credit rating.
It’s working.
Moody’s boosted the town from A1 to aa3 this year, lauding the town’s “manageable debt burden and satisfactory reserves.”
Selectman O’Regan said that the BOS is taking input from the Capitol Planning Committee, and is borrowing only items with a five year life and a cost of $20,000 and more. “As a policy issue, we don’t want to borrow for short-term consumables.”
So with only six more available dates before the required June 30 completion of Town Meeting, 70 articles remain. That’s right. In the first three nights of Town Meeting, 10 articles out of 80 on the warrant were completed.
With Town Moderator Hansen starting meetings at or after 7:45 p.m. (instead of 7:30 p.m.), and spending an average of 15 minutes regurgitating prior meeting activities, the pace is slow. And, with lines of speakers for every article, it may never get finished at all. It may necessitate a Special Town Meeting in the Fall.
Town Meeting continues on June 12 with the fourth session. One of the items up for discussion - marijuana zoning.
Yes, it’s high times at Stoughton High. And, let’s hope town meeting serves a birthday cake for this columnist. I should have worked up an appetite by then.
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