Ok. I am in the process of typing up my notes from this morning’s meeting while my child watches television and I race against the school pick-up time. In case this is all you have time to read before tonight or you don’t want to wade through tedious minutes without overall conclusions being drawn, here is my initial overall analysis of how to go into tonight’s meeting and the results of this morning’s meeting.
Tonight’s School Committee meeting will be about the budget cuts that have already (after much discussion) been decided upon, potential budget cuts going forward, and where to find additional revenue (internally and/or from request for an override vote at Town Meeting.) These budget cuts appear to me to not have been solely the “fault” of budget errors or naivety of the Superintendent (so please hold your public comment attacks tonight as they will fall on deaf ears, not impact anything, and certainly just waste time demonstrating anger from those of us in the community that really do not know the intricacies of how town and school budget decisions are made) or of any one department or person, nor necessarily to overall corruption (which I admittedly can only know so much of.) After reading, responding, and posing questions to many many many comments from community members (with more information and understanding than most of us in the general public have) and supporting all different agendas, and listening at this morning’s meeting, and struggling to understand everything that was covered for process and procedures involved, I have come to surmise that our current budget deficit is due to antiquated processes at the school and town level for projecting costs, handling budget deficits, and anticipating future large budget items (whether purchases or building maintenance,) rising costs for Special Education across the state and surely the country, communication across departments and between the School Committee and the town, and decisions that were made based on the choices and knowledge that each committee had at the time.
There are so many factors at play when the School Committee decides how to handle rising education costs. I’m not even sure that the School Committee or the Super actually understand the overall future financial ramifications to the town for the different options for how to handle deficit decisions, override requests, budget cuts, government aid, borrowing money, etc...as they shouldn’t. It is important that the town Finance Committee educate them on the potential avenues that they can proceed with for each unique year’s situation, and how each decision will affect the overall budgets going forward. The level of relationship needed to be successful seems to be something that both departments are just now understanding or perhaps just now taking seriously due to public pressure.
As in any complicated financial portfolio, there are no black-and-white answers, no obvious best plan of attack, and each piece of the town and school budgets hinge on state laws, public assistance legislation, and variables including staffing, weather, maintenance, and more. So please, when you take the time to comment tonight, know that there is more to this discussion than meets the eye, there are no “evil” players, and there are so many complicated sides to each discussion that the players are considering.
The big takeaways I took from this morning’s working meeting between representative members of FinCom and representative members of the school committee, as I understand it and if you only have time to read a quick thing, are this:
- Jason Silva (Marblehead's new town administrator as of this year) seems to signify fresh eyes and a new perspective on our Town’s budgeting practices, department accountability, and forecasting and forethought through preventative planning. After looking at past spending, deferred costs, and cash reserves and realizing that the entire town budget is insufficient, he is having all town departments put forth possibilities for 10% lower budgets for the next year so that we as a town, can evaluate how our different choices and priorities impact the quality of life in Marblehead. He is also having all departments make lists of future asks and needs so that the town can be more forward-thinking in our budgeting approach.
- The town and the school committee have a complicated overall common challenge to react to across-the-board (and common across the state) rising SPED costs (not from any one SPED population specifically,) address the aging schools whose significant capital upgrades have deferred over the years (whether or not we agree with these decisions that were made and not all of these current people involved were a part of those decisions,) resolve the current deficits, and to finally create a new way for forecasting future expenses that involve forward thinking for big purchases and repairs (for all town departments and buildings.)
- Due to pressure from the townspeople and our concerned and very vocal feedback, the tug and pull between the “town” and “school” has finally begun to feel like a professional working relationship with common goals, respectful conversations, explanation for the public that feels more like respect for the importance of our understanding, as well as a can-do attitude that we are all in this together and that everyone involved hears our call for Education is at the forefront of what we, as taxpayers, expect from our town.
- The decisions being made at tonight’s School Committee meeting are very complicated. The town representatives at this morning’s meeting are offering money to the school to help them, as they understand that it was partially through their own lack of forethought that we arrived at this junction, but not only are they not offering the entire amount, (as they have, through our new town administrator, just now realized that we, as a town, have been taking too much from our “free cash” (which is sort of like our town’s reserve fund) and will need to reassess the overall town budget) but they also need to approve even the amount they are offering by getting the Finance Committee’s vote as well as the Board of Selectmen vote, which will not happen today. This means that the school committee needs to choose to either go forward under the assumption that the town will give them that money but still with the current $200,000 cuts in place plus an additional $181,000 in cuts but also opening themselves up to this same situation should that vote not to pass with the Selectman, or, they can ask for an override asking for the full boat protecting themselves were the Board of Selectmen to say no, ask for an override for only the amount that they will supposedly be still lacking after money from the town should they approve it, or make the entire budget cut for the full amount to have a protected non-deficit budget. They also need to figure out how to go forward with the next year’s budget which will again be insufficient for SPED costs and building maintenance, etc.
This seems awfully reminiscent of the situation that they must have been in last year (and has been described to me) when they had a smaller deficit but had to decide how to handle it. For better or worse, the decision they made last year was to bank on what the town Finance Committee offered them (even if not for the full amount of their projected deficit) knowing that it would not “rock the boat” and would more likely be approved than if they sought the full amount or if they went for a full-boat override. It appeared during the meeting that the School Committee did not understand the full ramifications of where the additional deficit amount would come from (which fiscal year and how would the town fund and require reimbursement for it) but that both departments will be working much more closely going forward to make sure everyone involved understands the process. Some will say that the School Committee should have pushed the issue last year and gone for an override so that we, the public at large, would have been more aware of the issues and the insufficiency of the budget, and the growing deficits. In their defense, from what I heard today, the amount of the deficit last year did not seem as insurmountable as it turned out to be and as next year looks to be, AND, all involved did not seem to realize the situation that the town now finds their overall budget to be in where we can no longer keep pulling as much in funds from our “cash reserve” before we are actually eating into the actual “free cash” fund versus from the annual income generated by savings from predicted expenditures that did not materialize, generated town revenue, and carryover balance.
So, in conclusion (please take it with a grain of salt and don’t shoot the messenger,) due to active discussion, community feedback, and presence at meetings, the tide is turning for respect for the general public and our need to understand, our message about the importance of education in Marblehead seems to have been heard, this is not a simple one-night decision (and not do to any one party involved as all "seem" to have the best interests of the town at heart,) and going forward, tough decisions are going to need to continue to be made on how to go financially forward as a growing and developing town through cross-town budget cuts or higher taxes and based on what overall priorities, we, as the current residents, insist, and can agree upon.