Here is my public comment from the School Committee meeting last night, as some people have asked for the chance to re-read it. I appreciate all of the hard work and long hours put in by the School Committee and I look forward to hearing more of the answers to my questions beyond the few they addressed last night. There were several other speakers who addressed additional budget concerns including curriculum updates, staffing, updated and additional STEAM programming, and more. I hope they post their concerns here for us all to re-read and consider. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In business, after a large campaign, you do a team recap to capture best practices and improve the process for next time. What have we learned and what actions are we taking to do better this budget season?
Two years ago, we had a large deficit related to special education transportation and numbers increases. We learned it is necessary to set aside money for these issues. To remedy the situation, the special education fund was created and funded through the town's Medicare surplus.
We had building issues at Gerry, Coffin, Bell, and Eveleth due to deferred maintenance. We learned we need to plan ahead for large capital improvement and maintenance costs and start saving years in advance. The Stabilization Fund was created to allow for future savings toward these costs. Unfortunately, it remains unfunded and I have not heard of any planning in this year’s budget to put any money into it.
In 2018, bills were paid inappropriately to remedy a budget deficit. We learned that oversight is necessary to have checks and balances and avoid a mistake that has a major impact from just one person’s choices. That it’s important for School Committee members to get into the nitty-gritty of the budget and to ask hard questions. Yet, at a recent budget subcommittee meeting, very few questions were asked.
We had issues with technology this year that did not allow us to have options for quarantined or remote students to continue their teacher-led education. We learned that many other districts had already upgraded their technology and wifi in recent years to allow for a 1/1 technology ratio. We saw how pushing off upgrades set us up for failure and will not allow our district to remain competitive. We are currently budgeting for the bare minimum of upgrades to be done during April vacation, minimally resolving this issue and still not matching the level of other districts or allowing us to develop a better plan for the fall.
Covid showed us that having a perfectly balanced budget does not prepare us for the unforeseen. Experts indicate that Covid is here to stay. Students will not likely have received vaccines by fall. Masks, spacing, and quarantining will still be necessary, and some students will need to remain remote for medical reasons. We have figured out how to return K-6 students to school (albeit in uncomfortable setups) but we have not figured out how to make lunch work for full days. We have not budgeted to upgrade our air systems with higher air exchange, UV lights, or added humidity. We have not budgeted for additional purifiers, properly fitting PPE, additional space, additional staff, exhaust fans, pool testing money for once public funding ends, or anything else that would make it more likely that all grade 7-12 students can also return at 3 feet or 6, let alone for a full day.
Our current Memorandum of Agreement with the teacher’s union presented challenges as it did not allow for any flexibility as conditions changed and is based upon our current technology, space, HVAC limitations. We have already negotiated a new three-year contract even though we have yet to make any leeway in altering our current contract or current limiting conditions.
Parents are asking to be heard. This year parents asked for more information, clarification, and answers than ever before and yet there were still answers that were not forthcoming such as how much space we actually had for students or what upgrades will cost, until last week. Parents are making it known that in-person learning and increased hours are a priority in the district yet budget discussions do not address how the situation will be improved now, or in the fall. The School Committee is elected by, and represents the constituents. Your constituents are asking for the hard questions to be asked and answered.
It is time to learn from our past mistakes and take action to remedy them. To be proactive in our budgeting. To fund the Stabilization fund and budget for unforeseen circumstances. The almost $400,000 in Covid grant money should not be used to balance next year’s budget but instead allocated NOW for this year, and for next year, to make up for the impact of Covid, in the many ways our students need. Thank you for your time.
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