If discussing the Community Pool is similar to swimming with Alligators, dealing with the Community School itself is not unlike kissing the third rail. (for those NOT from Dorchester – google “MBTA and electrocution”)
I need to stress that the Community School is a great concept – it encourages full utilization of some of the Town’s biggest assets (its school buildings) which would otherwise sit empty after 4 PM most days. It also provides lifelong learning opportunities for residents of Sandwich and surrounding towns to take courses in whatever subject may interest them. It is a terrific program and I have yet to meet anybody who did not want to see it succeed and prosper well into the future.
NOBODY wants to shut down the Community School!
One More time -- NOBODY wants to shut down the Community School!
This program has the potential for being a very cost-effective method of providing the service – the facilities are already there – the only issue should be how much EXTRA does it cost the School District to allow the public to use the building for the additional time?
Specifically:
• Cleaning costs - janitorial labor & cleaning supplies
• Utility costs - heating and lighting the building in the evening
• Other costs - off-hours snow & ice removal, additional security
• Administrative costs – additional labor to operate programs
• Program-specific costs – The Pool, computers, Drivers Ed sub-contractor, etc.
It would not be unreasonable for the School District to hope to generate a modest profit from the Community School operation which could then be used to offset school operating costs – which would otherwise need to be funded with tax dollars.
It WOULD, however, be extremely unreasonable to expect the taxpayers of Sandwich to chip in to subsidize the operation of the Community School which benefits the nice folks from Bourne, Mashpee, Barnstable, etc. Sandwich taxpayers are already asked to fund substantial amounts of money for the essential costs of operating the schools and the rest of the municipal government.
Why did that Damn Superintendent want to take-over the Community School?
She didn’t.
The Damn School Committee saw a rapidly dwindling school budget and began looking at the Community School as a possible place to either increase revenue or reduce expenses. I am absolutely certain that the Superintendent would have been very, very, happy if she had never heard of the Community School. Contrary to popular belief, the reorganization of the Community School was done on orders from the school committee – not the Superintendent. (I know – I was there!!)
The simple reality is that the current town financial crisis has been building for years. It was obvious to those watching the situation that the District (and the Town) needed to find a way to cut costs and increase revenue quickly – or prepare to drastically cut services. There is no magic bullet. You can not get blood from a stone. (and you should not put more than two clichés in the same paragraph!)
Who Runs the Ship?
The Superintendent and School Committee have ALWAYS run the Community School.
On paper, the Community School is a program of the Sandwich Public Schools which was overseen by an Executive Director who reported to the Executive Council composed of 13 people, including at least 4 school department employees, and a School Committee member. The Council was appointed by, and reported to, the Superintendent, who reported to the School Committee.
Under Massachusetts Law, the School Committee was responsible for all expenditures of the Community School and should have been approving all warrants or leases which obligated payment of town money.
In reality, the Executive Council approved their own invoices for payment and only “periodically” reported to the School Committee. Because the Community School gave the “appearance” of being self-supporting, the School Committee rarely (if ever) questioned it. They had Bigger Fish to fry!
As a result of the reorganization, the Executive Council has been neutered and the School Committee now approves all payments and relies on the Superintendent for all day to day supervision.
Why only the “appearance” of being self-supporting” ?
The Community School operated in buildings which were heated, cooled, and lit with the tax dollars from the School Department budget. The hallways, walkways and restrooms were cleaned with school budget dollars. (Yes, there would have been cleaning regardless of the existence of the Community School – but nobody can argue that the additional traffic did not require additional cleaning.)
The pool required a substantial amount of electricity to operate the filters and dehumidification equipment. Because the pool was not separately metered, these costs were absorbed by the High School operating budget.
Although the School District paid all school operating costs, any rental income generated from the use of school facilities -- field rentals, parking lot rentals, pool rentals, auditorium rentals, etc. all went to the Community School.
In lieu of paying any allocation of actual costs, the Community School chose to make “in kind” donations by paying for certain expenses on behalf of the School District. The CS paid for a janitor, paid for a bus, provided some supplies, etc. The reality is the janitor was cleaning up after Community School clients, the bus was already being used by the Community School and the supplies could certainly have been paid for by the District --- IF the District wasn’t already funding Community School utilities – OR if the District was receiving the rental income from the facilities it was paying to maintain!!
Is “Profit” a Bad Thing?
Hell, No!
Personally, I would like to see the Community School produce a profit that would help the School District – and the Sandwich taxpayers!
My concern in this case is that all revenue is realistically matched against the appropriate expense. Those programs whose expenses exceed their revenue need to be modified or eliminated. If the service is considered essential, one possible modification would be to go to Town Meeting and ask for tax funding – let the voters decide if a service is REALLY “essential”!
I do have a problem with the concept that it’s OK to generate a profit from the parents who pay for Drivers Education or the Preschool just because its used to help pay for the operation of the swimming pool. Why can’t the pool people pay the full cost?
I have no problem asking folks to pitch in and help fund essential services such as Police, Fire and Schools – but in these tough economic times, it’s unfair to ask them to pitch in to help fund their neighbor’s water aerobics class, or their kid’s soccer league.
What about the Reserve Account – Where did the money go?
Because the Community School benefitted from receiving rental income but no related operating costs, it had managed to accumulate a Reserve Fund which it used to fund normal operations – which was essential because the program received no direct tax funding.
The reality was that the Reserve Fund had been built up by not reimbursing the District for operating costs and by “profits” generated from other Community School programs.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that as the economy worsened; people had less money to spend on non-essential items such as adult ed & pool programs. Accordingly, Community School revenue has plummeted over the past two years – and expenses were not reduced accordingly. As a result, the reserve account was seriously depleted.
What about the New Pre-School Building – Where did that money go?
There never was any.
The Community School’s plan was to use some of the reserve account as a down payment on construction of a new building and then take out a mortgage for the balance. The theory was that the Community School cashflow, particularly the preschool operation, would be used to fund the monthly debt service. But, as discussed, following the economic downturn, revenue decreased and the Reserve Fund went along with it.
The Plan was shelved when members of the School Committee balked at the idea of building another building when there was potentially room in existing buildings (which was either vacant or rented out to outside agencies). Members of the Committee also raised concerns about the overall financial management and control of the Community School.
Can you imagine what would have happened if the project had gone forward?
Despite reduced program revenue, and a depleted reserve fund, the lenders would still have expected payment. The Town would have been obligated to pay debt it could not afford on another building that it could not maintain.
What was that about overcharging the Community School to Fund Kindergarten?
There has never been a clear allocation of costs between the Community School and the School District related.
An estimate was made last year that the utility costs for the pool would be $120,000 per year. In June of '09, the School District charged the Community School for what it thought was 50% of the utility costs which would have been $60,000 for that fiscal year (ending 6/30/2009).
The District applied that reimbursement against the High School utility costs. The District then transferred $60K that was previously budgeted for utilities and used it to equip classrooms for the new full day kindergarten program (although it could have used those funds for anything).
Two subsequent studies proved that wrong and the actual utility costs are closer to $45,000 (there is a report -- I will try to link to it once found.)
In addition to utilities, there are other costs associated with the pool -- primarily janitorial and cleaning charges which are paid by the school district -- but I'm leaving them out of this discussion.
Because of the decrease in Community School revenue, the School Superintendent and School Committee have been lenient on rental charges during the current fiscal year. Eventually, this issue needs to be resolved.
At this point the School District needs to reconcile what the pool cost, how much they expect the Community School to pay, and then adjust the monthkly rent accordingly. OR – find the money to pay for separate metering for all pool utilities and stop arguing about it. Then the only question is how much the SHS swim team will contribute to the operating costs.
Why is this issue still unresolved?
I don’t know.
I have been hammering this issue for two years and have yet to get many results. The process should be simple:
1) What does a program cost?
2) Revenue from that program must exceed cost of program
3) If costs exceed revenue, eliminate program or increase revenue
4) Next program
The reality is that the only people who show up to discuss (?) the issue are people concerned about saving their own specific program. Until a group of independent taxpayers show up at School Committee and demand that their tax dollars not be used to subsidize ANYTHING that is not related to a K-12 education, nothing will change.
Part II – Now What?
Coming Soon ...
No comments:
Post a Comment