Given the current financial climate, an ugly stew of proposed program cuts, fee increases, and override attempts are inevitable. I previously wrote about "Big Picture" things that I would like to see done BEFORE anybody asks me for an override.
Because I can't imagine an override in the near future, I am assuming service cuts and program fees will play a major part of any proposed "solution". There are a few more things I would ALSO like to see BEFORE somebody starts raising my fees.
1) Cut non-essential services. All programs are not created equal. I can not justify spending money on the tennis team (or hockey, football, golf, etc.) while we are eliminating math, english, or science teachers.
2) All sports are not created equal. On a "per player" basis, far more money is invested in Football and Hockey than in the other sports -- most of which serve far more kids. Tough funding decisions need to be made. Consideration should also be given to a tiered fee structure so that those playing more expensive sports pay higher fees.
3) All classes are not created equal. It is far more important to maintain lower class sizes in the lower grades than it is at the high school. Continuing the focus on early education will help far more students than smaller high school history classes. I am confident that this investment will reduce future SPED costs and improve the educational futures of those kids involved. For languages, forget French, focus on the Chinese dialects. The World's biggest markets speak Chinese ... French is useful for ordering wine in pretentious over-priced restaurants ! (Je vais prendre l'enfer pour ça, non?)
4) Pursue "Other Revenue". There needs to be a public discussion about the "other" checks parents send to school. What about school picture contracts? How is the contract awarded, how much do the schools receive, and where does the money go? This may be small dollars when looking at a $30 million budget -- but as the father of 4, I have written an awful lot of checks for school pictures over the past 10 years!
5) Produce a consolidated School budget summary that shows all revenue from State and local taxes, School Choice, fees, grants, reimbursements, etc. as well as all related expenses. This document would incorporate the "regular" school budget approved by Town Meeting, as well as the "Off Budget" accounts not subject to TM approval.
6) Match all Revenue and Expense items -- If Outgoing School Choice Tuition expense is on the municipal budget, put Incoming Choice Revenue on the municpal budget also. Likewise, if Medicare reimburses SPED expenses paid for from the school budget, put the reimbursements into the school budget.
7) Move school-related Payroll and Benefits costs from the municipal budget to the School Budget. This would illustrate the direct correlation between staffing changes and financial results. It should also eliminate any inter-departmental "yipping" about these costs.
8) Resolve the Community School issue once and for all -- How much extra does it cost to offer these programs to the public? If the Community School can not afford to pay all of its program-related costs (including utilities) it needs to continue to cut costs until it at the very least breaks even. One of its operating costs should be for decent bookkeeping, cost accounting and an annual audit so actual operating costs can be determined and tracked. It's outrageous that it has taken so long to estimate pool costs.
What Else?
11 comments:
Bob,
A couple of comments:
#6. It does not make sense to me to charge the Sandwich Public Schools the cost to educate children who do not attend the Sandwich Public Schools. Like the Upper Cape budget, the cost of charter school tuition (and any reimbursement) and school choice sending tuition should be part of the overall town budget and not included in the school operating budget. However, money received from other districts for students who have chosen to attend Sandwich Public Schools should show up in the school budget to offset the cost of educating those students in our schools.
#7. The overall town budget is NOT the municipal budget. It is the budget for the entire town. Included in this is a municipal operating budget, school operating budget, etc.. So, if you want to move school-related payroll and benefits to the school operating budget. Then, you will also want to move municipal-related payroll and benefits to the municipal operating budget.
A fee is a tax. Tax increases require Selectmen review, Finance Committee review, Town Meeting Action and voter consent. Fees require no review, no approvals and no voter participation. Fees are an abomination to our democratic process.
No fees, no fee increases. Need new tax money? Follow the process and seek a tax increase otherwise make do.
All great ideas Bob. I was recently told that the two directors of the Community School make apprx. $80,000 each and their contracts were recently renewed for 5 years. I couldn't agree with you more about addressing the financial realities of the Community School's drain on tax dollars. Do you know if it is true about the salary and contract renewal. If it is, it seems irrational to renew contracts for them until we settle the operational expense issue of the Community School. Of course it makes sense that the new majority on the School Committee would do this. This had to be an executive session discussion I would assume? Why do we need two director?
8:53 --- I don't entirely disagree with you. It's the old "same pants, different pocket" scenario.
re #6 -- It really doesn't cost anything extra to educate the incoming School Choice kids -- the reason we brought them in is to fill empty seats. Conversely, part of the reason we have empty seats is because other kids left the District on School Choice (or Charter).
My theory is that the School Budget would have covered the cost of educating the outgoing kids had they stayed in-town. If we have to pay extra for outgoing kids, we should at least match the incoming revenue against it.
re: #7 -- There's 1 Town budget (approx $60 Million) which is overseen by the Selectmen and approved by Town Meeting. Within that budget there is a single budget line for the School Department (approx $30 million).
The School Committee alone is responsible for how that $30 million is spent.
The School budget includes payroll expense, but does not include the related benefits costs (health, medical, etc.). My point was to include that on the school budget - that way all employee-related costs would be in the appropriate budget. While it makes no difference on the consolidated bottom line -- it does prevent the silly arguments that happen when the Schools lay-off people for a big savings, but the Town complains that their unemployment went up. It also allows the schools to get the full savings from position eliminations(or the full cost for added positions!).
This is all just rearranging the deck chairs. The only relevant questions are what Town Meeting is willing/able to invest in education and what the District can do with the money. regardless of which books it may or may not be sitting.
I have to disagree with the School Committee's thinking a profit could be made on "School Choice".
The Sandwich School System cannt discriminate as to who can come and who can be turned away. If an out-of-district student applies to the the Sandwich School District, he/she must be enrolled.
If student comes with special needs,criminal records-such as assault records, etc., or students that were disciplin problems in their own district, they cannt be discriminated against and must be admitted to our school system. This puts an unfair burden on the internal school operations of the school.
So now, we may or may not be making "money" on this concept of school choice because because a cost-benefit analysis has never be completed. This "School Choice" idea has never been reviewed since inception as to if its successful financially or how admitting out of district students impact the academics and social environment of the school district.
If admitting out of district students to our school system some how makes money, is it really worth it when an unfair burden is taxing on the internal operations and social environment of the school district? Money isn't everything.
9;05,
To clear up some confusion, The costs and benefits of School Choice ARE re-evaluated each year. Because the first year was a success, the program was renewed for a second year last Spring.
Any SPED costs related to incoming Choice students are paid by the student's home district -- not the receiving District.
Any discipline problems are handled the same as local students -- but to date there has been no unusual discipline issues with Choice students.
If a parent makes the effort to drive their kid to school in another town each day, there's usually a family expectation that the kid will behave.
The costs associated with Choice are minimal. Only existing empty classroom seats are used -- so there are no extra labor costs. I suppose the incoming kid would use some paper and supplies, but that would certainly be faaaaar less than the $5,000 per person received.
I have heard no stories about "taxing internal systems" -- as far as "social environment" impacts -- a large number of the incoming Choice kids belong to Sandwich teachers who live in other Towns. I think it's a good sign that teachers bring their own kids into the District -- I also think its a good thing that the District makes these otherwise empty seats available to staff members and any other interested parent whenever possible.
Your post sounds like one those all too common attempts to distract and discredit a positive program -- without actually citing a single fact!
Bob,
It seems to me that increased revenue is the only reason to allow school choice. Therefore, if you remove the revenue (school choice receiving tuition) from the school district and move it to the general fund, what is the district's incentive to allow school choice and deal with the administration of this program?
4:01,
I agree with you -- there is no incentive to be in School Choice if the schools don't get the extra money.
The only reason I might consider it is because FinCom has made some noise about potentially reducing funding to the schools by the amount the Town is paying for Sandwich kids to go to other Districts. If it comes down to that, it would be better to offer up the incoming tuition than to get hit with the outgoing tuition -- hopefully, it won't.
It all comes back to what the Town is willing to invest in education. There's no support for a school override -- there's going to have to be some compromises from all involved.
Bob
Why haven't previous sc implemented these idea
All had been discussed previously, but at that time they were a lower priority (than curriculum) or the cost did not justify the disruption.
Some were started but got derailed because there was little public support (ie. facilities fees for non-school use.)
Some had been started -- an audit firm was engaged to start getting to the bottom of the Community School Finance mess -- hopefully that report will be out soon.
There were also staffing issues -- the Schools just got a full-time business manager back at the beginning of the last fiscal year. prior to that there was nobody willing to dig into issues or question the status quo.
Now that we are looking at a budget deficit of at least $2.5 million -- these issues need to become a higher priority than in past years.
Bob
Thank you for the info. Only comment I have on follow up. If we had addressed those issues we may not have had a 2.5 deficit to deal with now
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