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| This would be a good spot for a Pie Chart. But, I have no time, so Martha will have to do. |
A good place to start when trying to review a budget and build a new budget is to understand where the money goes. So here, without judgment or assertion of relative value, is a very high level breakdown of the current school budget with additional factual supplemental data.
How much do the schools spend on salaries?
All Staff Salaries is $21,525,566 or about 71% of the total District budget.
How much do wages increase each year?
Average annual salary increase for calendar years 2004 through 2008 was 5.5%
How much do we spend on Special ed?
Special Education (including Special Ed salaries) is $7,553,957 or roughly 25% of the total District budget.
How many kids get Special Ed services?
Special Education services are provided to about 600 kids or about 16% of the student population. Of the 600, 45 or so Special Education students are provided out of district placement services at a cost of about $3,453,233 or 44% of the Special Education budget and 11% of the District budget.
What do we spend on heat and lights?
Utilities are $1,355,865 or roughly 5% of the budget. (Note: I transferred $500,000 from the originally approved school budget -- as posted on the internet -- and moved it to Special Ed. -- same as the Committee did this year)
How much do we spend on maintenance?
Custodial Services (including Custodial salaries) account for about 1,477,336 or roughly 5% of the budget.
How much do we spend on buses?
Transportation is $1,509,050 or roughly 5% of the budget.
How much do we spend on sports?
Athletics is $327,616 or roughly 1% of the budget.
The full detailed budget for the current year ending June 30, 2011 is available online by clicking here.
22 comments:
Not long ago, Sandwich was considered one of the finest district's for teaching children with Autism. Many families chose to move here for that very reason. What has happened to that "wonderful" special ed program? Why have so many families with Autistic children moved their kids into a private school (Riverview School $60,000 per year without transportation)? We have so many Special Ed specialists on staff and the Spinnaker program at the wing School for younger autistic children. Why do we not provide those services in-house? Does anyone know how many Riverview placements Dr. Hank Perrin made on his way out the door? Unbelievable!
My son is one of the "unbelieveable" out of district placements at the Riverview school... His needs were not being met by the Sandwich Public Schools (yes, this is the reason we moved to Sandwich), and a team of teachers, specialists, and administrators determined that an out of district placement was the best education choice for him. It wasn't decided by Hank Perrin alone, it was a group decision based on opinions of professionals working with my child. It was also determined that this placement would be an equal cost (maybe even a slightly lower amount)once you add up the 1:1 aide salary & benefits, services, and technology. And FYI... we have never used transportation in the 9 years we've been in sandwich. I'd love to invite you to spend a day in my sons shoes...
I agree there were undoubtedly numerous kids whose needs were not being met by the District and those students needed to be sent elsewhere for an appropriate education. I also know that Riverview has made a huge difference in many kids (and parents') lives and I would never support bringing any kid back from Riverview (or any other program).
I would, however, like to to see the District build up some in-house capacity to provide these services for future students --- or for students who would like to have the option of returning to their home district -- but can't because no suitable program is offered.
Folks, I agree with the posts above that we need to rebuild and improve our District's Special Ed programs. But, suggesting as these posts do, that all these placements are the right thing to do for the entire District is just wrong. There is a systemic issue here that we can't ignore - or if we do its at the detriment of the rest of the student population.
Harvard University costs just $48,868 and Tabor Academy is only $45,700. These out of District placements average $76,738.00 per student per year. Cant we agree that these costs need to be examined? Cant we agree that reviewing these specific expenditures and seeking more cost effective alternatives is reasonable? Does anyone really think this level of spending can be sustained in a school district that 2 years ago increased its budget just 1.5%, last increased its budget 0% and this year is cutting $2.5 million?
Here we go again! You cannot discuss doing business differently in the SPED program without someone accusing you of being mean to their kids. Seriously, last week you mentioned something about cutting French and someone from that special interest group cut you off at the knees. At the mere mention of looking at all the out of district placements, and we are called upon to "walk in some child's shoes". How will our district ever make the necessary cuts for the next fiscal budget if every time a line item is mentioned that specific group circles the wagons and starts pointing in someone else's direction. I guess cuts aren't suppose to affect everyone, just a select few! We are 2.5 mill in the hole and everyone's guarding their "special interest" territory and screaming "no fair" when someone tries to look at their piece of the pie! Good luck with this budget! Still unbelievable!
To be clear, I said "numerous kids", I didn't say every kid. There are many situations where an out of District placement makes a world of difference. There are others where we should be able to provide the service in-house.
Given the size of the budget deficit -- this will be a gigantic bone of contention. (and I am far more concerned about SPED kids than the French Language kids!!)
Point of the original post was to simply lay out where the District spends our money. I implied no judgement of necessity, value or worth.
Kung Fu Master says: “Focus first on understanding Grasshopper.”
Interesting to me that Special Ed spending draws so much attention. Next set of budget questions, I’d think all of us might ask specific to Special Ed might be: (1) how does the District determine value received for dollars spent? (2) What are the District’s management supervisory controls? (3) How is service provider performance benchmarked by the District? (4) How often are alternative service providers identified and benchmarked? (5) Are we spending enough on the 550 or so in-district service recipients?
Also interesting to me that Salaries didn’t draw too much comment yet. Salary is 71% of the budget and individual teacher compensation grows by contract about 5.5 % a year. Our school budget has not grown by 5.5% a year since forever. I cant quite grasp how you increase teacher compensation by 5.5% per teacher when budgets grow just 1% or 2% a year. Suggestions?
Hi Bob Guerin -
Referring to our Special Ed. population placed out of district - In order to accurately determine the value received for special education dollars spent, you must first look closely at the services/supports the TEAM determined these students require. Please remember, these kids are placed outside of our district for a reason. As voiced in a previous post, this is not a unilateral decision.
The District's management controls are what they want them to be. I am not aware of any outside placement contract that does not allow a Special Education Director or their assistant to enter that program unannounced at any time.
Service providers performance are benchmarked at least quarterly in the form of progress reports as they relate to IEP goals/ objectives and benchmarks. I do not know of any Collaborative, Day or Residential Program that does not do a very thorough job in this area. The standards are very high.
I hope we contintue to spend enough on the 550 or so in-district students as our law is need based and not dependent on what Sandwich is able to afford.
I hope we spend enough on the 3500 kids who are NOT in SPED and are forced to make do with the leftovers. These are the kids who will be competing with kids from other towns for college and for future jobs -- so they can pay more taxes to support everyone else.
Sometimes life isn't fair.
Anon 10:22 -- you are right. But don't utter those words out loud or you'll be branded a "bully", at the very least. The fact of the matter is that alot of these placements are necessary. We are simply asking that programs be put in place, for future students. No one is asking to pull any special ed student back into the district. God knows special ed parents know the laws that protect their children's right to an education, but what the heck about the rest of the kids? Is it truly fair to cut teachers and staff in our district for regular ed? Where's the fine line? Where's the common sense? What ever happened to the mom from last year's School Committee mtgs that was being paid $40,000 a year to transport her own son back and forth to a school off-cape? Did that ever get straightened out? I think that's the type of special ed abuse of dollars that most parents are upset about. No one's asking any parent with a child out of district to bring their student back into this school system. So take a breath and stop circling the wagons. We'll just cut math -- that's a great idea!
Mary - Interesting response. I have some addiitonal questions. Here they are:
Do all parents of children on IEPs see their child's performance bench-marked at least quarterly in the form of WRITTEN progress reports?
Are all Special Ed parents entitled to SPECIFIC written quarterly reports directly linked to their child's IEP goals/ objectives AND benchmarks?
Where should special education parents turn if they are NOT getting these very specific and detailed written quarterly progress reports? What types of specific benchmarks and independent measures of progress (analytic tests, diagnostic tools, objective, independent measures of progress, etc) should parents be seeing the results of quarterly and in writing?
Where can parents go to learn more about how the District determines the value received for Special Ed dollars spent?
Is there a written report?
Who has this data?
Where can I obtain a copy of the District’s management supervisory controls manual or procedures?
I would assume that these controls and procedures are in writing, yes?
If service provider performance is benchmarked by the District, Id assume there are written reports and evaluations parents could access. Where are these written reports?
Where would a parent find the data the District collects from their on going evaluation of alternative Special Ed service providers?
Who has this written data?
Great dialog. Thanks.
Perhaps we need to look by comparison at a similar size district with a similar break down in terms of numbers for Special Education before we go to war again on this subject. How do our spending numbers compare. I am not saying we don't have to look at policy within our district. Surely we can always learn from the past. Surely we can always learn by looking at best practice elsewhere.
I have been struck since I became a school age parent nearly 20 years ago at the radical differences in our schools since my days as a student. Mainstreaming, which was the concept creating appropriate legislation to serve populations of our kids otherwise ignored by public schools for the most part, wasn't even in place by the time I graduated High School. American Schools are all still transitioning into a system that can balance the needs of all our kids. In Sandwich, given the rapid growth factor, in my view, we are still very much in transition to a functional system.
Part of that of course is the financial impact of school spending choices. We have to talk about these things, learn about these things and create a system that best suits our needs. Of course those needs change because our populations changes. It is a question, in my view, of policy...good policy. The district's hands are tied in some cases, but we need to work hard to create good policy that benefits all our students. That is ongoing and will take good leadership, energy, committement, communication, and creativity.
Simply put, when for what ever reason a child's needs are not being met by a district when it comes to issues of diversified learning, Special Education or even social emotional support, a parent has the right (and who wouldn't) seek a way to get their child to a setting that will not ignore this. It is I think the very reason Dr. Johnson is working so hard to bring a program into the district that will better meet ths needs of students who have been going long distances in some cases to schools that are better for them.
It continue to amaze me, give this issue that the SC makes choices year after year to cut councilors, phsychologists, and staff professional devoted to these issues and who are a vital part of the process addressing the needs of over 600 of our school students, not to mention who are responsible for an intergrated approach to the social emotional needs of our kids. The very team we need to make stronger is the very team always getting the cuts.
Agenda driven budgets, unwillingness to change, no time for or inappropriate accssement of our kids needs, shooting from the hip, not taking enough time to really look at each line item, such factors inhibit our chance at a comprehensive district wide approach to meeting the needs of the kids and families.
Good policy would go a long way in solving these problems. Changes have been made that have taken courage in a world that really perfers the status quo. We need even more courage.
The Truth Maker would ask, why not make programs available close to home for those students we presently send out of district now? If the programs can be a benifit to the child and save educational dollars at the same time for other programs it is a win win situation.
To understand all of the problems under the last Director of special needs generated for our district, one would need a small book to capture every thing.
He was allowed to make committments to individual special needs families that countered a balanced and fair expence in return for finding the easy way out of a problem , rather then face the wrath of those families.
It may also be of interest to some and if I am incorrect on this Bobby, please feel free to remove this from my posting. That the one family that had a $40,000 signed contract to take her own child to school,was asked to take another student along with her own to the same location and she denied to do so. This resulted in another contract being signed with a second family for the same amount of money.
When it comes to special need children,the laws are very specific in educating these children in a willing and fruitfull environment and we are mandated under the laws to do so. This does not mean that out of the box thinking that may save local educational dollars for every one be ignored. The ratio of special needs expences and those that are not part of that educational procees are with out question a great disparity and given the mandates by the federal and local laws, we on the lowest levels of funding must bear the cost. That does not mean cost saving programs should be ignored or not implimented.
We need to find a balance thaT educates both populations yet provides a fair return on the dollars we spend in a positive manner.
Linell –
Quick quibble - I don’t see anybody going to war.
Your other inputs are interesting though. Compare our District expenditures to another District? Why? Do we assume they do it right or better? Do they measure their results? Against what specific performance benchmark?
Real, meaningful benchmarking of the value of dollars spent is THE policy that should be pursued. For too long, too many in town have thought performance benchmarking and budget comparison means asking “what’s Mashpee and Bourne have and do?” This is as silly as it is meaningless.
BUT, the real problem we need to tackle here in town is for each board and committee member to set aside single agenda, single focus advocacy and instead consider the greater and greatest good as the ultimate goal of policy making.
Every thing for every body might be a good campaign slogan but its unworkable and divisive. Thanks for your involvement and contribution.
The Truth Maker would ask, why not make programs available close to home for those students we presently send out of district now? If the programs can be a benifit to the child and save educational dollars at the same time for other programs it is a win win situation. To understand all of the problems under the last Director of special needs generated for our district, one would need a small book to capture every thing. He was allowed to make commitments to individual special needs families that countered a balanced and fair expence in return for finding the easy way out of a problem , rather then face the wrath of those families.
When it comes to special need children,the laws are very specific in educating these children in a willing and fruitfull environment and we are mandated under the laws to do so. This does not mean that out of the box thinking that may save local educational dollars for every one be ignored. The ratio of special needs expenses and those that are not part of that educational process are with out question a great disparity and given the mandates by the federal and local laws, we on the lowest levels of funding must bear the cost. That does not mean cost saving programs should be ignored or not implemented. We need to find a balance thaT educates both populations yet provides a fair return on the dollars we spend in a positive manner.
Would Linell care to explain why the Town continues to sign labor contracts that grow by 5.5 % a year when the Town’s revenue grows just 3% or 3.5% a year?
Bob, Despite the excessive length of our selectperson's comment, nothing of substance was said.
I hope you aren't allowing this site to become the launch pad for her school committee campaign.
Hi Bob -
Gosh, I hope Lynell isn't talking about us going to war! Hopefully you would provide me representation - We would probably spend alot of time laughing. I am more than happy to try to answer your questions.
1. All parents of children on Individual Education Programs should be receiving progress reports quarterly. These reports are sent to parents around the same time report cards are issued. This is the law.
2. If parents are not getting specific information directly relating to the goals and objectives/benchmarks outlined in their childs IEP, they should address this with their special education contact person indicated on the first page of the IEP immediately. Continue to follow this up with the Principal, Director and Super. if necessary.
Keep in mind - being a data man - we must have a solid goal to measure objectives! This is so important because if we don't know where we are it is impossible to predict where we are going. The goal on any IEP should be based on evaluations. These evaluations (formal and informal) should be used regularly to guide all TEAM members in this process. Teachers use benchmark assessments, key math, etc. all the time. Ask them about the informal assesments (without parent consent)as well as the formal assesments that have been done. You need this information to be truly informed. Collectively, this will guarantee a measurable IEP.
3. The DOE reviews (audits) our district Special Education comprehensively at least every three years. The information and data is of course public and should be available in central office. Management controls would also be part of a standard audit. Prior to Merle Montani assuming the role of Special Education Director, she wrote a very interesting report addressing many of your concerns. This report was presented to the SC and included on the web.
4. Parents should always receive copies of ANY evaluations the SD has done. Again, it is important for parents to request these reports two days prior to their TEAM mtg. If you don't have the reports, how can you possibly participate in the meeting and dialog?
5. Outside evaluators are usually very comprehensive. The data that is collected regarding performance (current and past) is integral when placement decisions are being made.
I truly hope this helps Bob - Mary
Mary: Great informational post. Thank you! I suspect (and you probably guessed this was where I was going), that most parents do not realize that this comprehensive measure of progress is suppose to be happening and that this record of performance is suppose to be available. Advocacy requires understanding and knowledge. You can only ask for what your entitled to if you know that its yours for the asking.
I also suspect that you realize that the Districts’ overall management of these programs has been lax. You can’t cut Administrative staff and support staff year over year and imagine that the important supervisory work still gets done as well or as often.
Everyone needs to turn a critical eye towards the management and supervision of our schools and school programs and ask: what are we getting for our money? Is this the best it can be? And, cant we do it better? Truth is few in the system today are asking these critical questions.
I knew I could be setting my self up by talking on this blog and using my name. The length of my posts have been criticized before, but hey, frankly these issues are very important to me and I work on them daily. There is a lot there, but I don't have much time to edit. Didn't think one needed to on a blog. It really is a passion to try and help fix it.
Whoever it is that chooses to insult me personally, give me a call. Believe me I can take it. I'm only trying to help and used by name knowing I could be targeted. But frankly this is not a political issue to me it is an issue of caring about our schools and wanting to help. If I have a lot to say, many of you know it is because I care so deeply. I had some time and put it here.
Bob Guerin in simple terms I think when you show that similar amounts are being spent in similar communities it tells people we are on track.
Oh the war thing... It came from knowing the players...poor choice of words. I apologize. Believe me I hope you can solve all the problems here.
The Truth Maker would ask how is it possible to resolve, solve all of the various issues we the Town of Sandwich have before it? Many of the school issues can be rectified, by simply following the standard process in place now[no exceptions] The combination of having the same people in place over many years has in my opinion created the good old boy network of you scratch my back and I will scratch yours. To put it another way if you make a mistake I will cover for you , but remember, I may make an mistake and need you to cover for me.
Why does it take so long to rectify the conditions and problems that have been known about for years, yet still never get discussed out in the open.
How do you get around those that are entreched in the system that cause more problems then they fix?
The present majority led union school committee members all have some hidden adgenda and it does not take a rocket engineer to determine that fact.
Why is it when the subject matter concerns simple understanding of the matter, do they spend an excessive amount of discussion time to arrive at the answer? On the other side of the coin, when it comes to matters of financial needs for the educational programs in the Sandwich district, they simply continue to put it off and get onto other less important issues.
No dialog,no common sense,no flow of valuable information,no democratic process and yet we wonder why we are in such dire straights.
Times are changing,people are changing, life is changing, but here in our school district we have those that feel that we must remain in an other world that has passed by many years ago.
Progress will continue to be our best motivator, but we need to find a way that motivates those who have taken this negative approach to education here in Sandwich.
MOre accountability from every one would be a great start.
I couldn't agree with you more Bob. Monitoring compliance and management in the area of Special Education is the key. If we are not compliant, our district will be spend tons of money on lawyers defending why we did what we did - or continued doing things the way we did because people didn't know better. When situations reach the level of a hearing, many more dollars are spent transporting teachers to Malden and hiring classroom subsitutes etc. This effects everyone - general ed. and special ed. In my opinion, there is absolutely no excuse for a SD to ever become lax or non compliant. The regulations are very clear and easy to understand. So...management is the key. Special Education teachers crave compliance.
Sorry about the war thing...Bob knows that I would be the first person to disagree with him on a subject and I have many times. I am sure that we are all invested in our kids and our town. Isn't that why we are taking the time to read this?
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