It's always amusing to see people who have never paid attention to a process suddenly jump up with some little factoid nugget they think will make a difference in The Big Picture.
There was some recent discussion about the fact that the cost of school employee benefits shows up on the Town Budget -- not the School Budget. Presumably, that is because the Town Manager negotiates the health insurance contracts for ALL town employees. This is a well-known and long-standing practice in many Towns -- although somebody does seem to think they "discover" this great charade every year!
The inference is that the Schools are "getting away with something". The reality is that those costs are included in both "per Pupil Spending" and in "Net School Spending". They aren't included on the School Budget because the School Committee has no control over them (other than to hire or not hire people). This "discovery" is not going to resolve the deficit.
In the interest of eliminating the distraction, I would certainly support the idea of splitting the cost (and related funding) of benefits for each employee onto the appropriate budgets. This would also ensure that any cost of adding an employees, or any savings by eliminating them, is always considered when making financial decisions (I'm not saying that it isn't -- it would just ensure that it would be.). This would also eliminate any internal hissing matches about a $300,000 savings on the School budget causing a $13,000 increase in Town Benefits costs, or laid off school employees causing an increase in Town unemployment costs.
It might even help that "Big Picture - One Town" concept that seems to so frequently elude us.
5 comments:
You're right-- doesn't affect big picture --- but does give the dopes one less thing to babble about.
I heard someone last year complain that the people who complained about the schools subsidizing the Community School had some nerve since the Town subsidized School benefits! (It never ocured to the moron that the Town pays almost all of the school's budget -- it's a taxpayer-supportered municipal service ... just lke police/fire/DPW, etc.)
These red herring arguments are more evidence of just how bad the budget picture is and the total lack of new thinking and vision in our government and from our supposed leaders.
These types of budget fights are like two fools drowning. They will grab one another and push each other down to raise themselves up. In the end, the result is the same no matter. They are both drown and dead.
Sometimes I find it frustrating because I think people consider the everything except for the school budget as part of the municipal operating budget. We hear that the health insurance cost is 70% schools but is not in the school operating budget. However, the 30% that is for municipal department employees is not in the municipal operating budget either! Further, any turnbacks at the end of the year as a result of savings in insurance should not be credited solely to the municipal 'side'.
Exactly!
Everybody can huff and puff, make speeches, and at the end of the day absolutely nothing will have been accomplished!
It's pathetic. I watched the BOS last week -- I have no idea of the purpose of the drug discussion -- or why it had to take up over an hour of the meeting. Did they really think they were going to get any money? Were all those people even from Sandwich?
Do what needs to be done and move on.
Shame on Marshall, Crossman (soldiers for the Community School), Linehan (puppet for SEA Union leader Carlisle) and Kangas (she still got nuttin to explain her bizarre decisions) At some point you would hope these women would take a step back and review their actions and surmise, they have been acting in the best interests of the Comm. School and the SEA Union Leaders NOT OUR CHILDREN!
How do they live with themselves?
It couldn't get any clearer, that Dr. Johnson has suffered personally and professionally from these conniving womans personal vendettas to protect the Comm. School and the SEA Union continued protection of lousy teachers.
Sandwich better wake up in May and vote for candidates that will advocate for our school children.
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