I would like to apologize to my neighbors.
Those blood-curdling screams you were hearing tonight were caused because I was one of the six people in town watching the FinCom discussion of the School Budget on local cable.
There was a decent discussion of many of the issues plaguing the school budget. Both sides were well-behaved, most were well-prepared, and most were actually paying attention. It was nice to see!
A few random thoughts:
Donating your money to Mashpee, Bourne, Falmouth, etc.?
It was casually mentioned that Facilities Rental income will now be given to the Community School and that a janitor who had been paid for with Facilities Rental fees will now be paid by the High School. This reverses the hard-fought reorganization of the Community School -- it means that, once again, taxpayers will be paying to maintain facilities that will be rented out by the Community School for the benefit of their other programs -- particularly the pool -- which benefits the nice folks from Barnstable, Mashpee, Falmouth, etc. Under Mass Law, revenue from School Rentals must be used for school operations -- not recreation for folks in neighboring towns!
When was this change in policy voted? I haven't seen anything in the meeting minutes.
Donating More money ...
Does anybody see the irony in the fact that the School Committee seems willing to charge parents for their kids to ride a school bus, or park their car at the school -- but aren't willing to charge non-residents for the the full cost of the facilities they use?
And then it happened ...
There was a decent discussion of the Community School Situation (something we haven't seen at School Committee meetings in a while!) -- at the conclusion of the discussion, the School Department acknowledged that the proposed budget did not include any proposed reimbursement from the Community School, and that only a very minimal amount was reimbursed in the current year. They agreed to discuss the issue further -- FinCom made it clear they expect that discussion to happen sooner rather than later.
But let's be clear ...
There were a couple of comments about the depletion of the Community School's reserve account -- It's amazing what a huge cash reserve can be built up when you get somebody else to pay your bills!
No, I'm not picking on the Community School!
Let's also be clear about motives. I have no problem with the idea of the Community School -- I think its a great program with great possibilities. My ONLY concern is that it needs to pay its own way. It can not rely on a shrinking school district budget to cover its costs. If program revenues don't cover program costs -- either raise the revenue, or cut the cost. The cost can not be dumped on the School District. Parents shouldn't have to pay to put their kids on a school bus so that somebody (who may not even pay taxes in town) can have a reduced-price swim.
It's that simple.
17 comments:
Two words, Bob - "SCHOOL CHOICE".
When FinCom can't get a straight answer on those expenses, it's simply time to let it go. One of my favorite quotes from a famous comedian is "You can't fix stupid!" Dr. Canfield talks and talks and talks, but never really answers the question. He's a great politician; if you like that kind of guy.
For me, I'm shutting off local cable, making great "School Choice" decisions for my kids and taking the dog for a long walk!!!
The Truth Maker would also add that I also watched last nights presentation by the School district to the Finance Committee.
About 3.5 hours worth.
Once again I must agree with Mrs. Beasley on the evaluation on some of the presentation given to the Finance Committee.
Again , we hear, that after spending much time and thousands of taxpayers dollars, along with years of discord to place technology in the district, we now will be removing five technology teachers?? The technology programs had been set up as five year program and now basically after only a year it is being pushed by the wayside. The rational and common sense does not even begin to address the outcome being stated by Dr. Canfield in this matter.
Did any one hear any mention of any surveys sent to children that may be Home schooled here in Sandwich?
Having five of my 6 grandchildren educated by Home school programs, where they were all taught Science,Technology, Arts and Math. Three are presently attending college, with 4.0 averages.
I am asked to understand this feely good new phrase of educating children [STEM}that we here in Sandwich are now being asked to implement.
Will this be like the "No Child Left Behind' sell about educating our children that has proven to be a dismal program of educating all of our children, no matter the skills of each child.
A program that was mandated and bought by the states to resolve all our educational whoes.Then they let the states wiggle on a stick while they change course to another venue.
What has happened to our basic educational system that should have allready been teaching Science,Technology,Arts and Math?
These principals should have been part of the present day learning process and should be part of every learning experience for every child in a public school system.
If the Home schooled child have been following this course of action,why does it take a feely good name [Stem] to be applied to common sense educational learning in the public school system when it should allready be part and parcal of the present curriculum?
To continue,
Did every one pick up on the subject of Special Education children here in Sandwich. It was stated, if I heard correctly that we have more special educational children in our district then any
other town here on the Cape.If that is the case then the question would be, WHY?
Again the magic question with no answers is about the operating of the Pool and Community School.
The only clear answer was that our valuable EDUCATIONAL TAX DOLLARS WILL BE ONCE AGAIN BE USED TO SUBSIDIZE BOTH OPERATIONS.
The new twist to the discussion is to place the reacreational program into the mix and what they are or not charged.
In the matter of the Community School, it is a cost center by and itself and it should be treated as such. This account was setup and sold to the taxpayers as being a self supporting oporation and money from educational dollars cannot be used to supplement its operational failures.
If the cost center is losing money, then they need to address that, but not on the backs of the taxpayers that are spending tax dollars to educate our children or the children we serve to educate.
The pool is another bag of worms that no one is willing to address. Once again this should be a cost center as well.If the school district use it 25 percent of the time then the Community School should be backcharged the remaining percentage on fuel,maintence,power and any other associated costs. If they are unable to meet the burdan they should increase the costs to users that are non taxpayers here in Sandwich
To questions that were asked in regards to the audit paid buy taxpayers money concerning the Community school, we still do not have any answers and one begs to ask why?
Finnaly we all can sit here and exclaim that we do not have enough money to do the job of educating our children here in Sandwich and then ask the FinanceCommittee for relief, but in the end, do they really have enough money and are simply are not choosing to use the money for educating our children as is the charge they are given to do.
How much money will be taken away from educating children to subsidizing the Community School?
How much money will be taken away to educate our children in subsidizing the pool?
Kow much time and money has been wasted in reducing or eliminating programs we have spent thousands to get in place, in an attempt to bring about some feel good name change to how we educate children here in Sandwich?
I feel the pain of those whom have decided to go elswhere to be educated, instead of here in Sandwich.
The bubble has yet to burst and time will tell and only the SHadow Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men and is waiting down the road.
GOOD NIGHT MRS. BEASLEY, WHERE EVER YOU ARE
I watched last nights mtg. and felt that the answers were complete and fully answered. If I recall the Fin Com can't "tell" the schools what to do with their money just give suggestions on what might be helpful. So I don't think the SC needed to give truly detailed answers. The CS. I thought they were once again running facilities use, like they use to and I also thought they had their own custodian they paid for before school hours. What I don't understand is why there is such angst for the CS. They are overseen by the SC and are therefore part of the district as far as I'm concerned. You don't seem to have a problem with, as was mentioned by the SC last night, the fact that there are many groups, not connected with the schools, that use our facilities at no cost.Therefore the schools pay for their utility use and for a custodian to clean up after them.You don't have a problem with that!? It was mentioned last night , that the rec. dept. uses our schools(and they have participants from other towns) that we pay for.Why aren't you up in arms about what the schools pay for them? Double standards? If the SC stops charging the CS for utilities and rent etc. and starts charging these other groups(which I think they should have been doing all along) maybe the CS can get back on its feet, continue to provide the communities the services it was initiated to do and then it won't be a financial"burden" on the district.To me, the previous super and SC seemed to want the CS to fail, they took money making courses and programs from them,Why?
Because they couldn't pay the fees the SC put on them. That just sent them farther in the hole.How were they to pay for anything when you took away their money. The previous SC and company couldn't fix their own problems of students leaving the district etc. but yet they thought they could handle more programs that did not involve the needs of the students.I don't understand that logic,or lack thereof, about this line of thinking.As far as the charges for non-residents at the CS. A course fee is a course fee. Yet, if I remember correctly, they do charge non-residents more to use the pool.
Let's start charging all groups that use our schools, this will defray costs for utilities and custodians,I would say stop charging a group that is part of the school district, (CS) and see if that helps all parties involved. Mostly we need to use some common sense and have an open mind to resolve these issues.
I agree with parts of the previous post--- we should be charging ALL groups that use the school buildings.
Unfortunately, there was not enough support on the Committee that year to charge every group so the Rec teams ended up paying little or nothing to use school buildings or fields. Last year the support eroded completely, so now almost nothing has been paid by anybody.
The Community School was pursued to cover costs because under state law, if the School Department runs revenue generating programs (such as the CS), that revenue must be applied against the cost of running the program.
The costs of running the pool are obvious, with the exception of the very small amount of time the swim team uses it -- the remainder of the costs are a Community School expense and should be paid for from Community School revenue.
Somebody raised the point last night that we'd need the pool anyway because we have a swim team. We have a hockey team and we don't own a hockey rink! The cost of maintaining a pool for the sole use of the swimming team would be silly.
I've never been "out to get the Community School" -- my concern has always been to preserve the shrinking school budget for K-12 education.
The only course that was moved away from the Community School was to add Full Day Kindergarten which we could provide to parents at a fraction of what the Community School had been charging for their program.
But ... they had been using the profit from that program to subsidize the cost of the pool programs. I DO have a problem with overcharging pre-school parents to fund pool operations!
Again, I agree with you -- anybody who uses public facilities should be paying for them.
I would also have no problem turning over fields, gyms & pools to the Town rec Department and allowing the schools to focus on education.
I remember when the fees were passed the local sports coaches lined up at committee meetings looking like thugs. Great role models for the players!
Passing fees to be paid by clueless parents who dont pay attention has got to be a helluva lot easier than continuially fightingt with those ignorant jocks.
if everybody paid there share, like they were asked, there probably wouldn't be any problem today.
I was one of the six people watching Fin Com Tuesday night and my simple brain reacted to just what you mention Bob. I have been paying attention to the whole CS issue. When you take funds raised legitimately through facilities use (which is making sure the school budget money doesn't cover non educational operational cost) and it covers a custodial salary, that makes sense. To put that salary back in the budget and give those funds back to an in-house nonprofit to use at their discretion (probably for the millions of catalogs we all get in the mail) that makes no sense. I really thought someone would catch that but.... And of course in the same conversation was the schools saying the town isn't giving them enough money.
All operational costs have to be paid for by someone. When other departments in the town use the schools for programing and think they shouldn't have to pay, it makes no sense. The operational costs of any programing has to be in somebody's line item. For heaven sake is no one but Bob Simmons and Bob Guerin ever going to get this. If no one on the School Committee or the Superintendent or the School Business manager doesn't ever get this, we will continue to kiss educational and operational dollars good by.
There is yet to be a rational pay back for their operational costs from the in house non-profit the town houses at the High School. They pay their staff and benefits but that is not enough to ensure it is a good use of space and resources. History lesson. CS first started on the municipal side. Why do you think municipal got rid of it? CS is not a mandated part of public education. It should be a town department if the town wants it.
Great comment about hockey team and swim team. Sandwich School Committee needs to get realistic. The whole government needs to get realistic. It all costs money. That decision to give back facilities management to the CS is a step backwards financially in my opinion. Thank you SC members of the past who have tried to bring the Community School in line. Yes the mission of the CS is fine but can we afford it at the High School?
In all government, if job protection and program protection remains a primary goal, we are doomed. If operations that make enough money to pay for employees but not enough to contribute adequately to the operational costs continue (not essential operations or core services) the town and especially the schools will keep pouring valuable dollars down the drain.
Another observation at Fin Com. Bus Contract: New contract, higher cost. No surprise there, but frankly it is surprising that field trips are still being budgeted for, number of traveling teams not being looked at. So now parents have to pay for buses/parking and expanded activities fees? Really? And the schools say we don't give them enough money. Really? A projection for fees is fine on paper. As we learned a few years ago, it generally doesn't pan out so it is really an exercise. Why not make some choices about things you actually can control? And while you are at it quit taxing parents!!!
As another of the six...School of Choice was discussed at Fin Com on Tuesday and it was a fairly decent conversation. Some good questions were asked by Fin Com. However the elephant in the room in unforeseen consequences.
Though the language used at Fin Com that implies School of Choice dollars mitigate the Sandwich School Budget makes sense, is the risk of how many students are coming to district and how that will impact other major financial decisions down the road, worth it? It is an extremely valid question and concern.
Frankly following the issue the past couple of years I truly don't think there was enough thought put into the decision. I would like to see the professional documentation of how that decision was arrived at, the data that drove it, the summary of why it was a good idea that took into account the future.
As I recall it came about at a time the CS was looking for space for a new preschool program in one of our school buildings. And of course the budget was continuing to shrink and there was heavy criticism from Fin Com and others that the schools weren't doing enough to offset rising costs. Shrinking enrollment was a big issue and then just like now many wanted to see a reduction in school cost because of it. It seemed to me that School of Choice was basically a revenue decision. Long term consequences were not ever discussed.
The answers given at Fin Com by the school department made sense but truly do they take into account the future. It is not the obligation of Sandwich taxpayers to house and education citizens from other towns. School of Choice was an option created because the state does not fund all it's schools adequately. Another political shell game if you ask me. I hope the Sandwich SC makes good choices for Sandwich.
I hope that the last one out of the Town hall shut off the lights....at least then the night wasnt a total waste!!!!
I am sure School Choice was a revenue decision -- its also one that the School Committee is required to discuss & re-vote each year.
There's no obligation to educate anyone -- if the District has an empty seat they can make it available and collect state funds they would not otherwise. There's no incremental cost to filling an empty seat.
You are right there is a "sibling risk" but that's why they need to review/approve each year --- if the headcount starts to grow, you cut back the number of seats available.
I wouldn't get hung up on re-analyzing whats already been done and cant be changed. That horse has left the barn. Raise the issue for next year.
(Or run for SC when you're done with the BOS!)
To be clear, I heard the School Committee strongly encourage the CS to look for preschool space in an existing building before they refused to approve building another building for them.
I doubt that School Choice was intended to block the Community School Programs in any way -- if thats what you were inferring.
It is impressive that Fin Com and the SC are talking about important issues. Richard Canfield has done a good job of bringing up and discussing important issues. I'm grateful.
The Truth Maker would state that school Choice is a win for the district. As long as they have empty seats to fill a class room the cost of that student is borne by the town they are comming from.
As one of the early advocates for school choice here in Sandwich, It is way of increasing the budget to opporate the district, with out any real problems.
If seats are sitting empty in a class room then why not fill them this way. Basically the district does not expend any more budget money, but it does receive funding to augument any other program they choose from outside students who fill the empty seats
I do believe once you accept a school choice student they are yours until they graduate or move on. Can't send them back to where they came from the next year if you no longer have room for them! They are yours!
You are correct, once you take the kid you own him/her -- and his brothers/sisters -- until they graduate. That's why the program needs to be re-voted each year, so additional kids can be rejected if necessary. Its probably also helpful to focus on older grades because they wouldn't be here as long.
From Holbrook Schools:
The state recognizes the difficulty parents have if siblings are separated in different
school districts. Thus, in 1994 an amendment to the School Choice law was enacted,
“Any sibling of a student already enrolled in the receiving district shall receive priority for
admission to said district.” Once those preferences are honored, the remaining openings
must be filled through a random selection process. If the number of siblings applying for
a certain grade level exceeds the number of slots available, then a sibling lottery will
take place and no other applicants will be considered.
NOTE: Siblings get preference -- BUT only if there is an opening.
You can't dump the kids you have, but siblings aren't a risk if you're not required to accept them.
You also don't need to take kids with discipline issues.
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