Now that the School Committee has rolled all their override menu into a single request, I guess that it is now forwarded to the Select Board for their action. In case you haven't heard, the amount of the request is $2.3 million dollars. The $1.5 million for capital items is also still on the table.
This override request is in addition to the annual revenue that the schools get due to the increase in net minimum school spending requirements. The only department in town not to have a budget cut last year, turns around and asks for an override. Oh yes, don't forget the $2.3 million doesn't include the money they will need next year to continue their school reorganization plan.
The $2.3 million includes $665K for textbooks and technology. I want to point out the an override is a permanent increase in taxes, so that $665 continues year after year and is incremented by 2-1/2%. They are either going to be swimming in textbooks and technology, or, more likely, the money will be spent for something else after this year. This amount should not be an override but a capital exclusion which is a 1 year increase in taxes.
One has to question why a prudent school board or school administrator would not include money in the budget on an ongoing basis for texts and technology. Now that the schools have made bad choices with the money they were given, they want the taxpayers to hand over a few more bushels of money to set things right.
I am not inclined to give it to them until they start setting their priorities on academic education. What do you think?
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The incredible shrinking menu
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17 comments:
Bill,
I appreciate your blog, it certainly is a good way to get information out beyond the basics printed in the various papers. It is important however to be clear about what actually was discussed and voted on this past Monday evening. The $1.5 million in capitol expenses to repair school buildings was in fact removed from the override request-it is off the table as far as the school committee and overrides are concerned. The committee voted to send the lsit of school repairs to the town's capitol improvement committee so it can be prioritized by the town along with other town projects. This is the way it should be done and what in fact happened with that piece of the school needs. The leaking roofs, old windows, non-accessible buildings ect., still need to get fixed but they will not be part of the school override request.
The text/technology question and why it is not a debt or capitol exclusion has been asked and answered several times. We may not agree with the answer as to why but a disagreement between people on this question should not be conveyed as irresponsibility on the part of the school department. The explanation is that this amount of money only scratches the surface of what needs to be replaced at all of the schools. To bring an elementary literacy program up to date -the current grade 1-5 component is over 15 years old- costs over $300k alone. This money also funds a technology coordinator to once again help run, maintain and train teachers in the use of hardware and software. As stated many times before, there was some $80k or so in past year's school budgets to fund text replacement every year. For better or worse that line item had been elimianted over the years as funds got scarce. We can discuss if that was a smart move or not all day long but the fact remains that without that money the texts and technology are now ancient and needs updating across the board. This line item will assure that money will be available to help continue to replace old books and technology over the next 3-5 years even as prices continue to escalate.
If this item were a debt exclusion we'd be back in the same situation next year and I'm sure you will agree that one thing we hear all the time is - what is your plan for the future? Will you come back at us next year for more money?
I was dissapointed that at a recent work session held by the school committee and all the school administrators that only 2 members of the public bothered to attend-me and Phil Lenz. had others attended they would have heard the reationale behind much of the override request along with the many items that did not make the list of 'absolute needs'. For over 3 hours there was much passionate discussion between the school administrators and the folks from Bush street about the state that our schools are in.
Given the seriousness of the situation that the schools find themselves in I would hope that any discussion of the override include all the facts, clearly stated and honestly discussed.
Well said Gregg.
To say that the school department has not suffered from budget cuts is simply not true. Closing buildings, crowding at the middle school, loss of staff thru attrition and lay offs have certainly occurred throughout the school system just as it has throughout the rest of the town departments.
One other thing just to be clear. No one has ever said there will be another request next year for money to continue the re-organization plan. The money asked for this year as part of the re-configuration plan allows for the implementation of the plan over a 2year period so that a stable plan can be put in place that will limit the number of times a child will need to move from one school to another. A key compnent of any plan must insure that kids are not getting bounced around every year. By implementing a plan over a 2 year period (one time cost) movement of kids is limited. We all must strive to be as clear as we can be as none of this stuff is simple, in fact much of this is mind-numbingly complex, and involves the education of over 4,000 of our kids.
Thank you Greg as your information is very detailed. I would like to add two things and the first is that technology once in place does not maintain itself. Having worked for a software company for over 10 years it is something I have to explain to people who think that all they need to do is plug in their computer and it should run for ever. A computer is a system made up of hardware, software, network, Operating System, etc. (it’s not like a toaster as there are many components to the system). Being an engineer yourself Bill I suspect you understand this very well. There is also training (another ongoing need) involved for the staff for software programs (like study island, etc.) can not be successful unless the teachers know exactly how to teach the children how to use them and just as important how to relate that back to the instruction going on in the classroom.
I have also spent time in the computer lab at DeMello School (where my daughter attends school) and I have never been there when all machines are working, there are always a few that require maintenance for one reason or another. To my knowledge there are 3.5 people that work to maintain all the computers, networks and software in the school department for the children and the staff, (approximately 4,500 users) as well as the web site and email system. That’s an incredible amount of work for 3.5 people for in my previous job (in the private sector) we had 1 full time systems administrator for 75-100 users. I am looking forward to hearing from Frank Gracie after he spends some time with these people and seeing first hand what the schools technology needs are.
Secondly Greg J. didn’t mention it in his post but I believe this is a point of concern for you Bill and that is that the first initiative of the override proposal funds approximately 81% core academics and goes straight to the classroom and not to administration. I think the breakdown is 17.5 positions to teaching and 1.5 to administration, also important to note is that these are restored positions not new positions for these positions as Greg pointed out were lost to budget cuts over the last 3-5 years. Greg may have more to add to this point, since it was his.
I also agree with Greg on this very important point and that the financial crisis facing the schools is just as real as the crisis facing the other departments in the town and all should be given attention to truly understanding the details of the needs presented. We are one town…all neighbors in need from our young to our old and we all use the services of this town and should vote with the needs of all in mind. For there is no need to tear down one department’s needs to bolster the position of another, for I find that argument to be destructive to our town and all its residents.
Thank you,
Liz O. (Dartmouth Parents)
I also forgot to mention Bill that there is currently only 1 person on the town side to administer to all the town side computers, email system and web site. I am not sure how many users on that system but I would suspect that has a great deal to do with why the meeting schedule for this week has not been posted on the town website.
I have also spent time speaking with the Chief of Police and due to the shortage of support for the town side computer systems he is forced to be his own systems administrator. Yes if the Police network goes down it is our Chief of Police that many times has to fix it!
Yes all Departments are having to do a great deal more with less and unbeknownst to many of us have been for quite some time!
Gregj, just to be sure we are all dealing with the facts here, I have to point out that the school budget was not cut last year and will not be cut this year. Take a look at Greg Lynam's op-ed today in the S-T. Link here
The school budget request has been reduced but they have always and will always receive an increase under the current scheme. If they have not focused their spending in priority areas such as books and computers to date, what confidence should we have that they will in the future. I have not heard of the sports or music programs being cut. Why would a school system have sports programs that benefit a small number of students and not provide the curriculum materials needed by all students?
As far as school buildings go, the school department created this mess. To place the blame for the situation on override failures is off the mark in my view. No one except the School Board and administration made those decisions. As you know the numbers when the buildings were closed didn't seem to add up.
It just comes down to trust and while the situation is unfortunate for the parents and children (I sometimes think more the former as the kids I know don't seem all that upset), I don't think that taxpayers are going to pony up any more revenue until they see some changes.
for instance you cite an annual $80K that was slated for books but used for other things. If that is the case, the $665K request is 8 times, or to look at it another way an eight year appropriation, what they had planned to spend on texts and technology. Why would we need an continuing commitment of that magnitude to update the curriculum?
As I said, I suspect we don't and the money will again be used other places in future years.
LizO, You emphasize that this is one town but the school department continues to operate without regard to the fiscal situation in the town as a whole . Did the School Committee or administrators sit down with the town side and Finance Committee before bringing this override request forward? Did they assess the needs of the other departments along side their needs and perhaps defer some spending due to more pressing needs elsewhere?They did not. Have they projected the future costs of the new positions and made sure the projected budget will sustain them? I think not.
The school department is not the town, only one department of the town. As I said, they have continued to get increased funding while all other departments have suffered cuts. Now they float an override question that the voters will choke on even before the town side had presented their needs. I believe that until all departments of the town, including the school department, make a real commitment to living within their means, the voters will turn aside override requests. You think I don't understand the needs, I think you don't understand the problem. Please read my post here as to what I believe our problem is. We cannot continue with spending outgrowing revenue. Emotional arguments about "the kids" don't pay the bills. If this continues the state will be running the school district because Dartmouth is bankrupt. Do you want receivership or to retain local control? That is the choice we are facing, not whether the school department needs new books or computers.
LizO, I am somewhat surproised to hear that the Police Chief has to personally fix his own department's computers. Just last month, he appeared before the Personnel Board and Finance Committee requesting a raise for a person who now works for the police department and does this job. Perhaps you misunderstood him.
Bill and Liz,
To clarify I.T. work done in the police dept., the police chief said he used to do this work when he was captain but could no longer sustain the practice when he became chief. He hired someone at what seems to be a real bargain and just recently asked fincom to support changing this fellows pay grade on the non-union schedule in order to retain him. It seems to me that one of the most pressing personnel needs town-wide is in technology support. Perhaps some discussion about the feasability of sharing I.T. help across departments would be constructive. One place that this would work is getting the schools and town in a compatible program. This is certainly not an area where I am knowledgable but I think when the schools enter their data, it is done for the DOE and the town is for the DOR. The town side gets the data from the schools and has to re-enter it all.
There is a way to eliminate this. Perhaps someone more knowledgable can post.
Bill,
I guess all that I can add is that I am disappointed in your analysis as stated above.
To argue that the schools have not suffered budget 'cuts' is one of semantics. Yes, per the state formula for school spending the schools have received additional monies each year. With that they have also received unfunded state mandates, they have also absorbed all manner of additional costs that the town also faces, utilities health care etc., they have also recieved town charges in recent years -(over $1.9 million last year) that they have not been asked to absorb previously.
In what part of my discussion did I say that the failure of the override was responsible for the condition of the buildings? The buildings have needed repairs for years and that need will not go away simply by wishing it away. I simply corrected your blog statement that the 1.5 million in debt exclusion was taken off the table and voted to be sent to the town's cap improvement committee.
In fact music has been severely cut back in the schools and fees have been imposed on all HS sports and fees. If your argument is that all these things should be eliminated make that your argument and we can debate the merits of that strategy.
As far as the $80k per year for text books, that, I believe, was the figure for the last year that texts were purchased on a regular basis, it may well have been more in previous years and got whittled down. That $80k figure also did not include the technology coordinator that was eliminated from the budget in previous years. So its not simply a mater of taking $665k and dividing it by
$80k-surely you know this Bill.
Finally it's not a matter of the 'kids not being all that upset' its a matter of what constitutes an adequate education. I defy you or anyone else to show me documentation that demonstrates the situation at both the Quinn and Middle schools will result in anything but mediocrity in the long run. As you know, I have often been at odds with the school administration but frankly the needs as described in this override request are very real and the scrutiny that they are now recieving is light years ahead of the type of study that budets have received in the past.
As I said earlier, I am disappointed but I suppose not surprised at your responses to this issue. I've done my best to try and bridge differences of opinion for the last several months on the school issue but simply do not agree that the same sort of spirit of cooperativness is at work on the other side sad to say.
Sorry Bill I have tried to explain some of the needs for the schools, and other town departments as best I can. But without you spending any time in the schools, with the Chief, the Town Administrator, the Director of the Council on Aging, or other department heads I find this to truly be a futile discussion as it appears to be based more on your emotion and empty campaign promises not your first hand knowledge. Good luck to you Bill for I wish you no ill will but wish you the wisdom to realize the tools of leadership are those, which unite people, not divide them.
LizO, You have no ideas if I have spent time with any of the people you list. You continually discount every opinion or fact that does not support your position based on suppositions that have no basis in fact.
Gregj, I do indeed advocate imposing higher fees, cutting sports and band, or any extra curricular activity. The taxpayer is required to pay for the education of youth in a list of subjects required by the state that does not include football and percussion.
I cannot supply data that shows that any school in Dartmouth is doomed to mediocrity. Can you? If so, point the way. My own high school graduating class had 1200 students. That's my class, not the high school! Good education comes from good curriculum and good teachers, not buildings and after school programs.
The fact is that the school department funding, actual dollars, will be increased next year by 4.8%. That is without an override.
Adding $665K to the budget for texts and technology via an override will net more than $3 million dollars in five years. If that is the effort needed to sustain this portion of the budget, we need to start finding an alternative right now because we cannot afford to continue at that level.
greg j, I understand why you are defending this new override proposal since most of it comes directly from your plan submitted to the SC. I would say you definitely have a vested interest as would anyone who had proposed what they would like to see the town pay for. Please don't be upset when others don't agree. We all have our priorities on what we would like to spend our money on. Mortgages, food, utilities and the like. We want to know our money is being spent wisely before we hand more of it over and frankly most of us feel it isn't.
You also know that CFRG members attend meetings as much as possible so to insinuate that we didn't care enough to be at the meeting you referred to in your comment is just bad form. I myself have been at meetings where you were not in attendance.
I don't recall the schools taking any cuts in salaries last year. As a matter of fact they wouldn't even take a freeze. How about those excessive administrative salaries and vacation buyouts? Anything being done there? Not really team players are they? How can you say the schools cannot be blamed when they refuse to address these issues. As a matter of fact a SC member said he was proud of the salaries/benefits given to administration. I believe you were definitely at that meeting.
Are the fees for activities really covering the costs? Don't tell me, I already know the answer. Dartmouth is in trouble. It's time to cut back on some of the activities offered. An acclaimed band and football team may be nice for some but textbooks and computers are necessary for all.
It's all about priorities. I am disapointed as well with your comment regarding the lack of cooperation from "the other side". We worked very hard to come to some sort of compromise with the parents group and Dr. Russell. Unfortunately the only compromise made on the school's part was to remove the capital improvements (which by the way should never have been on it in the first place). You then expect us to embrace it and when we don't you claim there is no cooperation on our part. A little misleading to say the least.
It seems a wasted effort to go round and round here.
As far as what I said regarding the 2 people present at last weeks working session, I singled out no one person or group-I simply said its a shame there were only 2 members of the public present at this meeting.
One last point Bill - if you have a copy of our report presented last November to the school committee the appendix has a bibliography of numerous sources discussion the benefits of smaller learning communities and the problems associated with the large schools we have in place at both the Quinn School and the Middle School. The other piece of information that tells me where we are headed if we do not make a change is the fact thaat the Middle School has ben labled by the state as under performing in several areas. One does not have to look too far to see where we are now headed-mediocrity may be a pleasant dream in the not too distant future.
I encourage all of you to contact Darren Doane Assistant Principal and/or Manny Cabral, principal of the Middle School to set up a meeting to hear from them first hand what the issues are at the Middle School. Both told me that they welcome and offered the CFRG a meeting as well as a walk through the school. If you would like I would be happy to facilitate your meeting by contacting them on your behalf.
I am not trying to belittle your opinion Bill I just firnly believe that if you saw the issues first hand you may have a different opinion or could offer some constructive solutions to help solve the problem. I also encourage a meeting with the principals at the Quinn School as well and again would be happy to help facilitate that.
Please also contact Mary Ellen Gomes at the Council on Aging; she is a remarkable woman that does so much with so little money. Hear directly from her what she needs to continue doing the good work she does for the seniors in Dartmouth. Please continue visiting all Departments in town for yes Bill seeing the problem first hand is much different then listening to it in a meeting room, on TV, or reading it in the newspaper or in a report. The schools as well as the town departments have nothing to hide they are truly doing the best they can on next to nothing for budgets and until you see that for yourself your opinion will be viewed by many as not being based upon fact. Now while you may not agree with my opinion or dispute my knowledge of the issues, I am not an elected official nor am I running for any elected position but Bill you are.
Liz O
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