Opinion
Editorial: Fiscal denial offsets positive proposals for city school budget
There are a number of things to like about the proposed 2010-11, $36.8 million budget for the Gloucester Public Schools.
The School Committee puts emphasis where it is needed — into support and potential expansion of its vocational programs, and into staff for the Veterans and Beeman elementary schools, where students have not performed as well on standardized tests as those in other neighborhood schools.
The committee proposes hiring a vice-principal to be in charge of the vocational program — a position that would be required by the state if the high school adds one more vocational program to those that are already offered. The budget also calls for spending $40,000 for new vocational equipment.
The two elementary schools would each get a new reading specialist and share a teacher for students for whom English is a second language.
Unfortunately, there are also a number of budget factors that raise concern as well.
For starters, the committee still appears to be in fiscal denial. It proposes spending money that, if allowed to stand, will simply dig the city deeper into the hole.
The proposed increase of $1.05 million — or 2.9 percent — certainly does not seem extravagant. But, as the committee must know, it exceeds the 2.5 percent limit of Proposition 2 1/2. It also exceeds the limit the mayor set.
Mayor Carolyn Kirk, who sits as a member of the committee, is obviously an outspoken advocate of local education. But in her current position, she must juggle unlimited demands for services with the limited resources of a down economy — and she is painfully aware of the fiscal realities.
She told the committee they could be sure of only a $474,000 increase. She added that, if things are better than she expects, $663,900 might be available. The committee's proposal exceeds the mayor's "best case" scenario by another $400,000 beyond that.
More troubling is that the committee and school administration are planning to pay for some of these ongoing expenses with money that is only going to be available once. The budget proposes using $716,000 in federal stimulus aid plus another $386,853 extracted from available balances in district revolving accounts — like building rental, Talbot skating rink revenue and preschool.
So, what will happen in the following year?
Administrators take the Scarlett O'Hara "I'll-think-about-that-tomorrow" approach. And Superintendent Christopher Farmer acknowledges in notes accompanying the budget that this could be "problematic."
Gee, do you think?
Where are they going to find another $1.1 million, plus money for all the predictable increases in "fixed costs" that will confront them a year from now?
That likely won't be Farmer's problem; he is actively seeking a new job, exploring new opportunities and challenges in Andover — a post he didn't get after making the final interviews — and the Triton Regional District, where he remains one of two top contenders.
But it will very much be the problem — and a very real challenge — for the committee and other city leaders a year down the line.
If the past decade has taught city officials anything, it should have taught them that they cannot build unsustainable increases into their budgets even in good times — and they absolutely cannot do it in bad times.
So as school leaders pursue their priorities of addressing some very real school needs, let's hope they also recognize the need to tackle the very difficult yet real reforms — in labor contracts, and in trimming some school services — the district, and really all Massachusetts schools need.
Can the district cover the need for a vocational administrator through its current administrative staffing? Would unions consider "furlough" days or other approaches that have been tried in other districts. Can school grounds maintenance be handled by city work crews rather than a separate school staff? Is there room for other consolidation?
Those are just a few of the questions that need to be on the table as these budget talks move forward. And they're issues that, like the vocational and elementary needs, need to be addressed.
- Opinion
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Editorial: Skewed federal policies make a contradiction out of Labor Day
Today is Labor Day — a day that, like many of our holidays, means many different things to different people.
Continued ...
For many, of course, it's the culmination of a three-day weekend, and the end of the traditional summer season — though most today recognize that season carries at least through September or to Columbus Day. -
Editorial: A challenge to voters?
Gov. Patrick better hope that a majority of Massachusetts voters are opposed to the ballot question calling for a reduction in the sales tax.
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That's because he essentially suggested to those voters last week that, if they approve scaling back the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent, he would offer no guarantee that he'd work to implement their choice — in contrast to his gubernatorial challengers (see news story, Page 1). -
Letter to the editor: Conomo choices have wide-reaching impact
To the editor:
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Having had the privilege of serving as a Department of Public Works commissioner for the town of Essex, chairman of the Industrial Development Commission of the city of Beverly, and a resident of Conomo Point for more than 40 years, I can contradict some of what has been published and reiterated at Town Meetings. - Letter to the editor: Fishermen, tribe share trail of federal deceit
- Letter to the editor: Anti-Muslim bigotry as un-American as it gets
- Friday, September 3, 2010
- Letter: Suzanne Bump deserves vote for state auditor
- Letter: City needed to take control of Food Services
- The Mayor's desk: Defining city 'emergencies'
- Breaking news online updates — and the full story
- Letter: Mayor's camera mea culpa doesn't wash
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- Thursday, September 2, 2010
- Editorial: NOAA's fish allocation cut cries out anew for drastic reforms
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- Letter: The lies and wrongs from America's Right
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Editorial: Skewed federal policies make a contradiction out of Labor Day
