Hey. Just a quick note that there’s a full schedule of important meetings this week covering everything from school funding to the town’s budget and an opportunity to have your thoughts on education heard by leaders at the state level. Here’s a rundown:
- Tuesday evening, March 3, 2009 @ 7:30PM : School Committee meeting in the Community Room of the Chenery Middle School. There will be more discussion of the FY 2010 budget. Also listen for details on the negotiations over the Wellington School project and discussion of a possible merger/reallocation of students between the Burbank and Wellington schools (a hot topic right now).
- Wednesday evening, March 4, 2009 @ 7:30PM: Warrant Committee meeting in the Community Room of the Chenery Middle School. This will be a joint Warrant Committee and Board of Selectmen meeting to hash out issues around a possible Prop 2 1/2 override vote. There’s been much discussion about the size and purposes of such an override and when it should be put to voters. The larger the override, the better financial footing Belmont is in if it passes, but this is a very controversial issue. Folks who care about maintaining services or scared by the prospect of teacher firings and curtailed extra curriculars in the town are strongly encouraged to turn out and voice their support for setting Belmont on the path to fiscal stability!!!
- Thursday evening, March 5, 2009 @ 7:00 PM in the High School Auditorium: The Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, Mitchell Chester, will appear in the Belmont High School auditorium to hear input from school committee members and school staff and the general public on the following question: How can the state help local schools maintain education quality in the face of budget cuts without sending more money? Comments will also be offered by Tom Scott, Executive Director of the Masschusetts Association of School Superintendents, and Glenn Koocher, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. The forum has been arranged by Representative Will Brownsberger in collaboration with the Belmont School Committee and the Belmont Citizen Herald.
- Sunday, March 8, 2009 @ 6:30 PM, #5 Scott Road, Belmont. Belmont Stand For Children is hosting an information session to talk about steps that parents can take to support Belmont’s schools. This will be a fun and casual opportunity to meet other people in town who are concerned about education and school funding issues and talk about things we can all do to make a difference now. RSVP to masucci (at) post.harvard.edu by March 6th if you’ll be able to join us.
Please let me know if you have other events that you would like to inform Blogging Belmont’s readers about.
Thank you Paul- very helpful!
Does anyone know how the school committee meeting went with the possible Burbank/Wellington merger discussions?
JAM,
They voted 4-2 to table the idea meaning it won't be a consideration for the coming School Year. I was pleasantly surprised and as a result I will be putting the “Together for Wellington” Bumper sticker I picked up last night on my Car as the only obstacle to my support was the uncertainty of a merger.
There is some talk about merging Belmont's School district with Arlington's and if it can be done equitably then it may be worth pursuing but I have no details.
I did get an email from Paul Roberts saying there was discussion of not placing an override vote on the ballot. Although I am not a present supporter of any override I do feel it should be put to the voters. I think the bigger problem is how much? I was quite impresed with one of the SC members (I think her name was Ann) who has an approach that should be implemented Town wide IMO. She basically said the Schools need to define an acceptable number of students per class and fund the Teachers needed to meet that standard. Everything else is secondary and if no funds are available then it becomes a fee based service if possible. My thought was Imagine if instead of seperating the Town and School budgets we set a standard as to the basic necessities like maximum class size/ minimum # of police/fire/maintenace staff needed and funded those first and then split the remaining money in te overall budget between the Town and Schools as presently done. It might mean fee's for arts/sports and Senior Center membershp but it would firmly establish a baseline for the critical needs of the Town to be met. Anyways interesting meeting last night to say the least.
PJ
Hey PJ! Thanks for supporting the Wellington. The BOS are generally in support of an override vote. But Angleo and Ralph have both been quoted saying that their political support rests on larger changes to the structure of the town's government that — frankly — aren't feasible in the 10-12 weeks before an override vote would happen. In other words: we'll throw it out there then try to shoot it down. There are also important questions about the amount of an override. One thing I think its important to ask is: if we pass an override for $2.5m or less — around half of what we need to put the town on an even footing, then what about next year, when we're back in the same spot? Do the Selectmen plan to ask for another override then and incrementally get us to where we need to be. (I'd be fine with such a plan, btw). Or is this just a band aid without any plan to staunch the bleeding? My sense is that the BOS and WC would benefit from hearing from residents who support an override – even one larger than $2.5m — and want to see town and school services maintained.
We do need to have a class size standards set and then figure out how many teachers we need to meet that standard- I agree with PJ- but we also need to be sure people fully understand that this means 1200.00 per student fees to play sports, and fee based elementary instrumentals, fee based theatre, fee based marching band, fee based chorus, etc. I also agree that if the parents have to essentially pay for a large chunk of what was once called public education, than the seniors should pay for the senior center, we should consider charging for garbage pick up, we should pass a law that you will be fined if you don't shovel your sidewalks, and that you have to sweep in front of your house(I heard no more street sweeper). There are also 6 remaining “company cars” handed out to town employees- they are cutting three- but they should all be cut!
By the way- according to what they said last night at the SC meeting, 750,000 would be required to pay for sports alone- 2.5 million dollar override won't touch the extra curricular stuff- a new reality for this community is upon us.
Governor Patrick, in his testimony to the Ways and Means Committee yesterday, stated that the federal stimulus bill would allow Chapter 70 education funding to remain at this year's (meaning FY09) “record” level. The December estimate of town revenue, however, predicted a $403K decrease in Chapter 70 funding from from 4.603M in FY09 to 4.200M in FY10. On the other hand, the town's original estimate in September for FY10 Chapter 70 funds was $5.248M. If the federal stimulus allows only maintenance of FY09 funding, that would be a welcome ~$400K in unexpected schools' revenue, but it doesn't seem as if it will solve the town's FY10 school budget problem which seems to be around $3M. Perhaps tomorrow's meeting with the State Commissioner will present definitive information.
I would really like to know if the funding would help the schools- both the level services funding you are talking about and the stimulus bill money as well- or if the town will get half of that money. I cannot be there tonight due to a concert my daughter is in at the Chenery- but hopefully we can get tht answer.
After attending the meeting last night here are some of my observations. As a disclaimer, let me say first that I am a strong proponent of a multi year override but that I also recognize that there are clear political realities the town has to face into.
1) garbage pickup: this is a $2.4MM expense annually; at a time when we are considering $1,000/child sports fees, charging for this should be a no-brainer; if done right it could even turn into a profit center for the town (he he). I also agree with the suggestion below regarding fines for unshoveled sidewalks.
2) teacher union wage freeze: I absolutely disagree with those who say that our school teachers and administrators are overpaid. Those who think so, in my view, are stuck in ca. 1977 wage and price levels. However, we should re-open collective bargaining to get a pay freeze for next year. This seems to me a reasonable tradeoff when the alternative is laying off significant numbers of personnel and pushing some elementary class sizes to the 30 range. Of course it would not address the broader structural financial issues facing the town, but may help bridge us another year (yes, I know here we go again); with teachers demonstrating they have some skin in the game, could it not also provide some real political momentum for a more long term override?
3) Is it just me or are we getting a raw deal with the Minuteman arrangement? Who on Earth negotiated that deal? Ouch.
4) town parking policy: what about permitting overnight street parking but then requiring everyone to get a permit? Another revenue thought, albeit a small one.
5) My first impression was that the school committee update did not come across as well as it could have – they got hammered for not having anything in writing – even in draft form – and left themselves open to some real criticism by not proposing at least a partial wage freeze on non-union compensation. Knowing that there is so much hostility to the schools among certain constituents, why leave yourselves open to this political red herring?
6) School bus service: I am still amazed at the number of parents who insist on dropping their kids off at school in the morning. I noticed one of the school budget ideas was to increase bus fees to $700/year per kid. At that price I guarantee you that fewer people will utilize the bus and overall revenue will fall. There should be an intense marketing effort undertaken – maybe even with sponsorships from local businesses, etc (sign up for the bus, get a Starbucks gift card, etc etc) to increase ridership by either keeping price flat or even cutting it. Perhaps that would help close the gap along with other ideas.
I would be interested in hearing your comments.
Joe,
I enjoyed reading your comments- here are some responses-
1. Garbage pickup is a no brainer! People will pay for it and they will recycle much more when they have to pay- good for the town's bottom line and good for the environment.
2. I agree that teachers don't deserve to lose money in their paycheck- but it seems like this town wants to see the teachers give something back to be willing to vote for an override.
3. We totally get the worst deal with Minuteman- I feel that should be heavily pursued- I get the feeling that nobody wants to do it though!
4. I must admit that I like the no over night parking- it limits the number of occupants in a house because they have to have parking spots off street- and the police say it cuts down on crime.
5. The school committee did not help themselves last night- I may have made the same mistake if I were Jihn- but they are, once again, under the magnifying glass. I relly hope that they mean it when they say that they have no choice but to cut all athletics because that really gets people listening. I am most concerned about the high school at this point. No marching band, sports, spanish club, chorus, jazz emsemble- and at the middle school- no clubs either. I just left a 6th grade concert- orchestra, band and chorus- 150-200 children- amazing! They deserve our support. They say that music helps boost MCAS scores- our town thrives on test scores!
6. School bus issues are big- the community would be safer if less parents drove- and the parents that use the buses do so because they need to get to work not a good group to be hitting up for even more money.
I hope that the community can come together and see the sacrifices that will have to be made if we don't pass an override. And maybe a few small ones in a row is a good answer- but it has to be billed that way- “we won't ask for a lot this time, but understand tha we need incremental additions over the next few years to fix our problems long term- and Everone has to stand behind it!
I would very very much like to see historical data on teachers wages/benefits, before I decided how I felt about a wage freeze. I suspect that two things are true: I think that the teachers, because of contracts negotiated with an expectation of normal wage growth (not what we saw in the last eight years) have gained ground on most people; and, that in the wonderful .com boom, that their salaries did not keep pace with the rest of us. If, in fact, they did see some upside in the .com boom (contrary to my expectations), then I'd be much more in favor of a freeze. I'm afraid that this bust will be a bigger deal than the boom was, too.
We also have a political problem, where people believe all sorts of stuff that may or may not be true, and if they believe that the teachers are overpaid, then they're not going to vote for an override. There's letters in the paper every week from people who don't understand what pays for what, how prop 2.5 works, etc.
Pay-for-trash-pickup has been discussed over the years, and the fear is that it what you get is more scattered garbage. This, combined with reduced street sweeping (first I'd heard of that, but not surprising) would not make a pretty picture. I'm also not sure if we're allowed to turn a profit on this. Fee-based services are also slightly more expensive than their list price, because the combination of mortage+state taxes do tend to make it advantageous to itemize federal deductions — but fees are not deductible. It depends upon your tax bracket.
I do not know how to get parents to not drive to schools. Chenery is uphill, which makes sending kids on bikes not-so-good (they complain about the uphill, I worry about the downhill). The more people drive, the less safe kids walking/biking are. And in the winter, it is pretty dad-gum cold, and the sidewalks are not well-shoveled.
I would very very much like to see historical data on teachers wages/benefits, before I decided how I felt about a wage freeze. I suspect that two things are true: I think that the teachers, because of contracts negotiated with an expectation of normal wage growth (not what we saw in the last eight years) have gained ground on most people; and, that in the wonderful .com boom, that their salaries did not keep pace with the rest of us. If, in fact, they did see some upside in the .com boom (contrary to my expectations), then I'd be much more in favor of a freeze. I'm afraid that this bust will be a bigger deal than the boom was, too.
We also have a political problem, where people believe all sorts of stuff that may or may not be true, and if they believe that the teachers are overpaid, then they're not going to vote for an override. There's letters in the paper every week from people who don't understand what pays for what, how prop 2.5 works, etc.
Pay-for-trash-pickup has been discussed over the years, and the fear is that it what you get is more scattered garbage. This, combined with reduced street sweeping (first I'd heard of that, but not surprising) would not make a pretty picture. I'm also not sure if we're allowed to turn a profit on this. Fee-based services are also slightly more expensive than their list price, because the combination of mortage+state taxes do tend to make it advantageous to itemize federal deductions — but fees are not deductible. It depends upon your tax bracket.
I do not know how to get parents to not drive to schools. Chenery is uphill, which makes sending kids on bikes not-so-good (they complain about the uphill, I worry about the downhill). The more people drive, the less safe kids walking/biking are. And in the winter, it is pretty dad-gum cold, and the sidewalks are not well-shoveled.