At their October 7 meeting, the school committee unanimously voted to return a slightly modified budget to the towns for reconsideration and approval. The bottom line of the budget has not changed, but some of the line item amounts have changed slightly based upon transfers (also approved by the school committee). This follows ongoing discussion by the committee on mitigation funding (at the time of the vote, this had been approved by the House) and the court case against Worthington, with each having the potential to drastically change the budget and town assessments. By the time of the next special town meetings (the towns have 45 days from the school committee meeting to hold their meetings), we are hopeful that we will have resolution to both the mitigation funding and the immediate future of the lawsuit, allowing for more certainty and the potential to lower the town assessments.
We also began the first step in the development of the 2016-2017 year budget (FY’17) with the school committee by briefly reviewing where the district is, what basic considerations should be met when developing budgets for education, and potential ways to move forward. This presentation was in the form of a short video that is now posted on the district’s website under the quicklinks for video gallery as well as in school committee presentations. We’re hopeful that we can get some general direction by the committee to help us develop a budget that is able to meet student needs, town finances, and school committee expectations.
In addition, the school committee discussed establishing an ‘Other Post Employment Benefits’ (OPEB) trust fund. The committee set aside money to begin funding our $12 million liability this June; that money is in a ‘holding’ account until the committee selects a trust that is approved by the state and federal governments. At this point, the committee has received information about a company that has set up a number of OPEB trusts across the country; information about two other options; and some recommendations from the district’s attorneys. This information was also shared with town officials immediately after the September school committee meeting so that town officials could review the trust documents before the school committee takes a vote. While there is a significant amount of material to review, I’m hopeful that the committee will be able to move forward with establishing a trust so that the funds that they already put aside for this purpose can begin working for the district. While this is an ‘irrevocable’ trust, the money put into such a trust could be taken out to pay for retirement health insurance (the purpose that it was set aside for). The basic idea is to begin funding a trust and allowing that money to grow so that the district’s unfunded liability in this area will eventually be funded. However, if the need arises due to a particularly difficult time, the money now being paid to fund retiree health insurance on a ‘pay as you go’ basis could be replaced with money in the OPEB trust. While there always seems to be budgetary concerns with all levels of government, it does seem reasonable to at least consider setting aside some surplus when it is available to begin offsetting a growing unfunded liability.
Just as a reminder, the district survey for the Gateway 2025 Planning Process is open and we will be accepting input until October 23. A link to the survey may be found on our website (www.grsd.org) under the quicklinks, and we invite everyone to take part.
