HUNTINGTON – A public hearing on the Gateway Regional 2018-2019 budget has been rescheduled for this Wednesday, March 14 at 6 p.m. in the Gateway Performing Arts Center. Students, staff, parents, community members and town officials are invited to attend.
Gateway Superintendent David B. Hopson will present an overview of options for the budget, including a level funded, level services, and an improvement budget which adds prioritized increases in spending. Also presented will be the ramifications of each option, including a full list of reductions for a level funded budget.
The request to list each option and what it would mean to the district comes as a result of joint budget meetings with town officials who asked for a narrative for each scenario, to give them the tools to discuss the budget and its impacts on the district at meetings.
Also being presented at the public hearing is an alternate assessment that would increase all six member towns at the same percentage as the total District assessment increase annually, instead of tying the towns to percentage of student population, which can shift wildly from year to year. The alternate assessment formula is currently being discussed in facilitated long-range planning meetings, as it would help towns to plan for the school budget. All six towns would have to vote for the alternate assessment each year in order to implement it.
Immediately following the public hearing, the School Committee will meet in a joint budget meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. The School Committee will either need to vote on the 2018-2019 budget at Wednesday’s meeting, or schedule a special meeting to vote on March 21, in order to meet the legal requirements of setting a budget 45 days in advance of the first annual town meeting.
