Dr. David Hopson
At their August 21 meeting, the school committee adopted Version 4.0 of the Gateway Regional School District Budget for the fiscal year that began on July 1. There were many good questions asked and many amendments proposed and discussed over the course of the meeting before the school committee voted 12 to 3 to adopt this budget and move it forward for votes by the towns. The new budget (which can be found on the district’s website) needs to be approved by one of the remaining three towns that have not ratified the budget to date (Chester, Russell, and Worthington). The other four towns are not required to revote the budget as their assessments are still lower than they approved for Version 2.1 this spring.
Everyone is welcome to review the budgets as presented this year, as well as the recommended list of prioritized reductions, which are all located on the district’s website. In a nutshell, Gateway’s budget was reduced by $25,141 and overall town assessments were increased by a total of $356 from Version 3.0 to Version 4.0 due to changes in state numbers. From Version 2.1 (the first version voted on by the towns) to Version 4.0, overall assessments were reduced by $106,501, including a reduction in Russell’s assessment of $72,808 and an increase in Chester’s assessment of $28,392, while Worthington’s assessment is still less than the town paid for the past fiscal year.
It was very interesting to follow the discussions at the last school committee meeting when different individuals brought up valid points as to why certain items should not be reduced, all related to the reality that student opportunities would be decreased. In the end, the committee voted to reduce the budget by a limited amount by eliminating funding for items that the district will try to fund through grants, essentially with the hope that student opportunities would not be further impacted if the towns ratify this new budget. It is also of note that there was some discussion as to why the final three towns have not voted for the district’s budget. Since Worthington’s assessment is lower than the previous year, with Chester’s Selectboard wondering how assessments are developed and the chair of their Finance Committee indicating that the assessment was affordable to the town, and with Russell’s Finance Committee and Selectboard indicating that their town would have trouble financing their assessment, it’s evident that there is not one simple reason for these towns not supporting the budget. It’s also evident that people, including the school committee, are concerned about providing appropriate opportunities to our children within what many consider a reasonable budget (being significantly lower than the district’s budget was 5 years ago). As we move forward in providing our residents with additional and timely information on the new budget, I’m hopeful that enough people will feel comfortable enough with the district’s financial needs to vote in favor of the budget so that we can move forward with the task of educating our children.
