Dr. David Hopson
It’s certainly an interesting time to be a United States citizen and able to follow, with some trepidation, what a small group of dedicated and ideologically-driven legislators can do to make their voices heard. What this group of generally newly elected, very conservative, and often tea-party affiliated officials has done to slow down and somewhat control the legislative process is a great lesson in how people’s votes do count, at least in some instances. I see similarities to our own town meetings where those with the strongest opinions can often sway others, even if the facts do not support their opinions. In the end, at all levels, we will be impacted by the results of these actions and only time will tell if that is good or bad for the average individual.
As we move forward with developing the school budget for the 2014-15 school year, I have some questions for both those with strong opinions and those who often don’t voice their opinions. To my knowledge, and in seeing the difficulty the school committee subcommittee for finance had in finding information from other districts, Gateway has one of the most open budget processes with a lot of information shared with everyone in the community. Despite this, we’re still hearing complaints of not being open enough, not having a defined process for adopting the budget, not having enough time to review the budget, and other issues, raised by our constituents.
Let me outline last year’s process. As you review this, please try and think of ways this can be improved so that everyone has a better grasp of the budget and its development. In October/November, the principals and supervisors work with their staff to determine the needs for the following year and then develop budget requests to meet those needs. These individuals then meet with the superintendent and business manager to justify their requests based upon needs and the district’s overall goals. Central office then puts together an ‘expenditure’ budget and provides this to the school committee and finance subcommittee for review in December (we can only do expenses at this time as there are no state revenue numbers available that early in the process). This information is also posted online so it is available to any interested party; those interested may also sit in on subcommittee and school committee meetings. The school committee and its finance subcommittee then get to review the expenditure side of the budget, ask questions, validate requests, and review numbers in relation to needs and district goals.
In late January, the Governor’s budget (House I) comes out with the first estimates of local aid. This information is then added to the budget to develop very initial income levels and the first glance at potential town assessments. Our committees continue to review the budget and the Gateway Towns Advisory Committee also meets to review the budget and ask questions. During this time frame, the superintendent and business manager also offer to meet with town officials to discuss the school budget. In March, the school committee holds a public hearing on the budget and a week or so later votes on the bottom line of the budget. Technically speaking, the town assessments are driven by a combination of the total budget voted by the school committee and then the state factoring in things like town wealth and ability to pay, which is coupled with changes in student enrollment from each town. Thus, even if the budget remained identical from year to year, local town assessments would change, often dramatically. These assessments are then certified to the towns and the towns vote to approve the budget during town meetings. As the state finalizes state aid to education, the assessment numbers change to reflect the new revenue, even though the bottom line of the budget doesn’t necessarily change. If two-thirds of the towns approve the budget, we move forward with implementing the budget and educating children. If we don’t get two-thirds approval, then we start the process of developing new budgets to submit to the towns. If we don’t have an approved budget by December 1, the Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sets a budget for the district, which the towns are then obligated to fund.
At every stage of the process, there is opportunity for public input and discourse and all budget information is shared with the public. Despite this, we still hear of complaints about Gateway’s budget development, issues I don’t normally hear about the towns budget development process even though that information is often difficult to find for the average taxpayer. So my question is this: how do we improve the process so more people are involved, understand, and can evaluate the facts to make decisions regarding the school budget? Your suggestions can be emailed to [email protected], provided in a letter to Stephanie Fisk, 12 Littleville Rd, Huntington, MA 01050, or shared with your town’s school committee members (www.grsd.org).
