An Open Letter to Longmeadow

The following editorial was featured in the Longmeadow News on March 26, 2013

As residents of Longmeadow, we have heard the phrase “eyes on the child” used to describe the philosophy of the Longmeadow public schools. But what does that mean? To me, and my fellow School Committee members, it means making informed decisions in the best interests of our students and the Longmeadow community. Every vote we take, every policy we approve, every contract we negotiate, is done with students and the community in mind.

As a school committee in Massachusetts, we are legally charged with a very specific set of functions - to set the policy and budget of the school district. Our charge is important, and we take it seriously because we know that the most important investment we can make as a community is in education. But as an elected body representing the community at large, we also have a responsibility to make prudent financial decisions.  With that in mind, when the FY’14 budget was presented by Superintendent Marie Doyle to the School Committee, it featured a total bottom line increase of $604,714, equating to a 1.8% increase over the current fiscal year. This increase includes a 2% cost of living increase as provided in the contracts we negotiated last year with our unions, step increases, and salary advancement for continuing education. Together, these total $794,560.

This next fiscal year, the school district is also facing an increase in the costs of operating our lunch program, as a result of a necessary contractual change with our food service provider.  Based on this change, we had to budget an additional $100,000 to cover any losses we may have in operation of the lunch program.

The most important addition to this budget, however, is to fund key positions to build capacity to serve certain high needs students in district. At the elementary level, we have added a transitional program. This program will enable the district to work with students who have behavioral issues that impact their ability to successfully integrate with the larger school community. Without this program, most of these students would need to be placed in costly out-of district-programs.

The approved budget also includes a new Life Skills program at the High School. This program also allows the district to work more effectively with high needs students, teaching them important life skills that prepare them for independence outside of school. Without the addition of these two programs, the district would be faced with bills for out-of-district tuition for between $200,000 and $400,000.

In an effort to limit the amount of FY '14 increases, the budget approved by the School Committee also includes more than $700,000 of carefully considered reductions from the FY'13 budget.

Ultimately, the budget as approved by the School Committee and presented to the Select Board for inclusion in the Town's FY 14 budget totals the amount necessary to fulfill the mission of the school district as set forth in its strategic plan. The School Committee also understands that we do not budget or operate in a vacuum. We understand that the Select Board has different priorities than we do and our continual budgetary debates are a result of those differences.

Yet, notwithstanding multiple sessions during which members of the School Committee and representatives from the school district have repeatedly answered all questions thoughtfully and completely, the Select Board has approved a Town budget that includes a 0% increase, and in fact a reduction of $90,000 from our FY’13 budget, resulting in an overall reduction of $706,000 from our approved FY 14 budget.

This presents us with a devastating budget scenario that we simply cannot support. Approval of the Select Board's budget at Town Meeting will result in actual positions being cut, and the impact to students will be real.  The district will have to reduce up to 15 positions, including some classroom teachers. Class sizes will necessarily increase and the student achievement levels the district has worked hard to increase will be put at risk.

Our fervent hope is that there exists a fair compromise position between the budgets as approved by the Select Board and the School Committee. To this end the School Committee has made a number of overtures to the Select Board seeking a compromise. More recently, members of the Select Board and School Committee have begun to enter into direct negotiations to reach a compromise. These negotiations, however, carry with them no guarantee that a majority of Select Board members would support what ever compromise budget is proposed. 

As a result of this uncertainty, the School Committee believes that should a compromise not be reached between boards, it will be necessary for us to offer an amendment to the Select Board's budget on the floor of Town Meeting. We recognize the impact that this would have on the entire community and we see this option as a last resort.

It is our duty as representatives elected by the residents of Longmeadow to advocate for a budget that enables the school district to continue to deliver the excellent educational opportunities our community has come to expect. In this case, we believe that our approved budget is not excessive and very appropriate.

Thank you for the opportunity to inform the residents of Longmeadow as to the status of the FY 14 budget for the Longmeadow Public Schools.

Update: As of Tuesday, April 16, 2013 the Longmeadow Select Board voted to not accept the compromise negotiated with the School Committee. As a result, the School Committee has no option other than to offer an amendment on the floor of Town Meeting. In keeping with our commitment to the community, the School Committee will offer amendments that replicate the compromise budget.

Sincerely,

Michael Clark

Chair, Longmeadow School Committee

A difficult budget process continues…

Recent Select Board meetings have been been primarily focused upon making some difficult decisions about needed town government cuts for the upcoming FY2011 budget. The uncertainty about state aid to Longmeadow (estimates vary from 0 to 15% cut) has only made the process more difficult.

Proposed budget cuts for Storrs Library, Longmeadow Adult Center and other town departments will likely impact town services and quality of life in Longmeadow. I listened to the SB meeting this past Monday (~ 3½ hours) and observed that there was great disagreement within the SB as to how to achieve the required cuts.

In addition to proposing some additional cuts, Town Manager, Robin Crosbie also identified a number of new revenue sources to help bridge the gap that included:

• Fee based curbside trash collection ( save ~$570,000)
• Implementation of the new 0.75% meal tax on local restaurants (estimated increase in revenue ~$65,000)
• Reinstitute School Choice (this source can be initiated only by the School Committee)
• Proposition 2½ Override
  Every 1% override would add $382,000 to town revenue and cost individual property owners $0.18/ $1000 or ~$64 for average $350,000 house. The SB was not recommending an override at this time but considering it as a possible option to bridge the expenditure/ revenue gap.

I applaud the SB for their open and honest discussion of the FY11 budget and their desire to reshape the entire town’s operations (including the school department) onto to a more sustainable path. One of my recent posts included an LCTV video clip of Rob Aseltine explaining the financial problem confronting Longmeadow both short term and long term.

At this point it appears that the Town Manager with the help of the various department heads has selected and prioritized a larger than required list of cuts that could be made to achieve the targeted budget. One note of interest is that the FY11 budget appears to be a “moving target” given the uncertainty of state aid. At this week’s SB meeting, it was agreed to use a 10% (vs. 15%) cut in state aid in developing the FY11 budget. It is likely that the exact amount of state aid to Longmeadow will not be known until well after the FY11 begins.

The selected video clip from this week’s SB meeting is Rob Aseltine expressing his dissatisfaction with the level of personnel cuts included in the latest budget revision (referred to as the March 1 budget).



There are some important meetings this coming week….

Monday, March 8
Joint meeting between School Committee and Select Board to discuss FY11 Budget
7 PM at Longmeadow School Committee Room

Tuesday, March 9
Budget Public Forum- draft FY11 budget- presented by Town Manager, Robin Crosbie7 PM at Longmeadow High School/ Cafeteria

I would urge town residents to attend the March 9 forum and provide input to our town leaders for prioritization of the needed budget cuts.

Loss of Longmeadow's Library Services

The culture and community of Longmeadow is based on a foundation of learning. We pride ourselves in our School System. It serves 3,100 children. For this system the town budgeted to spend 74% of town revenues this year, or $34,500,000, for schools. Our Storrs Library also is one of our prides. The Library serves all 16,000 of us. This year our town budgeted 1.8% of revenues, or $838,000, for our Library; this amount is one fortieth of what we spend on the schools.

For next fiscal year, your town government is looking to reduce library hours to below the minimum required by State government to obtain their financial support. Should library hours be cut to below 50 per week, Storrs Library will be decertified by the state.

WHAT LONGMEADOW LIBRARY WILL LOSE IF DECERTIFIED !

• All free borrowing privileges and services at area libraries
• State funds to purchase, maintain, and upgrade library computers
• Access to important educational materials for students from elementary school through college
• Professional staff to provide research assistance for school projects, workforce development and online government resource use
• Full programming schedules throughout the year for CHILDREN and adults
• Free and open access to wireless and broadband internet connections
• Timely and convenient access to current newspapers, periodicals, books, DVDs and audio.

Town government must budget next year what is needed to keep our Storrs Library doors open and functioning well 50 hours per week.

To prevent decertification, email or write NOW to your Select Board and Town Manager:

Robert Barkett; Paul Santaniello; Rob Aseltine; William Scibelli; Robin Crosbie; Mark Gold

Write them at Select Board, Town of Longmeadow, 20 Williams Street, Longmeadow, MA 01106

Your Select Board meets next Monday, March 1 and on March 8 to continue their discussion of library funding for next year.

Submitted by Roger Wojcik

A Budget Update for Longmeadow

As reported in a previous post a collective bargaining agreement has been signed between the Longmeadow School Committee and the Longmeadow Education Association. While this agreement does not reduce the $2.15 million projected deficit for the FY11 budget, it does provide town leaders some clarity about unresolved potential future salary obligations for the town. The estimated salary budget cost avoidance of this contract vs. a 1% COLA for FY10 and FY11 is estimated to be ~$675,000 assuming that teachers salaries are ~ 75% of the town employees. Let’s hope that the remaining town and school collective bargaining units are considering similar contract agreements as the Longmeadow Education Association.

click here to read full story

There was some additional news this past week regarding the state aid… Governor Patrick announced that his proposed FY11 budget would include level funding for education and unrestricted local aid for cities and towns.

The $2.1 million projected deficit for FY11 discussed at earlier budget meetings (Tri-Board + Select Board) anticipated a 15% cut in local aid for Longmeadow. FY10 state aid for Longmeadow is expected to be $5.6 million (Chapter 70 = $4.34M + unrestricted local aid = $1.23M) … so a 15% shortfall = $837K. If the FY11 budget proposal for level funding for cities and towns passes the legislature, it would shrink the projected FY11 deficit for Longmeadow to $1.31 million.

However, given that this is an election year (and Gov. Patrick is running for re-election with state Treasurer Timothy Cahill as one of his opponents), there is hardly unanimous support for this level funding of local aid to cities and towns given the current economic environment.

click here to read full story

In the past week, Mass State House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Murphy- the chief budget writer from Burlington, MA was quoted as saying: “I heard what the Governor said to you yesterday about level funding local aid. Well, good luck to him!”

It looks like it will sometime this summer before Longmeadow will have solid information about how much local aid it will actually receive for FY11! Not much different than last year.

Bottom line

Given the difficult fiscal situation still facing the state of Massachusetts, Longmeadow should continue to plan how it would deal with a significant drop (10-15%) in state aid. Perhaps, the idea of multiple budget scenarios and related cuts should be used as suggested in earlier Tri-Board budget discussions.

Both the School Committee and Select Board will continue intense budget discussions next week and it will be interesting to see what actions each group plans take to meet their assigned targeted cuts (Schools = $1.5 million cut, Town = $650,000 = $2.15 million).

Upcoming dates for the FY 11 Budget Process….

1. Select Board/ Regular Meeting, February 1 at 7 PM- Police Dept Community Meeting Room


2. School Committee- Special Meeting- February 4 at 7 PM in the School Committee Room at Longmeadow HS to discuss the School Department FY 2011 Budget.


3. School Committee- Public Hearing- February 8 at 7 PM in the LHS Cafeteria- on the Longmeadow School Committee budget.


4. School Committee/ Select Board- Special Meeting- February 24 at 7 PM in the School Committee Room FY2011 Budget Presentation


5. February 26- FY2011 budget submission by Town Manager to Select Board

Check the Town Calendar at LongmeadowBiz for the latest calendar of scheduled events.