I thought it may be helpful to see the school budgets and the town budgets in a format that puts them year by year, item by item. In other words layman's language. So here they are so everyone can make informed decisions and ask questions etc.
School Budget
Town Budget
Cherry Sheet Reimbursement/charges for Narragansett
Cherry Sheet Reimbursement/charges for Town of Templeton
Some things to keep in mind - the Town budget sheets are the selectmen's budget - I will post the advisory Boards budget when I get it. ( Thursday night) also the town budget sheets do not include any of the TM money articles, look at the Town Warrant for those amounts.
Thanks for reading Pauly
Informed voters make informed decisions!
thanks for the information! it is very clear that the increases that the school are asking for are mostly for administration - time they really take a good hard look at this. i've mentioned it before and will again - they could share principals across the elementary schools - at one point, PMS did not have a full time principal - they were shared, that would save $ - eliminate the adjustment counselor, share nurses between middle and high school, reduce aides (by a lot)the only aides that should be there are the ones that are for children with disabilites - and i mean true disabilities - autistic, MR, etc. they could solicit volunteers from parents to help out in the classrooms and go on field trips (only need one or two teachers for field trips - the rest could be volunteers that pay their own way. is there really a need to have a full time police officer at the school all day every day? i know there are issues, i am not naive, but if there is an issue - call the police. just my opinions and suggestions to reduce their budget. the town cannot afford what they are asking for and it is clear that they (both towns) do not want to fund this budget.
ReplyDeleteGood Information to share, Pauly! Its very helpful to have access to the budget breakdown a week BEFORE ATM so that I have time to digest it and use the info to make informed votes. It is interesting to see exactly how much the town cut from the budget since FY12. I also appreciate seeing the reductions in the school budget as well. But, there does seem some places that it could be cut some more. This may be a ridiculous idea, but I see that the district pays just under $250k in electricity. Instead of a PILOT payment to the town from the municipal light dept, could they forgive the upcoming FY14 costs to offset the budget shortfall? I know its crazy. But thought I'd throw it out there. It got me wondering how the benefit of the turbine to the school in energy cost pans out economically. Also, does the municipal light dept do any programming at the school around energy conservation and alternative energy education? Just wondering. One more question, if the town passes an amended school budget at town meeting, could the override ballot question go up for another vote in June when we vote for senator? Maybe if a reduced budget was presented, more people would pass it at the voting booth. Its not that people don't want to support education or our children. It comes down to the bottom line and what is possible fiscally. A solution will be found and everyone will have to deal with the budget restrictions for another year. Hopefully, in the coming year more people will step forward to participate in town government and bring new, creative ideas to the table on how to generate more income to the town. Oh! Sorry, I do have one more question...has the list of delinquent tax payers ever been posted? I remember discussion to post it on the town website, but do not think it happened. There's money there to be collected. Plus, can the water dept help out the sewer dept with collecting their delinquent collections? Those two combined would bring in at least a couple hundred thousand to the town.
ReplyDeleteFast and Loose with numbers: States for FY 13, Elementary school principal Baldwinville (BES) & Phillipston elementary principal (PMS) $173,500.00 and FY14 $91,500.00 so we have a reduction of $82,000.00 - then the next line for FY14 it shows $74,000.00 for PMS principal so add the $91,500.00 to the $74,000.00 and you get $165,500.00 which equals a net reduction of $8,000.00 not the $82,000.00 the school committee shows on the budget request so what gives? Trying to pull a fast one look over the numbers several times before town meeting.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of interesting reading in the proposed school budget.
ReplyDeleteWhere do I sign up to become the principal of Baldwinville and Phillipston elementary schools? The budget calls for $259,922 for the HS/MS athletic program and only $37,202 for textbooks for the entire district. It sounds like the school needs to get its priorities in order. This is a school district, not a sports club. We don't need to be spending $122,000 on salaries for coaches. Don't get me wrong, I believe that there should be a sports program in the school, but not at the detriment of the education of the children.
Deletewe need after school activity's in town for the kids ..a busy kid is a kid that's not in trouble !!!!
Just more Proof it is NOT FOR THE KIDS, unlike what they want us to believe.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, right on, Movin On, as usual!! Unlike me, you usually are able to say so much in a few words & get the point across better. My blogs are generally too long & often get misinterpreted so am going to try to make them shorter. Stopping now, LOL ...Have a great day!!
Deletehere a good one ..the other night the school dept had a teachers appreciation dinner at 20 bucks a plate paid for by the school district.
ReplyDeletesee it is all for the kids !!!