From the website of DESE (department of elementary & secondary education)




Guidance for reporting revenues & expenditures for school construction. Chapter 208 of acts of 2004 transferred the state school building assistance program from the DESE to a newly created MA school building authority. (me thinks some friends of legislature needed some high paying jobs on the backs of the taxpayers)


Since the DESE no longer calculates & disburses these funds, ALL DISTRICTS will be required to report both the revenue & expenditures for school construction on the annual end-of-year report. (Financial Report that the district seems reluctant to release to Templeton selectmen Julie Farrell, why is selectmen Farrell the only BOS member who seems interested in this report)?


You can find this entire requirement on the website of the MA DESE, it just takes a few minutes of looking for it. In my opinion, if one combines the struggle I have encountered in obtaining public records from the Town of Templeton with regards to the Templeton elementary school project, specifically the feasibility along with the End-of-Year Financial Report of Narragansett Regional School District, there seems to be some things someone is trying to hide or does not want the public to see right now. As my friend Jeffrey Ritter used to be fond of saying, "the cure for conspiracy theories is a good dose of sunshine", I always translated that into, if you don't want mistrust and rumors always flying, provide the information, freely and without any road blocks. I remember Jeff had a hat with a saying on it that was very relevant to this.


I hope people do not get caught up in the new debate of who will be a voting member representing Templeton on the budget sub-committee as a voting member and miss the fact that both the Town and the district seem unwilling or unable to provide financial details on a project or their day to day operations! What is it they are trying to hide? Might be time to put a new load of wash in!!!


Jeff Bennett