School Superintendent States Support of Operational Audit

On Thursday, March 18, Hamilton Town Clerk Jane Wetson certified that a citizen's petition had the necessary 10% of the town's registered voter signatures, thereby qualifying it to be placed as an article on the warrant for the Annual Town Meetings...in both Hamilton and Wenham.

Because the petition calls for an amendment to the Regional School District Agreement, 10% of the registered voter's signatures, of EITHER town, was required. That number of signatures was 570 in Hamilton. As it turned out, the total number collected in Hamilton and Wenham exceeded 850.

By now, most know that the petition calls for an Operational Audit of the regional school district by an outside, unbiased, third-party company, to be determined by the Boards of Selectmen (BoS) of the two towns.

You can read more about the issue on this blog in articles below this one.

Here are a few new items regarding this initiative...

1. Some have asked why the amendment calls for the school district operating fund to pay for the audit. In fact, the current superintendent has indicated that she supports such an audit but that she feels the district should not pay for it. The answer is simple...the schools already do not pay for anything - the TAXPAYERS do. So whether the funding is in the school budget, or the town budget - you, the taxpayers of Hamilton and Wenham, pay the bill. So it does not matter which pocket it comes from, it's the same pair of pants.



2. School Committee member Don Gallant recently stated, "I find it difficult for a public entity to fund its own audit. My concern is if you had an operational audit and they came in with a, more or less, favorable report, it would look a little fishy because you were the one who paid for the report."
   
   But hold on a minute...
   
   Isn't that EXACTLY what the school district did when it paid nearly $45 thousand for a study and report by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)? The proposed amendment language of the citizen's petition eliminates Mr. Gallant's concern by granting the authority of who to hire to the Boards of Selectmen, not the school committee or administration.
   
   
3. The most often asked question is "How much is it going to cost?" That will depend upon what firm the selectmen choose to perform the operational audit. The tax watchdog group Enough Is Enough (EiE) has been in contact with one firm, MGT of America, that specializes in exactly this kind of audit and they have said the cost would likely be $75k to $95k for a complete and thorough examination, including specific recommendations for improvement and savings.
   
   You can view the company's website by [clicking here].
   
   School districts where MGT has performed audits have noted experiencing savings of from several times the cost of the audit to millions of dollars over the years, resulting from MGT recommendations that the schools implemented. Judging from the wide discrepancy of the costs of our school district compared to our "cohort" districts (estimated at $2 to $4 million more a year in Hamilton/Wenham) brought to light by the Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) recently, it seems clear that an operational audit is overwhelmingly needed here.



4. Which brings me to my final point...There are those that would argue that the BRC has already shown us where we need to cut costs...that we need to simply look to the comparison schools to find the answers. Not according to Alexa McCloughan, vice-chairman of the School committee, who (Boston Globe North: 3/11/10) said that while the results of the study are interesting, jumping to the conclusion that Hamilton-Wenham could be remade in the image of another district would be an oversimplification and that closer observation of any community yields significant differences.

I agree with Ms. McCloughan. That is precisely why the HWRSD needs an operational audit of its own so its own values and philosophies, systems and processes, personnel and practices can be properly...and locally...evaluated and recommendations made to improve the delivery of services and save costs.

Even school superintendent McGrath admits supporting an operational audit.

Dr. McGrath publicly stated at the school committee meeting on 3/11/10:

"From the very first meeting, at every single
BRC meeting...Don (Gallant, SC member)

and I both said, 'Come on in! Come in

and do an operational audit.' I'm getting

rather tired of seeing it in print that

we are opposing an operational audit,

because that is NOT the case."

So there you have it. The school administration and the residents want the same thing - an operational audit that will improve our school district...for everyone. This should be cause not only for celebration but also for overwhelming support and passage of the request at both Town Meetings.

Vote YES for this amendment to the Regional School District Agreement at the Annual Town Meetings in May and let's get started.

Wenham's Annual Town Meeting is Saturday, May 1.

Hamilton's Annual Town Meeting is Saturday, May 8.