4 Reasons Why The School Committee's "Compromise Solution" is NOT

I thought about titling this blog: "Hello?...Wake Up!"  I may still.  Or perhaps I'll just insert the wake up notices wherever I feel they are appropriate.

But I digress...the main issue of this blog concerns the results of the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee's (SC) meeting of June 9.  It was at that meeting that the SC voted to "re-certify" the school district budget as a result of voter opposition to their original budget at the Hamilton Annual Town Meeting in May.

You may recall that the 2011 school district budget was OVER-FUNDED by more than $1 million and as a result, by unanimous consent of both Hamilton and Wenham's Boards of Selectmen and Finance Committees, the 2012 school budget approved at the Hamilton Town Meeting required a "give back" (or reduction from the towns) of $500k from the district, or just half of the unspent funds.  Sounds like a fair and reasonable compromise, right?

Unfortunately, the School Committee has now (once again) chosen to defy our town officials and the taxpayers by choosing to certify a new budget with only a $300k give back.

They are calling it a "compromise solution".  Here are just 4 things to consider regarding the SC's so-called "compromise solution":

1.  This spring, the SC's Working Finance Group voted to give back $350k to the taxpayers for OVER-FUNDING the 2011 school budget.  The lone dissenting vote on that committee came from SC member Richard Boroff who was subsequently trounced at the polls in a re-election bid.  (Hello?...Wake up!)  The Finance Working Group's recommendation was ignored by the full School Committee who chose instead to keep the $350k...without any kind of compromise.

2.  Both Hamilton and Wenham's Boards of Selectmen and Finance Committees originally voted to accept the $350k figure recommended by the Finance Working Group until it was discovered that the state would be providing an additional $120,000 in funding AND it was discovered that the 2012 school budget included, among other things, a salary for a non-existent Latin teacher (approximately $77,000).  At that point, all the same town officials then voted to increase the amount of the give back to $500k, again unanimously.  (Hello?...Wake Up!)

3.  The School Committee had the opportunity to end this entire issue had they agreed to give back half of the taxpayers' unspent funds.  If they had agreed to the $500k, we would be done.  It would be over.  No more Special Town Meetings.  No more arguments and fighting over what rightfully BELONGS to the taxpayers.  But instead, the SC has once again arrogantly chosen to go to battle and burden the residents of our towns with more expense, inconvenience and angst.  (Hello?...Wake Up!)

4.  Lastly, $300k is simply NOT a "compromise solution".  The SC may like the sound of that, but it's a misnomer.  You see, when it was shown that the school district had been OVER-FUNDED by $1 million in fiscal year 2011 and the Towns asked for just half of that amount to be returned...THAT was a compromise solution.

The $300k figure agreed to by the SC this week "compromises" the actual compromise solution, which is simply to give back half of what was overcharged to the taxpayers.  (Hello?...Wake Up!)

$500k is the compromise solution.  Even a third grade math student could figure that one out.

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UPDATE: 6/14/11: The following is an excerpt from a white paper provided by the Hamilton Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee days before Hamilton's Annual Town Meeting in May.  It seems appropriate to revisit the statement as we head into another Town Meeting, faced with the same issue:

"At the risk of oversimplifying, the entire question of which approach to support could be boiled down to one question: do voters/taxpayers want to put money into the District's E&D fund for either potential problems in FY12 or for expenses in FY13, or do voters/taxpayers want to keep the money in their own pockets and fund the District as needed based on the merits of those needs as they arise?  The FinComs and BoS of both towns believe that voters/taxpayers would prefer the latter."

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I want to personally offer thanks and kudos to SC vice-chairman Roger Kubel and new SC member Bill Dery for eloquently expressing what I have attempted to communicate above and for trying to make the other members of the SC understand what the real, and fair, compromise solution is.  It appears however that the remaining incumbent members learned little from the Hamilton Town Meeting's voter's wishes regarding the original budget OR the election results on their own board.  (Hello?...Wake Up!)