Those that voted in Holliston’s special election passed a tax override. 4,000 voters did their job and voted, I wonder how much having the election cost to count those few votes and what percentage of those that voted have school age children, just somethings to think about.
The real reason for this letter is to question budget and accountability questions. The way I understand the town’s budget system is every year the different departments are given a goal of increase or decrease in their budget given what the town feels it will raise in taxes and aid form the state. Each department comes back with what they feel they will need for each line on their budget. The Finance Committee and the Select Board review and send it back or agrees. Now it is my understanding that the School does not have a line budget, they just submit a dollar amount. The other departments with their line budgets can only spend that money on that item.
But what I have read is that the school’s budget is theirs to spend as someone see fit, there does not seem to be any checks and balances. In the news is a Massachusetts school that is a lot of money in the hole because of poor management. How do you get in the hole that much?
The override we just passed is the second one I remember that makes me question the schools ability to handle money. Their budget is like 80% of the town’s total budget. The last school override I remember was to repair the roof of the high school gym. What I heard was the roof was leaking but the school did not repair the leak. Then the leak damaged the roof decking and gym floor, so we had to fix the damage with an override instead of fixing a leak.
- This time around the school budget was set before the new contracts were signed. Well, what amount did the school plan on for pay raises when they did their budget?
- This override is for a set number of years, what is the school’s plan when that money runs out? Are they planning on cutting the teachers’ pay back to 2023 rates?
- Part of this override money is for transportation. Based on the morning traffic I drive in every school day, I question how many buses we need, since there seems to be a lot of people driving their kids to school. Why not charge parents to drop their kids off? Or maybe the money is to pay for the extra fuel needed to drive buses around town, stopping at each child’s house and not picking anyone up because their parents drove them? And let’s not talk about the stop and go traffic behind those buses.
- Based on the history of the school and asking for overrides and getting them. I am assuming the school will or has stopped doing any preventive maintenance on the high school since “we need a new school”. So, if it falls apart then they can use that to push for a new high school sooner.
- And what about a sign downtown saying the school is looking for to hire someone? Was that planned before the override or is the override for teachers also going to that position?
- Some where I read that the school committee was concerned that the “Town Manager” new powers would include power over them. What part of Town Manager not cover Holliston’s Schools?
Now the Town meeting is coming up. Maybe it is time to start asking questions?
Richard
Holliston Lifetime resident
Product of the Holliston School System.
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Very well said. The School Department should be held to the same rules and standards that the rest of the departments are.
Hi Richard,
Thank you for your comments. You asked a lot of good questions. As a former 11 year elected member of the Town’s Finance Committee and now Chair of the School Committee, I have seen and reviewed the School’s budget, for many years, from two very different viewpoints but believed and continue to believe that the HPS budget is managed in a fiscally prudent manner though it is, at a high level, complex with many different funding sources (this is not totally different from the Town’s actually, though there are likely more grants on the School side); however, despite the complexity, far more than simply the total budget request is reviewed by both the School Committee and the Finance Committee. Further, residents are always able to ask questions about the budget at Town Meeting before it is approved. Before I get to your specific questions, just want to make a couple points:
• It is correct that once Town Meeting approves the School budget, the School Committee (and under that the Administration) is able to make line item transfers that cannot be made by other departments without approval of Town Meeting (or after May 15th of each fiscal year, the Finance Committee) approval. To be clear, this is Massachusetts General Law and thus is not unique to Holliston. Massachusetts Ed Reform (way back in the early 1990s) wanted to ensure that School Departments had this flexibility to ensure that we are able to fulfill our legal obligation to students to provide 180 days of instruction each year. To be clear though, this money is not “theirs to spend as someone sees fit.” The HSC provides budget oversight (as is our statutory and fiduciary duty) and ultimately the Finance Committee reviews our budget each year and part of that review does include historical spending. We do not just provide one number to them but, as we did with the override, prior year spending levels as well. Additionally, the Fincom has the right (by bylaw) to request and receive additional information on the budget that they need to make decisions.
• I believe you are referring to the $18MM budget deficit that was discovered/announced in Brockton in August, 2023. I have not done enough research to know how they got into that much of a hole but there was clearly mismanagement. However, mismanagement in one school district does not imply mismanagement in them all and they were operating as a City which is a slightly different form of government that Holliston. I can assure you that we are spending within out means and are nothing like Brockton.
• The Holliston School Budget is ~55% of the Town’s budget not 80% and even if you “fully load it” by including benefits and other costs the Town incurs for the School’s benefit (School Resource Officers, DPW ploughing, employee benefits, etc) it is likely ~65%.
• The last operational override was 2010. I inquired about any previous override to fund the high school gym and was told by our administration that this simply is not accurate. There was spending to repair leaks but this was not funded by an override. Regardless, that would have been a debt exclusion override similar to the overrides passed in 2023 for Town sidewalks and a new DPW facility.
• This recent override had nothing to do with how the Schools handle money. You are free to question that if you want, but it is not factually accurate. The recent override is the result of a structural failure of Proposition 2.5 (that limits the annual increase in a municipalities tax levy to 2.5% per year) in a world where inflation is above 2.5%. Ultimately, it is really that simple. There are a number of secondary longer-term issues that have contributed to the matter such as slowing New Growth in Holliston, the failure of the State House to increase state aid at even a 2.5% rate over the past 20+ years, a dramatic increase in special education costs driven by the legislatures approval of 14% increases in Tuition rates, etc. Ultimately though, it comes back to the fact that Prop 2.5 was passed with an arbitrary number and without any flexibility in periods when inflation is not low.
Moving on to your questions:
1) We built in a number that we believed that the Town could afford while remaining consistent with positions we had taken during collective bargaining and to ensure that we were always bargaining in good faith.
2) The override is permanent.
3) There is current work and an advisory committee looking at the both the start times and transportation issues. Once they made a recommendation, the HSC will review and make final decisions. Some of the issues you bring up in your question such as number of picks ups is part of the conversation. However, there are many factors that have gone into the increased traffic in our Town and most of them have nothing to do with the Schools. Is there more traffic when School is in session? Absolutely. And this has always been true. But traffic has increased for other reasons as well.
4) The town (which includes the schools) is 50/50 now historically on operational overrides. Of the 8 operational overrides, only 4 have passed. Separately, debt exclusion overrides have been more successful (as is true across the State) but the Schools have not requested one of those in many years (before the last operational override in 2010 actually). The last 3 debt exclusion overrides were all for the town: 1) Traffic lights (ultimately not used); 2) sidewalks; and 3) a DPW facility. That said, we do anticipate making a significant ask in the future for a new high school. However, we have not stopped spending to maintain our buildings. In fact, we have increased spending. One of the prerequisites of the state grant program actually is that you continue to maintain your buildings. Most recently, we repaired (with a mix of federal ARPA money and Town Meeting approved town funds) the wall outside the HHS auditorium which had been leaking for many years. Separately from the High School, we also revitalized our three playgrounds on the Woodland Street campuses, replaced the shingled section of the Placentino/Miller roof as well as the skylights, and are in the process of finalizing a resurfacing of the High School track. HPS also rolled out a maintenance reporting tool last year to allow for staff to report issues to hopefully get them resolved quicker.
5) The positions advertised on the Town’s electronic sign were fully budgeted for in the budget passed by Town Meeting before the override. The specific position was actually for multiple openings for paraprofessionals which is a job that we are almost constantly looking for people for. This is very similar to most school districts.
6) State law has specifically given Schools the ability to operate separately from the Town. Since the Town Manager act is essentially asking the legislature to pass a new state law, we wanted to ensure that it was clearly and explicitly consistent with current state law and practices. The only real remaining concern was that the draft language gives the Town Manager control over emergencies. We wanted the Schools carved out from that to ensure that our leadership maintained its authority during any emergencies which is important due to specialized training they receive and school specific matters. Of course this is all done in conjunction with the HPD and HFD which are under the TM, so everyone will need to work well together regardless. In fact, the HPD and HPS (and I believe HFD) hold emergency trainings annually to ensure collaboration and coordination. The HSC has no role in any of this.
While I believe that this is a fairly comprehensive set of answers to your questions, should you wish to discuss further, I am always available to chat. Please just reach out (alfredd@hsc.holliston.k12.ma.us) and we can find a time.
To Maryalis’ statement/comment above. I believe that the Schools are held to the spirit of the same rules and standards as the rest of the departments. It is just, as discussed above, that there need to be differences due to Mass General Law.
Thanks you again for your questions.
Dan
(For avoidance of doubt, I am speaking on behalf of myself only and any views expressed above are mine and do not represent those of the Holliston School Committee or the Holliston Public Schools)