Trying for a smaller override
By Caitlyn Kelleher

Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee members met in a 3.5-hour meeting on Wednesday, June 13, as more than 100 parents, teachers, town officials and residents looked on in a standing room only crowd in the library of Overlook Middle School.

"I think we have to go back to the towns," said committee member Gwen Farley. "We can't maintain a school district like this."

The committee voted 10-0 to certify a budget of $27,555,571 that proposed no cuts to staff positions but asks the towns for an additional $693,538. The cuts represent $432,646 worth of non-personnel cuts and retaining free athletic and co-curricular programs.

Along with this request - which will most likely cause the towns to call special town meetings and ballot elections for an override - School Committee members asked Superintendent Michael Zapantis to review the budget for any additional cuts that were not personnel.

School Committee member Leonard Beaton proposed looking at reducing late buses, eliminating the ConnectEd communication devise and other small cuts.

On the personnel level if the second attempt at the override fails then 32 positions will be reduced in hours or eliminated if there is 50 percent funding of the extra curricular activities. In effect the equivalent of 26 full-time positions will be eliminated across the district including teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians, secretaries and other staff members

"I really believe we have an obligation to bring this back around again," said Committee Chairman David Christianson.

Christianson said the committee's job is to present a budget that is "sufficient for the education" of the students in the community.

"I'm not sure cutting 26 positions is sufficient for the education," he said.

Committee members also have to decide whether or not to fund sports and co-curricular entirely through user fees, or to split the cost between user fees and the operating budget.

"Free and equal means something to me," said commit- tee member Keith Glenny. "Either everyone gets to participate or nobody gets to play."

Other committee members also spoke out against the fees establish after significant public outcry for their elimination after the last successful override in 2004.

"The first dollar in fees prevents someone from participating," Christianson said.

The School Committee members also discussed the failure of a second ballot question on Tuesday, June 13, which was the request for $150,000 for capital improvements to the schools.

"The decision on that second vote was really disappointing," Beaton said. "To have that shot down is major."

The school district developed a fiveyear capital improvement plan last year with the decision to request $150,000 through capital exclusions (one year overrides to Proposition 2 ½) every year.

The School Committee asked Zapantis to develop a list of long-term projects that money was set aside for and a list of emergency capital projects. The School Committee may try to use some of the money from the multi-year projects to fund the emergency items and delay these larger projects.

The School Committee's next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, June 26, at the library of Overlook Middle School.