Committee member comments on request

To the Editor:

As I was looking over my finances recently, I tried to think about the school budget in relation to my household budget. Why can't the School District just make the necessary cuts to stay within the Proposition 2 ½ restrictions? So I began to think. Why can't the Ashburnham Westminster Regional School District (AWRSD) just make cuts like I could at home?

First, the dirty word in education, mandates! Nobody wants to hear it, but it's reality. The state and federal governments tell us how we are to educate our children, what we must offer, how we need to service Special Education students, even who we are to transport to school. The AWRSD must first fund these mandates, many which are unfunded, under-funded, or funded at our costs last year. Once those costs are dealt with, then and only then, can we look at the rest of our budget. Why do we need to do this? The money we receive from the state and federal governments do not cover the laws we need to follow. We have mandates in our household as well. Would any homeowner not pay their mortgage? Would you not pay your electric bill? The mandates and our fixed costs are the major increases in this budget.

So how would I reduce my household budget to cover these increased fixed costs? I would cut expenses in my budget to cover the increase. That is easier said than done. As stated earlier, there are only certain areas you may cut due to state and federal laws. When the cuts aren't enough, you would find a part-time job or better paying job. The AWRSD has only a few ways to garner revenue and getting a part-time job is not one of them. Many have claimed that we must stay with in the Prop. 2 ½ constraints and they would be satisfied. Our problem is, our mandates and fixed costs are rising at a much higher rate than 2.5 percent. With many of these things we are bound by laws that state we must go out to bid for the service or items. Then, we are bound by the bids we receive and cannot go shop around for a better price. The bid process was designed to obtain the best pricing, but many times, municipalities and school districts pay much more than you or I could get at any store or business.

Many have said, "we gave you an override three years ago, how can you need another one?" We have stretched the dollars you have given us three years ago and added the costs of co-curricular activities into our budget, replaced some of our 10 year old computers, and continue to fund current and new mandates. The cost of doing business has risen far above making cuts that will not involve the teaching of our students. We all wish the costs didn't rise as drastically as they have, but we must measure the importance of educating our children versus offering a responsible budget. The budget we had offered had accomplished both goals and we now find ourselves in a situation that we can come close to still attaining those goals. Please support the upcoming override vote on Tuesday, Aug. 14 and help us attain those goals.

Jeffrey W. Boudreau Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee