How can we fund all activities within the operating budget?
~ SpeakOut ~
Nancy Bakanowsky ASHBURNHAM

On Aug. 15, - with very little fanfare and equally little commentary from committee members - the Ashburnham- Westminster Regional School Committee voted not to press ahead with its fiscal year 2008 override request, opting, instead, to re-certify a budget number that represented the monies previously appropriated by both member communities at their respective spring town meetings.

While the move may have quietly closed the chapter on the district's protracted and oft-contentious quest to secure an FY08 override, it loudly opened the "Pandora's Box" of user fees, which had been the bane of the district's existence from the late 1990's through the summer of 2005.

With the newly certified budget number - a number which represented an approximate decrease of $806,000 - Superintendent Michael Zapantis presented his list of recommended budget reductions to the committee. Among those reductions was a recommendation to fund athletic and co-curricular activities

at 50 percent. After accepting the superintendent's recommendation, the committee reviewed a list of funded/unfunded co-curricular activities and voted to impose a flat fee of $100 per sport per participant. Included in this vote, the same fee would also extend to members of the district's marching band.

After a two-year hiatus, user fees were once again going to rear their ugly head in the Ashburnham-Westminster school community. There was the expected political posturing/rhetoric in which several committee members expressed their "philosophical opposition" to fees, but in the end, it was a "fees"-accompli. Adding insult to injury was the fact that the fate of numerous athletic/co-curricular activities remained in limbo, with committee members saying they would take up the issue at their next regularly scheduled meeting on August 21.

I have made no secret of the fact that I believe our school district has a fiscal, as well as a moral, obligation to insulate and protect the full complement of athletic and co-curricular offerings within its regular, operational budget. While considered by many to be non-academic in nature, there is valid, empirical data, which show that these activities do confer academic benefits. They are a vital and integral part of a comprehensive public education, and as such, should be funded in their entirety.

In a previous opinion piece, I urged the district not to repeat the mistakes of the past and to please find a way to fund these academically enriching programs. It has been reported that the district is poised to receive an increase in state revenues, above and beyond what had been projected. Could these monies help to offset the unfunded balance? There is the district's Excess & Deficiency (E&D) fund to which the committee can look. Could these monies help to offset the unfunded balance? There are outside organizations and individuals who may want/choose to make private donations to athletics and/or other co-curriculars. Could these monies help to offset the unfunded balance?

I would like to offer a proposal, which I feel is worthy of further exploration on the part of the district. It is my understanding that, at the spring town meeting, Ashburnham appropriated almost $93,000 more than what was required of it. With the failure of the second override request on Aug. 14, and in accordance with the Regional Agreement, I suspect that this money will now remain in Ashburnham's town coffers.

However, would it be reasonable to think that Westminster might entertain a request to provide their proportional share to match Ashburnham's "overappropriation," with the express caveat that these monies would be used solely to offset the unfunded 50 percent of athletic and co-curricular activities? If ballpark calculations are correct, these combined dollars would come very close to closing the 50 percent gap in funding for these activities, thus erasing the need to reinstitute user fees.

I don't presume to know or understand the legal requirements surrounding such an initiative, but again, feel that this is a proposal worthy of further examination and consideration.

I remain committed to identifying ways in which our district can reasonably and effectively offer all co-curricular activities to the students of our school community. I hope the rest of our community is as well.