Committee considers possibility of override
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

A meeting with town officials and a poorly attended public hearing led the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee members into a discussion of whether to cover the shortfall in school funding with an override request.

School committee members agreed that with the tough economic conditions in both Ashburnham and Westminster asking for additional funds over the Proposition 2 ½ levy limit was going to be tough. They asked Superintendent Michael Zapantis to come back on Tuesday, March 11, with a proposal detailing which of his recommend budget items would remain under three scenarios: with no override, with a $300,000 override, and a with a $500,000 override.

Zapantis' proposed budget currently shows a $900,000 shortfall.

"We are going to have to ask for something," Chairman David Christianson said. "There are some critical items on here."

School Committee member Laura Weiderman said she could not support the addition of lacrosse to the budget and that she believes the $100 sports participation fee should remain, but she wanted to see all of the sports allowed to run with school funding. This year some of the varsity and freshman sports were eliminated and run only as self-funded programs.

"The hits taken by those sports were just too much," she said.

Many of the school committee members agreed, especially with the suggestion to retain the fees. Zapantis in his proposed budget had recommended eliminating fees.

"I despise fees," said Christianson. "I suggest, though, the financial view is not better than last year."

The committee is expecting to see a specific list of recommended items that would comprise any override request. Christianson said maybe it's time to change the process of override requests and let voters decide on specific items.

"It may be a dangerous concept," said Ashburnham Advisory Board member Leo Janssens said. "But maybe it is time to think outside of the box."

Oakmont student Tory Ryan said she thinks the fundraising efforts are good but they send the wrong message because voters will ask "Why support an override when the fundraising is doing the job?"

"You can't have a fundraiser for the curriculum renewal cycle," she said.

School Committee members also discussed using the Excess & Deficiency to fund the capital plan. Most members thought using $300,000 of approximately $785,000 from FY07 - which is attributed to unexpected revenue from the state - to pay for the capital repairs was a good idea.

Over the last few years the school committee has asked voters for a debt exclusion to pay for the capital maintenance plan.

In other business:

During the public hearing Sandy LaCert, a member of the group Future Activities and Sports, asked the School Committee to fund construction of the dugouts around the baseball fields. LaCert if the committee pays for dugouts then FAS would not have to pay back the Oakmont Booster Club, which fronted money to restore the indoor track and wrestling programs, because the cost would be a wash.

Committee members were hesitant to support the idea. Member Keith Glenny said he would only consider it "after a lengthy list of other things for E&D."