Which way is enrollment at NRHS going?

Report states average enrollment for all regional schools going down, while costs continue to rise and state aid is inadequate for most school districts.

Auditor finds $17M state funding shortfall for regional schools

October 26, 2017

n Oct. 18, State Auditor Suzanne Bump released a study making recommendations to modernize laws and regulations within the regional school district structure – and calling on the state to fulfill its commitments to several reimbursement programs.
 
Among the recommendations are that the state should “fully fund its commitment to reimburse 100 percent of regional transportation expenses, offer stipends to encourage efficiencies to reduce transportation costs, and allow the use of regional transportation authorities to provide regional school district transportation.”
 
State law entitles regional school districts to full reimbursement for school transportation expenses, but this promise is subject to annual appropriation. In fiscal 2016, the reimbursement rate from the state was just 73 percent, the auditor reported, creating a collective shortfall of $14.4 million in this category for regional districts.
 
“The resulting uncertainty from year to year about the level of transportation cost reimbursement makes budget planning difficult” for regional school districts, the report states.
 
The report also concluded that the state’s underfunding of the statutory charter school reimbursement formula created a collective shortfall of $1.88 million for regional districts in fiscal 2016.
 
In addition, the state in fiscal 2016 underfunded reimbursements to regional districts under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act by more than $686,000.
 
The report concluded that “statutory shortfalls” affecting regional school districts totaled nearly $17 million in fiscal 2016.
 
State law provides towns with options to regionalize public education across municipal boundaries, with the goal of reducing administrative costs. Under this arrangement, the towns in a regional school district establish a school committee with proportional representation from each member town. Budgets for these districts must be approved by town meetings for each town in the district.
 
The state has 58 academic regional school districts, which enroll approximately 107,000 students from more than 170 communities.
 
“Ensuring student success in our regional school districts will … demand collaboration between state and local educational officials, and lawmakers,” Bump said in a statement.
 
Bump is calling on the state to modernize its funding structure for regional schools by doing the following:
 
• Developing deeper incentives to encourage communities to regionalize, noting that the current incentives do not provide enough enticement for schools to give up some measure of local control
• Offering planning grants to explore the combination of existing regional districts into larger groupings
• Ensuring greater transparency from the Massachusetts School Building Authority on its decision-making process for districts that close school facilities
 
The study points to demographic changes, long-standing structural challenges, and funding shortfalls as key factors that de-incentivize communities from moving forward with new or enhanced school regionalization.
 
During the decade ending with the 2015-16 school year, regional school enrollment declined by 10.5 percent, while statewide public school enrollment declined by just 1.6 percent, according to the report. Overhead costs, however, continue to rise, and state funding is inadequate for many of these districts.
 
The Auditor’s Division of Local Mandates produced the study.
 
• View the report: Supporting Student and Community Success: Updating the Structure and Finance of Massachusetts Regional School Districts.
 

Anonymous10:04 PM

I question the TA/Fellow combination satisfying the citizens vote 5/14/2013.


Section 4: Town Administrator-
“The Board of Selectmen is authorized and empowered to appoint a town
administrator who may be appointed for a term of one or three years, and to remove
the town administrator at their discretion. The town administrator appointed under the
provisions of this section shall be sworn to the faithful performance of the duties of
the office. During the time that the town administrator holds office the town
administrator shall hold no elective town office, but may be appointed by the Board
of Selectmen or, with their approval, by any other town officer, board, committee or
commission, to any other town office or position consistent with the town
administrator’s office. The Town Administrator shall receive such aggregate
compensation, not exceeding the amount appropriated therefore, as the Board of
Selectmen may determine. The Town Administrator shall act by and for the Board of
Selectmen in any matter which the Board may assign to the town administrator
relating to the administration of the affairs of the town or of any town office or
department under their supervision and control, or, with the approval of the Board of
Selectmen, may perform such other duties as may be requested by any other town
officer, board, committee or commission.”
And, further, to reflect the above-mentioned amendment to Article III of the
Templeton Revised General By-Laws, the following Templeton Revised General ByLaw
sections will also be amended by replacing the title of “Town Coordinator” with
the title of “Town Administrator” in
Article XLII-Capital Planning By-Law- Section 1:
And in: Article XLVII-Personnel By-Law –Section 3(b) and Section 3 (c)
Passed/May 16th @ 8:37

The above is from a town meeting vote but if you check the current Town by-laws on the Templeton Town website; you find this:

Section 4. “It shall be duty of the Town Administrator in conjunction with the BOS to consider expenditures and develop a budget for the ensuing fiscal year of the several boards, officers and committees of the town, as prepared by them in such form and detail as prescribed by the Town Administrator.” 

Passed 5-16-13, Approved by A/G 8-22-13. Amended 5-19-14, Approved by A/G 7-2-14

  

Section 4 was amended or changed on May 19, 2014, so there is no by-law change listed showing the creation of or change from town coordinator to town administrator. This glitch was brought to the attention to the selectmen by the Advisory Committee and it went to the Town attorney for review. An opinion/ideas on what may have happened with regards to intent of section 4. The selectmen have never addressed this, even though there is an outline of how to address it. So the question is; why not? Perhaps our favorite selectmen, master Fortes can address this and "fight" for its correction just as he stated he was fighting to have town employee salaries included in the annual town report. 

My thought is do not hold your breath.

MEMORANDUM – OFFICE OF THE TOWN ADMINISTRATOR
TO: Board of Selectmen
FROM: Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator
RE: Administrator’s Weekly Report
DATE: October 26, 2017
CC: All Departments

Important Notices 

Positions Now Open: PT Police Officers & Dispatchers 

Fall Town Meeting: 7:00 P.M on November 14th at Narragansett Regional Middle School 

Town Hall Hours Change 11/01 (Mon 7:30a to 6:30p; T/W/Th 7:30a to 4:30p) 

Please post notices now and prepare to change web pages and printing CoB 10/31 

It’s not too early to begin to think about your FY ’19 OPEX and CAPEX budget requests. 

Expect budget guidance on or about 12/01/17 and submissions due back on or about 01/01/18 

Please make sure all of your units and committees are submitting their projects to the CPC!

Business Meeting or Workshop: The following is intended to supplement agenda items where a full memorandum may not have been required or updates are needed. N/A

Weekly Report: Efforts were spent finalizing the Fall TM Warrant and circulating it out. I’ve invited the AC to include their recommendation in the Summaries and Motions package for the convenience of the users and savings in production labor and costs. I attended the Capital Planning Committee. Below is the proposed listing of the reading of motions, advocates, and staff resources in keeping with the policy Draft you reviewed at the 10/16 workshop. Please review this against the Final Warrant and let me know if any changes are desired.

Seating Order       Motion & Advocacy              Staff Resource(s)              Other Advocates

 Mr. Caplis              1, 2, 3                                   Kelli & CT 

Mr. Fortes                4, 5, 6                                   4, 5: Kelli & CT 

                                                                             6: CT & R. Hanks 

Ms. Richard             7, 8, 9                                   7: A. Mayo 

                                                                             8 & 9: CT 

Mr. Morrison          10,11,12, 13                         10, 11: Kelli & CT              K. Moschetti #12 & #13 

Ms. Brooks            14, 15, & 16                         15: DM 16: S. Castle          J. Henshaw #14

We began planning for the entry of the Fellow on Monday and look forward to keeping him quite busy. Background materials were provided to the ZBA in the run-up to the 11/01 Day Mill hearing. I’ve become aware of various issues the AG’s office had with both the Veterans Oversight Committee and the Trenching By-Law. We will craft necessary amendments for the ATM. We received the specs for the CoA siding. We are reviewing them now and hope to have it out to bid within two weeks.


"Entry of the fellow" -??? I have gone through the Town Meeting appropriations and found no such position. I have found no motion for a part time Town Administrator nor a "fellow" Again, my thought is the selectmen have ignored Town Meeting vote, which called for the position of a Town Administrator and Town Meeting has appropriated $110,000.00 for that position. (more than the salary for the mayor of Gardner, MA) So, is this fellow a full time position? Does that mean added benefit costs to taxpayers to over. If you reccall, there was concern stated by the interim and part time town administrator that there might not be enough money to pay health insurance costs for town employees. You may also recall (it was includes in several memos from said T/A) that with the position of fire chief open, the requirements of funds may balance out and there would be no need for a financial transfer. That sounds like more financial games and perhaps the real reason the full time position of fire chief was left vacant, in my opinion.


Any way you look at Town finance, it appears not much has changed, less transparency, less business in the open, more power moves by the board of selectmen, selectmen failing to follow state law, town by-laws and even a chairman of the board of selectmen telling a citizen/resident that he does not have to listen to them. There is a meeting to watch to see exactly what was said and to whom and that is next. Here I thought that a selectmen is elected and is suppose to represent the people. I would think those are the ones a selectmen should listen to and is obligated to listen to. Perhaps that thought is against what this group of selectmen is for.

Also, remember, anyone at town meeting can and should ask anyone who is for a particular article, if they have any vested interest in said article, especially if it is financial.

A way to have streets plowed while being cost effetive:

“Needless to say, it is absolutely vital to running a successful winter program to maintain an adequate fleet of hired plows and sanders,” Mr. Moosey wrote in a report that goes before the City Council Tuesday night. “Maintaining an experienced and reliable fleet of hired equipment that can be quickly pressed into service when need arises is both cost-effective and operationally efficient.

The above is a quote from the Telegram with regards to the city of Worcester and it shows an approach that some towns use as well. Ashburnham, Hubbardston both use limited numbers of hired contractors. One of the benefits is the Town only pays when the contractor is used. The Town increases the number of plows/sanders on hand without the big investment of equipment and the costs of full time employees (salary and benefit package). Contractors help control costs while aiding in clear and safe roads during the winter months. What a concept?

townadministrator <townadministrator@templeton1.org>

 

|

Mon 10/16, 10:15 AM

You;

'Kelli Pontbriand' (accountant@templeton1.org);

'Selectman Caplis' (selectmen.caplis@templeton1.org);

You replied on 10/17/2017 9:04 PM.

We each have our point of view on the value of input of effort versus the value of the output and I shan’t belabor it.

That said, we will continue to do our best to get you the answers to your questions as they arise.

Many Thanks

Carter Terenzini

Interim Town Administrator

Town of Templeton

160 Patriots Road

East Templeton, MA 01438

(978) 894-2753

From: jeff bennett [mailto:j_bennett506@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2017 7:18 AM
To: townadministrator <townadministrator@templeton1.org>; 'Kelli Pontbriand' <accountant@templeton1.org>
Cc: 'Selectman Caplis' <selectmen.caplis@templeton1.org>; 'Selectwoman, Diane' <seldhaleybrooks@templeton1.org>; 'Doug Morrison, Selectmen' <seldmorrison@templeton1.org>; selectmen.fortes@templeton1.org; selectmen.richard@templeton1.org
Subject: Re: Advisory Committee and Town by-laws

Not to continue to hit a foul ball, but in the past, as in the end of the fiscal year 2017 BvA, there is a line item with group insurance, an appropriation and an expended amount, also a percentage of change, as in 100 %. So anyone can actually see what had been spent of the group insurance appropriation. If one million dollars had been appropriated at town meeting and the July BvA shows 100% spent, I believe anyone can take from that; the "premium was paid in full, saving taxpayer dollars. I know that the change with less detail is your preference Carter, but lets be honest; the budget format you chose to use has less detail, less clarity and it is designed to give town meeting less detail, less to look at, less to question and gives you more room to move things around. If there was the kind of line item detail as before, there would be no need to spend much time, of which you only have a couple days per week, on emailing questions back and forth. The explanation would be there for all to see. I believe you can expect many questions concerning town finance coming your way very very soon, so you may wish to clear the calendar.

respectfully;
Jeff Bennett

Advisory vice-chairman

---

From: townadministrator <townadministrator@templeton1.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 9:06 AM
To: 'jeff bennett'; 'Kelli Pontbriand'
Cc: 'Selectman Caplis'; 'Selectwoman, Diane'; 'Doug Morrison, Selectmen'; selectmen.fortes@templeton1.org; selectmen.richard@templeton1.org
Subject: RE: Advisory Committee and Town by-laws

Good Day:

While it was not uncommon for some towns to use the accounting systems for the kind of details you had formerly it is also not uncommon for a town to have as few as two (personnel and expenses) accounts.  We chose to collect our expenditures around their activity.  Even reverting to the old system would not tell you if the insurance was paid in full for the year.  We can always give you a specific response to any question  that you have and are more than happy to do so.

Kindly understand that there is no addition to the overall staffing levels within the finance unit.  We had 5 f.t.e’s and when we added the .5 Assistant Town Accountant we reduce the Deputy Treasurer Collector to .5.  The total staffing remains at 5 f.t.e’s.  That said, we are looking at how we might give you some better access to payments (perhaps posting the payment register on-line) and would hope to complete that within the next week or two. 

Many Thanks

Kelli &
Carter Terenzini
Interim Town Administrator
Town of Templeton
160 Patriots Road
East Templeton, MA 01438
(978) 894-2753

From: jeff bennett [mailto:j_bennett506@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 7:03 AM
To: 'Kelli Pontbriand' <accountant@templeton1.org>
Cc: Selectman Caplis <selectmen.caplis@templeton1.org>; Selectwoman, Diane <seldhaleybrooks@templeton1.org>; Doug Morrison, Selectmen <seldmorrison@templeton1.org>; selectmen.fortes@templeton1.org; Town Administrator <townadministrator@templeton1.org>; selectmen.richard@templeton1.org
Subject: Advisory Committee and Town by-laws

All;
I have again been tasked by a vote of the Advisory Committee to bring to your attention as well as to high lite one article/section of the general by-laws of Templeton;

Article IV, section 5 -Article IV – Advisory Committee:

Section 5. In the discharge of its duty, said committee shall have free access to all books of record and accounts, bills and vouchers on which money has been or may be paid from the town treasury. Officers, boards, and committees of the town shall, upon request, furnish said committee with facts, figures, and any other information pertaining to their several activities.

We bring this up because in the discharge of our stated responsibilities and duty, we look at the recent document of expenditures or the budget versus actual and we do not see the accounts and records in the detail required to look at and analyze the spending and care of taxpayer dollars. For instance, with the current presentation, the committee cannot see if the Town has paid group (health) insurance in full, which if done, saves taxpayer dollars. This is one of the reasons for the committee asking for a return of detail in the monthly expenditure reports sent out from the office of the Town Accountant. With the addition of more staff, assistant town accountant, the committee feels this would be a simple and beneficial step towards bringing resident confidence back to town government.


respectfully;
Jeff Bennett
Advisory Committee vice-chairman
on behalf of the committee


Selectmen Fortes calls this email a threat to town employees; I ask where is the threatening statement. Seems master Fortes feels informing a town employee (s) to expect many questions very soon, so you may wish to set aside some time is threatening town employees. In my opinion, master Fortes has a problem with the facts and reading comprehension. My opinion of master Fortes and the by-law change is so he and his fellow BOS members can have a rubber stamp committee so as to cut down on the many questions they receive on their questionable financial moves.

from the website of Westminster, MA
The Advisory Board reviews all fiscal and capital matters of the town. This includes expenditures by town departments and officers, methods of conduct used in town business, conduct of town officers, and all articles in town warrants for Town Meetings. The Board consists of seven members appointed by the Town Moderator for terms of three years. Members must be registered voters living in the town and cannot be a town officer or committee member with a role involving the care, custody, or disposal of town funds or property. They consider the needs of all citizens and then make budget recommendations at Annual Town Meetings.

from the website of Ashburnham, MA

The Advisory Board is made up of seven members, all volunteers, who are appointed by the Town Moderator for a term of three years. The Town’s General Bylaws direct the Advisory Board to give recommendations that it deems best for the interests of the Town and its citizens on all department budgets, transfer requests, warrant articles, zoning articles and by law articles. The Advisory Board’s goal is to give Town residents an objective viewpoint on all matters to be considered at Annual and Special Town Meetings. Their recommendations are intended to ensure the residents of Ashburnham are receiving the best mix of services for the amount of taxes being collected. Since the members of the Advisory Board are appointed by the Town Moderator, they act as a check and balance to the Town’s elected boards and committees as well as those individuals, boards and committees appointed by the Board of Selectmen and the Town Administrator.

from the website of Winchendon, MA

Finance Committee: It shall be the duty of the Committee to investigate the financial affairs of the town, including receipts of and expenditures by the different departments, or any Town Officer; the methods in which the town business is conducted; the general conduct of the town affairs; and all the articles in town warrants for town meetings referred to it; and, in the discharge of its duties, shall have free access to all books of accounts, books of record and all accounts, bills, and vouchers on which money has been or may be paid from the town treasury.

from the desk of selectmen Fortes:
Jeffery;

In some town's the advisory committee does the budget but in Templeton they do not. In some communities the finance committee is appointed by the Board of Selectmen.

We could circle around what some town's do but I'm going to be speak to Templeton. We are a 15 million budget and the Selectmen in this community create the budget. In this community they also dictate policy and direct town officials or designate the town administrator to manage day to day operations.

The advisory committee role is not to attempt to threaten or intimidate town employees. They are also not our community watch dog. 15 million is a small budget and the books are well managed by our town accountant. 

We also have an auditor who check the books for illegal or unethical accounting or financial practices. These people went to college and are certified by a board to run a practice and I don't think I need to mention how the DoR operates. 

Why is that hard to understand. Reach out to a few other communities and see how their advisory committee operates. Call up the DoR and see if your are within your scope to request transactional records? I'll save you the time and tell you no. No town does that and I don't see how spending your time chasing financial transactions is well spent.

Why not spend it making budget recommendations and giving quantative evidence to support that? I'm sorry I have to step in and tell a man of your caliber to act appropriately but I will not have your threats take place within our community and I will most certainly not be fighting with you over your role much longer. 

I recommend you take your position seriously and start making your recommendations to the budget December 31st doesn't leave much time for impact.

Regards Jeffery,

Cameron Fortes 

from the Templeton Town website -


Saturday, May 14, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. then and there to act on the following articles:

 ARTICLE 1 CONSENT AGENDA To see if the Town will vote to establish a consent agenda for Town Meeting to adopt one or more non-controversial articles in one motion; or take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen

1-A REPORTS OF TOWN OFFICERS To see if the Town will vote to accept the reports of the Town Officers as printed in the 2015 Town Report; or take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen

1-B REPORTS OF TOWN COMMITTEES To see if the Town will vote to allow any of the Town Committees to present their reports; or to take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen

1-C REVOLVING FUNDS To see what revolving funds pursuant to Chapter 44, Section 53E1/2 of the General Laws of the Commonwealth the Town will authorize or reauthorize for various boards, commissions or departments of the Town, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2016 and ending June 30, 2017; or take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen A motion was duly made and seconded that the town vote to that the Reports of Town Officers, Reports of Town Committees and the Revolving Funds set forth below, be hereby approved.

A substitute motion was duly made and seconded that Article 1 Report of Town Offices, Reports of Town Committees and the Revolving Funds be split into parts as follows:
1A-Reports of Town Officers
1B-Reports of Town Committees
1C-Revovling Funds and voted individually

A motion was duly made and seconded to move the substitute motion. Passed Unanimously/May 14th @ 9:18am

On the substitute motion to separate Article 1 Passed/May 14th @ 9:19am

1A A motion was duly made and seconded to have the Town Report accepted as is but to have the Board of Selectmen be authorized to add an addendum to report at a later date.

A motion was duly made and seconded to move the question. Passed Unanimously/May 14th @ 9:41am

On the 1 A motion. Defeated/May 14th @ 9:42am 

1B A motion was duly made and seconded that the town will vote to allow any of the Town Committees to present their reports. Passed Unanimously/May 14th @ 9:46am

1CA motion was duly made and seconded that the Revolving Funds set forth below, be hereby approved  Passed Unanimously/May 14th @ 10:01

Question: Since the 1 A motion failed, does that mean Town Meeting did not accept the annual Town Report as presented? There is no record of a vote to accept it as there is for the other two parts. Did the moderator miss that? Did the Town clerk miss that? Seems there is one item on the warrant for the annual Town meeting of 2016 that was not actually voted on. So a question might be, did the Town not accept the 2015 annual Town Report? Why did the selectmen not address this?

I believe by the above vote on the 1 a motion, the Town Meeting told the selectmen they did not want any later addendum, they want a Town Report to be complete and the selectmen failed to carry out Town Meeting vote or instruction. Perhaps that is why the chairman of the Board of selectmen failed to respond to a citizen who questioned the lack of reports by the Treasurer and Town Accountant which is a violation of Templeton Town by-laws and MGL. Again, perhaps less time lecturing Advisory Committee or citizens and more time doing your duty!