| FY | FTE Pupils |
Tuition | FTE Pupils |
Tuition | ||
| 1996 | 2.0 | 10,712 | 22.6 | 68,228 | ||
| 1997 | 0.0 | 0 | 25.1 | 94,157 | ||
| 1998 | 0.0 | 0 | 34.3 | 111,175 | ||
| 1999 | 0.0 | 0 | 41.4 | 157,861 | ||
| 2000 | 0.0 | 0 | 50.9 | 195,725 | ||
| 2001 | 13.6 | 56,720 | 50.1 | 205,265 | ||
| 2002 | 31.6 | 158,025 | 52.1 | 215,809 | ||
| 2003 | 46.1 | 253,269 | 69.1 | 294,177 | ||
| 2004 | 54.4 | 285,457 | 77.7 | 358,707 | ||
| 2005 | 75.7 | 381,290 | 68.6 | 313,515 | ||
| 2006 | 98.4 | 456,837 | 71.0 | 322,967 | ||
| 2007 | 109.5 | 522,863 | 79.1 | 369,657 | ||
| 2008 | 114.1 | 598,163 | 91.3 | 432,477 | ||
| 2009 | 111.7 | 672,264 | 92.0 | 475,194 | ||
| 2010 | 130.1 | 702,148 | 99.9 | 545,648 | ||
| 2011 | 130.4 | 749,970 | 100.7 | 563,277 | ||
| 2012 | 144.4 | 803,812 | 111.3 | 620,991 | ||
| 2013 | 141.6 | 864,074 | 105.4 | 652,998 | ||
| 2014 | 152.6 | 837,136 | 127.0 | 765,773 | ||
| 2015 | 150.2 | 862,803 | 139.2 | 867,398 | ||
| 2016 | 185.7 | 1,089,601 | 141.6 | 794,982 | ||
| 2017 | 201.3 | 1,172,980 | 136.2 | 721,752 | ||
| 2018 | 217.1 | 1,337,639 | 121.7 | 641,734 | ||
| 2019 | 243.1 | 1,425,922 | 143.4 | 769,575 |
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Trends in school choice for Narragansett school district:
ORANGE — All of Orange’s elementary school students — from preschoolers to sixth-graders — should go to Fisher Hill Elementary School.
That is the option architects and school officials are choosing to pursue after months of studying potential solutions for the Dexter Park project. The Dexter Park project is the town’s effort to replace Dexter Park Innovation School, which is currently the town’s school for third through sixth grade, and has the lowest possible rating from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
The town’s School Building Committee met with architects from Raymond Design Associates and Martin Goulet of Hill International Inc., which is managing the project on behalf of the town, Thursday night, and unanimously decided to pursue an addition to, and renovation of, Fisher Hill as the town’s future elementary school.
“We have a great opportunity to build a great campus,” said School Committee member Alex Schwanz. “A school is not just the building itself.”
The plan now is to add a three-story wing to the northern side of the current Fisher Hill building, which would be where students in the third grade up will be educated. The new wing would also be where a new entrance to the school would be built, with a new drive to be added to control traffic flow.
Preschool and kindergarten students would still be educated in the same areas they currently are, with a new playground to be built for them.
The final result would not just be the three-story addition, however, and architects at RDA emphasized that the current building would be renovated, potentially getting new, larger windows to let in more natural light.
The addition and renovation would happen during “phased construction,” with some construction happening in the summer and some during the school year, said Dan Bradford, project architect for RDA, with Dexter Park students staying in school at Dexter Park during construction. After the wing is completed, Dexter Park would be demolished, and new playing fields built over Dexter Park’s current footprint.
Schwanz and others liked the idea of having more fields at Fisher Hill, and mentioned the possibility of town residents being able to use them during after-school hours for recreation.
Many of the details of the project still need to be fleshed out, but, according to Goulet, initial price estimates put the project at around $50.9 million — around 80 percent of which is estimated to be reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
Goulet said there are many variables, such as materials and window sizes, that could increase or decrease the price, and that he’ll be a “stick in the mud” reminding the town that “everything has a price tag.”
Of course, this project will not happen if it is not accepted by Orange voters, who just rejected a half-million-dollar Proposition 2½ tax override this past week amid fiscal woes.
Hill International and RDA expect to present a final schematic design and proposal for the project to be finished early next year, and for residents to vote on the project at the 2020 Annual Town Meeting.
Build-time estimates are around 24 months — from when the construction starts — Bradford said.
The project chosen Thursday night is the result of an $875,000 “feasibility study” voters approved last year to examine potential solutions to the problems at Dexter Park.
Built in 1951, Dexter Park was designated a “Category 4” school by the Massachusetts School Building Authority in 2006. Category 4 is the worst rating from the authority, and demonstrates a need for substantial repairs or replacement. Only one of nine schools in the state with Category 4 status, Dexter Park was given the designation after boiler and heating problems, a leaking roof, asbestos and opaque windows.
The feasibility study — also being reimbursed by the state at a rate around 80 percent — looked at more than 20 options to fix these problems, including renovating Dexter Park, building a new school at the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School campus and resurrecting the old Butterfield School building, which was closed in 2015 to alleviate pressure on the town budget.
Thursday night, only two options remained, the Fisher Hill addition and renovation, and a three-story entirely new building to be built in front of the current Dexter Park building. The latter option was eliminated for several reasons: First, it would be slightly more expensive than the Fisher Hill option, and second, only Dexter Park would be demolished, leaving Fisher Hill a decommissioned building overlooking the new school.
Selectboard Chairman Ryan Mailloux said it would be difficult to convince taxpayers to decommission another building, and described the option as having Fisher Hill “looming” over the new school, detracting from the new school’s value.
A detailed schematic of the Fisher Hill addition and renovation is viewable on the project’s Facebook page titled “Dexter Park Improvements.”
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268
Friday, August 2, 2019
For the most part, you can substitute Narragansett for Medfield and paint a pretty accurate picture of the situation regarding school choice and its effect on both Templeton and Phillipston.
(from a 2018 article wicked local newsbank)
(from a 2018 article wicked local newsbank)
In Massachusetts, a 1991 initiative known as inter-district school choice gives parents the option of enrolling their children in a public school district in a community other than their hometown. While the law lets each school district decide whether to accept out-of-district students, no district can deny its students the right to leave.
“School choice money can be a major factor in determining both the revenue you gain and the revenue you lose for many school districts,” said Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. “Depending on where you are, districts may really depend on that money to sustain the services they’re able to provide to students ... School choice has made districts a little more competitive with each other.”
In 2016 and 2017, Medfield had around eight students leave the town for school choice, adding up to around $50,000 in assessments. That amounts to around 0.14 percent of the school budget, but some parents say that money should be spent on salaries.
Since state funding follows the students, school choice has had the unintended consequence of widening the gap between affluent suburban districts and cash-strapped urban and rural school systems, according to some critics. When a student leaves one public school system for another, state funding goes from the sending district to the receiving district in the form of school choice tuition. To soften the blow for sending districts, the state caps school choice tuition payments at $5,000 per student.
For districts that gain and lose large numbers of school choice students, the aggregate financial impact can be large.
In Medfield, the town has opted not to receive students through school choice every year since the program’s inception in 1991.
School Superintedent Jeffrey Marsden said there are a number of reasons Medfield doesn’t accept students from other districts, including concern about class sizes and the budget issues that would be created.
“We’ve had conversations about it, but we just didn’t think it was a good idea,” Marsden said. “Part of it is that we had projections of class sizes being high.”
This school year, some classes are up to 25 students, well above the district’s goal of 20 or 21 per classroom.
“It just doesn’t make any sense to add more students from outside the district when we’re already looking into building a new elementary school,” Town Administrator Michael Sullivan said.
The budgetary numbers for school choice also don’t add up, Sullivan said.
“We spend around $14,000 to $15,000 per student, and if we’re going to get $5,000 per student from school choice, that’s not a very good deal,” he said.
Marsden added that Medfield residents have chosen to invest in their schools as a service to the children in town.
“Strong education is part of the philosophy of this community,” he said. “An overwhelming percentage of residents moved here because of the schools. The community really values and treasures its schools, and we’re all very proud of that fact. To bring someone from outside the district to only get $5,000 back, there’s a fairness factor involved. We’re also not running a business, trying to pack kids into our schools to create revenue. This community values spending money to educate its own children.”
Sullivan said school choice can work well for other districts, especially when they have a higher percentage of commercial and industrial properties. Businesses pay taxes without adding children to the school system, so a city like Cambridge or Boston can afford to add students to the district from outside. But since Medfield is 94 percent residential, with about 21 percent of its residents in the school system, it would be much harder to afford the extra students, Sullivan said.
“The schools are doing a very good job, so people move here for the schools,” he said.
At least one parent doesn’t agree with Marsden and Sullivan. Chris McCue wrote in a letter to the Medfield Press that she believes school choice is “a potentially viable option for addressing budget shortfalls.”
“Holliston received $969,229 in School Choice tuition this year, and was able to restrict participation to 6th, 7th, 9th and 11th grades, according to a recent report on the MA Department of Education website,” she said. “On the flip side, Medfield paid $56,234 in FY18 school choice tuition for students who left to attend receiving districts.”
McCue also said that the committee is not following the law. The state requires each district to discuss school choice each year, at a public hearing held before June 1. Last year, the school committee voted to opt out of school choice at its June 5 meeting.
“It’s unacceptable that the school committee has not held the required public hearings on school choice as required by law,” McCue said. “How does Medfield get away with not adhering to the law, and then put on the table potential teacher layoffs in 6th grade due to declining enrollment?”
Marsden said the district is meeting state requirements and following the example set by other districts.
“By having school choice on the posted agenda for a public meeting, that satisfies the requirement for a public hearing,” he said. “To say that we are not holding these hearings is just not true. Does the state require the meeting be held before June 1? Yes. Does just about every other district make their decision during the first meeting in June? Yes.”
Whatever opinion parents and residents have about the school budget, they are welcome to attend the next school committee meeting. A public hearing, specifically for the purpose discussing next year’s school budget, will be held on Monday, Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lowell Mason Auditorium at Medfield High School.
Opposite experiences among neighbors
In the small town of Avon, more than a quarter of all students enrolled in the public school system come from other communities on school choice. According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, school choice students brought more than $958,000 into Avon last fiscal year.
“The choice revenue is close to a million dollars, or about 11 percent of our budget,” Avon Superintendent Paul Zinni said. “When you’re talking about 11 percent added into your budget, that’s significant.”
In nearby Brockton and Randolph, the situation is drastically different. Randolph lost more than $850,000 due to school choice last year, while Brockton lost $1.3 million, according to the DESE.
Brockton schools have struggled financially in recent years, and losing students to both school choice and charter schools hasn’t helped.
“We’ve cut almost every program and extracurricular,” said Brockton’s chief budget officer, Aldo Petronio. “We’ve laid off probably 150 teachers out of 1,400 over the past few years.”
Petronio, though, said the impact of school choice has been minimal compared to charter schools. Because of the cap on school choice tuition, Brockton loses $5,000 per student leaving on school choice. Each student who leaves for a charter school, however, draws more than $11,000 in funding away from the district, he said.
“I think charter schools should be funded the same way school choice is funded, with a cap of $5,000 per student,” Petronio said.
Koocher said similar concerns are common in urban districts losing large numbers of students to charter schools.
“If a charter school comes in and disrupts the entire economy of scale, that can be enraging to a district,” Koocher said. “With school choice at $5,000 per kid, you’re willing to live with that even if you’re not happy with it. But with charters, you could lose $18,000 per kid. It’s a white hot, if not blue hot, public policy issue because you can really cripple a district with a charter school draining the money.”
Marketing themselves
In recent years, many public schools have undertaken more efforts to market themselves to parents in the community, highlighting programs and success stories. The intent is to retain some of the families thinking about sending their children elsewhere.
Milford Superintendent of School Kevin McIntyre said such outreach efforts have become much more common throughout the state.
“I would say a decade ago, a lot of schools didn’t necessarily have to market to their own residents,” he said. “Now we find we have to share all the great things that are happening in the Milford Public Schools on a regular basis with members of our community.”
Milford lost $1.2 million in funding due to 198 students leaving in fiscal 2017, but brought in more than $584,000 from 103 pupils opting into the district, according to the DESE. Internal district data McIntyre provided is slightly different from the state data, showing 112 students coming in and 193 leaving.
“We definitely have a school choice deficit, but over the last few years, we’ve been seeing that trend start to reverse,” McIntyre said. “We’re seeing the number of students choicing in increasing dramatically.”
The increase in students coming in has led to Milford having to turn away some school choice students in certain grades due to limited capacity. When demand exceeds capacity, the state requires receiving school districts to hold a blind lottery. Preference can be given to siblings of students already in the school system.
“Sometimes a neighboring district may have a program we don’t offer that may meet a student’s needs. Conversely, a student may come into Milford because of a program we have that isn’t available in their home district,” McIntyre said. “Giving parents options has been a positive thing.”
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Follow up to all the things that do not get done; unless you actually take time to check!
email from the Templeton Health agent who actually does her job!
email from the Templeton Health agent who actually does her job!
Good morning,
On June 24, 2019, Asst. Atty. General, Monica Passeno and I were out at 23 Shore and 29 Sawyer working on adding these properties to the abandoned housing project; during that visit, I took Ms. Passeno to the sites of the three burned out houses (21 Sawyer, 165 N Main and 10 Pleasant), unfortunately the AHI program cannot facilitate the rehab of these properties due to the amount of damage to them. We are still having success with the AHI program, with seven properties brought up to code and all debt with the town paid.
I will be happy to put together a summary with the information for the three houses in question and provide it in a week or two, if that’s all right.
Thank you,
Laurie
Thank You to the Templeton Health agent!
School budget - real dollars:
Transportation / busing costs shown on school budget as $400,000.00 from state, yesterday state budget release shows gansett receiving actual $443,238.00.
Transportation / busing costs shown on school budget as $400,000.00 from state, yesterday state budget release shows gansett receiving actual $443,238.00.
gansett proposed budget shows chapter 70 at $938,544.00, and the state budget shows chapter 70 at $9,951,444.00
gansett proposed budget shows charter school reimbursement at $15,000.00, state budget shows it at $20,638.00.
So, there seems to be some adjustment made or at the very least, a run through the dollars again before and at the joint town meeting.
When considering school funding, consider this:
The message in the NRSD budget presentation,
under goals: equitable support both elementary schools.
(even as the district has presented it would be cheaper to close Phillipston elementary school.
under goals: equitable support both elementary schools.
(even as the district has presented it would be cheaper to close Phillipston elementary school.
under state of the district:
Number of students attending NRSD has been consistent.
Their chart shows foundation enrollment going down while student enrollment going up.
Number of students attending NRSD has been consistent.
Their chart shows foundation enrollment going down while student enrollment going up.
Number of Phillipston students equal or surpassed by school choice students. Does that mean if the school committee opted to not take part in school choice (accepting students from out side of the district) the student population would go down, as in smaller class sizes merely by attrition rather than by manipulation?
Table also shows students choosing to school choice out has remained consistent, while school choice in has been on increase. Message should be, if you wish to attend NRSD, move to Templeton and pay taxes to support the town / district and enjoy the benefits of a new elementary school. Does that new school mean increase in test scores? Asking for a friend.
You may go to the Templeton Town website and find the charts, etc. to check this information for yourself. Go to Templetonma.gov, click on find it fast, then T and look for either town meeting information of town budget, click on FY20 budget book and go to page 328 and you should see all the school information as presented. Enjoy!
If you are going to vote, you should look at these numbers for yourself
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Observations this week: Westminster Town Administrator tenders resignation after 19 years, time to retire. There is one local town looking for a T/A - Manager.
The seems to be a little upheaval going on in Ashburnham; the town did not get paperwork in on time so free cash did not get certified and used in time so it rolls on to next year. There were some financial items apparently not filed on time. I am willing to bet that the person (town administrator) gets the blame and perhaps that is the real reason for the dust up, who knows. Ashburnham tax recap was filed on time, but no free cash could be an issue, especially if selectmen had plans for it or there was a "dependency" for it. Whatever the reason, this makes for a good case, in my opinion, for moving some biscuits from this pile, over to that pile, in order to keep what Templeton has in place. I do not think it a good time to start at zero.
On the other more important front, remember the August 21 joint meeting. If you do not show up, someone will vote for you and you lose your say.
The seems to be a little upheaval going on in Ashburnham; the town did not get paperwork in on time so free cash did not get certified and used in time so it rolls on to next year. There were some financial items apparently not filed on time. I am willing to bet that the person (town administrator) gets the blame and perhaps that is the real reason for the dust up, who knows. Ashburnham tax recap was filed on time, but no free cash could be an issue, especially if selectmen had plans for it or there was a "dependency" for it. Whatever the reason, this makes for a good case, in my opinion, for moving some biscuits from this pile, over to that pile, in order to keep what Templeton has in place. I do not think it a good time to start at zero.
On the other more important front, remember the August 21 joint meeting. If you do not show up, someone will vote for you and you lose your say.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Update: Things that are not getting done?
Burned out houses in Templeton, MA
165 North Main Street - current on property taxes: $234.90 paid.
21 Sawyer Street is in tax title, with back taxes of $2,331.54
10 Pleasant Street, Baldwinville - tax title with back taxes of $32,489.37
To begin with, it takes about $500.00 to get process started; legal and land court.
Then, if the town becomes owner of burned out property, what then? What if lead or asbestos is found before demolition is started, what is the cost of that. It is not as simple of taking property because of back taxes (as well as it should be) and in my opinion, unless you are paying your neighbors property taxes, why should you have any say in how they maintain their property; either we are a free society or we are not. So, are we a free country or not?
There could be a surprise down the road regarding 10 Pleasant Street, Baldwinville (christmas present perhaps?)
This information was gained from Town Hall, by way of the deputy assessor and I hope this shows that things are being done and looked at, considered and discussed. Remember, this is government and it moves slow, if at all (sometimes a good thing).
Also, these are some of the reasons why your tax dollars fund tax title, so there is money available to do these things, as they are not free and they do not just happen.
There a couple of other properties that were in the beginning of tax taking who up and paid their taxes, another part of the process.
Burned out houses in Templeton, MA
165 North Main Street - current on property taxes: $234.90 paid.
21 Sawyer Street is in tax title, with back taxes of $2,331.54
10 Pleasant Street, Baldwinville - tax title with back taxes of $32,489.37
To begin with, it takes about $500.00 to get process started; legal and land court.
Then, if the town becomes owner of burned out property, what then? What if lead or asbestos is found before demolition is started, what is the cost of that. It is not as simple of taking property because of back taxes (as well as it should be) and in my opinion, unless you are paying your neighbors property taxes, why should you have any say in how they maintain their property; either we are a free society or we are not. So, are we a free country or not?
There could be a surprise down the road regarding 10 Pleasant Street, Baldwinville (christmas present perhaps?)
This information was gained from Town Hall, by way of the deputy assessor and I hope this shows that things are being done and looked at, considered and discussed. Remember, this is government and it moves slow, if at all (sometimes a good thing).
Also, these are some of the reasons why your tax dollars fund tax title, so there is money available to do these things, as they are not free and they do not just happen.
There a couple of other properties that were in the beginning of tax taking who up and paid their taxes, another part of the process.
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