School Committee discusses impact if override fails

Scituate -

It’s natural for residents to think of “more money” and “higher taxes” when it comes to a Proposition 2 1/2 override, but School Committee members stressed Monday that the community could be dealing with less if an override does not pass at this year’s election.

Committee members debated whether or not to put forth a list of potential cuts the schools would face for fiscal year 2008 should the override fail at Town Meeting March 3 or the polls on March 31. Superintendent of Schools Mark Mason said an estimated $650,000 would have to be cut from the committee’s proposed budget of $27 million.

Of the $2.75 million override for the whole town, $2.1 million would come back to the schools to hire new teachers and to reinstitute new classes and programs throughout the district. The committee will also seek $800,000 for the implementation of a new English Language Arts curriculum as well as new desks, books and computer equipment for the high school through a separate debt exclusion question being put before voters at the election.

As a debt exclusion, the $800,000 would be borrowed and repaid over a fixed period. Upon being repaid, the amount would then be removed as a line item from the town’s operational budget. Any approved override would permanently increase the town’s tax levy capacity.

Mason and school administrators throughout the district met last week to discuss the potential for additional cuts within the schools. The majority of cuts needed to meet the $650,000 mark, Mason said, would likely come from eliminating staff positions in the district.

“We’re dealing with human beings here, and we felt like we had a moral and ethical obligation to be up front about that,” Mason said.

The discussion of how to alert parents and residents to the potential cuts was prompted by a newspaper article addressing similar concerns in Marshfield, where administrators are proposing student music fees of $50 to $80 per student at the elementary and middle schools to offset budget cuts in the district. As in Scituate, Marshfield schools would face additional cuts if their override does not pass this spring.

“I think sometimes we don’t address the ramifications of this override not passing,” committee member Maura Curran said. “We’re not just asking for more. There’s over $600,000 at stake here.

“We don’t want to create some sort of fear factor here, but there is a reality to this,” committee chairman Libby Michaud said.

Committee member Edward Tibbetts said he supported presenting the cuts at a future meeting, saying that if cuts are going to be made in English and other core curriculum areas, similar cuts would have to be made in various other spots throughout the district.

“You can’t cut out English and leave music in place,” Tibbetts said. “I think people need to know what that $650,000 represents.”

Committee member Michael Hayes also supported presenting the cuts to residents, arguing that many voters aren’t aware of the stringent fiscal situation facing the schools and the town as a whole.

“There are a lot of residents who I think either don’t care or don’t know what’s happening here,” Hayes said.

While committee members voted to continue their discussion at a later meeting, Mason said he will likely draft the proposed cuts from presentation before the committee at a later date. As for the override, Michaud said it’s all up in the air until the election.

“We’re at a crossroads,” she said. “It really comes down to what kind of a community do residents want.”

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