School Budget Talks Highlight Steady Rise in Cost of Education

By RACHEL KOVAC

The merits of forming a single regional school district came to the
forefront of an all-Island school committee meeting this week, as an
increase in the budget for the Vineyard schools superintendent prompted
discussion once again about ways to manage rising costs in education.

The $2.7 million superintendent's budget was certified at the
meeting of the all-Island school committee Tuesday night. The budget
marks a 4.7 per cent increase over last year, most of which comes from
payroll obligations.

Superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss called the budget a level service
budget, and pointed out that non-salary changes over the current budget
actually account for a decrease of $4,500.

But school committee members noted that even with flat or declining
student enrollment, costs are on the rise and questioned whether the
superintendent's office is being run efficiently.

"We did go back and nickel and dime this budget," said
Amy Tierney, assistant to the superintendent for business affairs.
"If you're going to cut the superintendent's piece you
are going to have to regionalize."

The superintendent's budget is different from other school
budgets, in part because it encompasses a list of ancillary service
programs for the Island schools, including psychologists, speech
therapists, an autism program, Project Headway, social skills and the
English language learner (ELL) program.

To fund the superintendent's budget, each elementary school
district is assessed based on student enrollment; the Martha's
Vineyard Regional High School always pays 20 per cent regardless of
enrollment, part of the regional agreement created in 1956.

The high school, with an enrollment of 822 students will pay about
$313,000 this year for its share of the superintendent's budget,
while the Tisbury school, with an enrollment of 306 will pay $539,000,
up 10 per cent from last year.

"Every year someone has to pay more," Ms. Tierney said.
"Last year it was Oak Bluffs and this year it is Tisbury."

Ms. Tierney said if the schools operated under one regional
agreement the superintendent's office would operate more
efficiently and would be in better shape financially. Under a regional
school system, each town would be assessed based on the total number of
students enrolled in school, much the way the high school is funded now.

Currently Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Tisbury each have a school
committee. Representatives from Chilmark, Aquinnah and West Tisbury
serve on a separate, up-Island committee, which oversees the Chilmark
and West Tisbury schools.

Representatives from each of these committees also sit on the
nine-member regional high school district committee.

The 14-member all-Island school committee, formerly called the union
school committee, deals mainly with hiring the superintendent and
negotiating teacher contracts.

The Island school system has nearly 3,000 students and a combined
budget of $30 million.

Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter, a school committee member from West
Tisbury and the only dissenting vote on the budget, said every year the
superintendent's budget rises and administrators claim it is a
bare bones budget. He added that every year the superintendent promises
to reorganize the office, but it does not happen.

"The superintendent has only been here for a few
months," all-Island school committee chairman David Rossi said.
"He hasn't had time to reorganize."

Committee members asked Ms. Tierney and Mr. Weiss if there were
things they wanted in the budget but did not put in because of financial
concerns.

The two administrators mentioned several positions, including adding
a facilities manager and moving the information technology coordinator
and the transportation coordinator from the high school to the
superintendent's office.

"Until people start thinking outside of the box on this
regionalization thing we aren't going to get anywhere," Mr.
Rossi said.

On a separate front, an audit report received last week by the
up-Island regional school district and the high school district
reinforced the potential benefits of an all-Island regional school
district.

A management letter from Chris Rogers, a certified public accountant
with Sullivan, Rogers and Company, identified several flaws within the
school system, which Ms. Tierney said could be better handled under a
single regional school system. Auditors pointed out problems with
procurement processes and accounting system security, among other
things.

As for the high school, which is scheduled to certify its budget in
just two weeks, administrators are hoping the $13.8 million budget
- which has been fluctuating due to problems with transportation
costs - will be ready to present to all the Island selectmen on
Dec. 1.

"We met with the transportation subcommittee recently,"
high school principal Margaret (Peg) Regan said Wednesday. "We
were able to reallocate the transportation costs and it came out very
well for the high school."

Earlier in the budget process, Mrs. Regan had worried the high
school budget would jump to $14 million due to a $210,000 revenue loss
stemming from fallout with the school bus leases.

Under the previous school transportation system, the high school
leased busses to an independent company to run; but days before school
started this fall, the high school and up-Island school committees voted
to allow the superintendent's office to manage the school busses.

As the high school moves toward a final budget, Ms. Tierney is
working on different ways to levy school assessments for the cost of
transportation. When transportation was under contract with an outside
vendor, each school paid per run and also a certain amount for
maintenance and fuel.

Now that the superintendent's office is managing the
transportation system Ms. Tierney said the maintenance of the buses
should be paid for strictly by the districts that own the buses, because
the state will reimburse them for the cost.

As the high school rounds out its budget, administrators have
finally been able to put some hard numbers on fixed costs like gas,
utilities, heating, electricity and water - all of which have
jumped in the last few months. These are parts of the budget which
cannot be controlled, and to make up for the projected increase Mrs.
Regan had considered eliminating a few positions when teachers retired;
but as the transportation costs finally began to drop she was able to
reinstate a few cuts she had asked for earlier.

"We're going to plug those things back in," she
said. "That's what we are going to be working with next
week. If the budget stays at just about a 3.5 per cent increase or under
we are willing to go ahead."