School officials brace for additional budget troubles - Sentine...

School Superintendent Michael Zapantis told Ashburnham-Westminster School Committee members that he expects further state aid cuts to impact the 2010 school budget.

[Poppycock]

So three things will happen next year.....

1) The obligatory annual 2 1/2 over ride from the schools.

2) The state's taxes will go up.

3) Few, if any, state employees will be cut. I am not talking about professors and custodians - I am talking about $50k per year toll collectors.

I thought that Deval's tax increases would prevent further cuts.

[hiram]

They will have to adjust for the cuts.
No more 21/2 overrides,
We just had a 25% sales tax hike.
I expect to see real estate taxes to go down.

[Tom Paine]

Dear Superintendent Zapantis: Ther voters told you last time, NOT ONE DIME MORE IN TAXES. Go ahead, make our day!

[jeff]

Guess a new school is OUT the state cant pay for what we have.
All we need is renovations anyways.

[Westminster Resident]

The schools should look at the cost of utilities, especially the lights on the fields. Since money is so tight why don't they turn the lights off. I've been at Oakmont at night and all the lights are brightly burning. I say turn the field lights off completely - hold football games on Saturday morning - have the band practice after school instead of at night. Get smart - we need to cut!

[taxpayer]

If you take a look at the data published by the Department of Education, you should be shocked to learn that AWRSD spends more per student that virtually all of the regional districts nearby yet the superintendent and school committee call for overrides every year and the results on standardized tests is good but not much better than districts that spend less. For example, AWRSD spends $10927 and the total of the three SAT scores published in Sunday's T&G adds up to 1584 yet Wachusett spends $9680 per student and their SAT scores add up to 1594 for the three SAT scores. Nipmuc spends $10007 per student and their scores add up to 1620. And yes, there are some districts that spend more and the added scores are lower. What's the point? Money spent does not correlate to results. Nor do palatial facilities. Parker Charter is located in a 60's era building with vintage amenities and 'hand-me-down' classrooms from the recent Wachusett Regional construction. Combined SAT scores for Parker? 1735.

[Guest]

Funny to hear a town whining about school budget cuts when 3 years ago they installed a $1million turf field and lights. Now that is a high priority!!!

[Westminster Senior]

Guest wrote:

Funny to hear a town whining about school budget cuts when 3 years ago they installed a $1million turf field and lights. Now that is a high priority!!!

I may be incorrect but I believe this was paid for with donations from fund raising drives.

[food dude]

Guest wrote:

Funny to hear a town whining about school budget cuts when 3 years ago they installed a $1million turf field and lights. Now that is a high priority!!!

The lights cost the school $0 (Thank you, Rotary Club) and allow the school to have Friday night games with much greater attendance and gate revenue.

[Clueless]

Guest wrote:

Funny to hear a town whining about school budget cuts when 3 years ago they installed a $1million turf field and lights. Now that is a high priority!!!

People don't really pay attention do they. If you don't remember, the money for the turf was money that the Administration was able to pry out of the State when they kept records from the building of Overlook. It was Capital money that they then took that information to us taxpayers and we approved the building of the field and track for that money.

[jeff]

we care less about the football field waste of
money no more money for this excuse of a school system,

[huh]

taxpayer wrote:

If you take a look at the data published by the Department of Education, you should be shocked to learn that AWRSD spends more per student that virtually all of the regional districts nearby yet the superintendent and school committee call for overrides every year and the results on standardized tests is good but not much better than districts that spend less. For example, AWRSD spends $10927 and the total of the three SAT scores published in Sunday's T&G adds up to 1584 yet Wachusett spends $9680 per student and their SAT scores add up to 1594 for the three SAT scores. Nipmuc spends $10007 per student and their scores add up to 1620. And yes, there are some districts that spend more and the added scores are lower. What's the point? Money spent does not correlate to results. Nor do palatial facilities. Parker Charter is located in a 60's era building with vintage amenities and 'hand-me-down' classrooms from the recent Wachusett Regional construction. Combined SAT scores for Parker? 1735.

Parker is a charter school so no unions which equals instant savings. If other districts like Ash-West didn't have unions don't you think they could also do more with less? More money does not neccesarily lead to better results but when it comes down to cutting so many teachers that an entire grade at Oakmont is unable to take history in one year, the quality of the education must be suffering.

Wachusett spends less per student on average but they are not even close to Ash-West in size. With at least three times the number of students, they have greater economies of scale, of course they will be able to spend less per-pupil.

Where exactly do you think the district is spending money unwisely? If you've found the smoking gun please show up to one of the Fy11 budget hearings and fill the rest of Ashburnham and Westminster in.