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MARS Board Meeting Minutes
June 13, 2006
Present: Maureen Marshall, Lynn Ryan, Gene Carlo, Karen Lofgren, Bruce
Kaiser, Dee Dee Niswonger
Karen Lofgren, school committee member from Groton/Dunstable presented the
Groton/Dunstable Resolution. This Resolution will go to MASC to be part of their
annual meeting, to be presented to the delegates there. Much of the content
agrees with the proposal from MASS, MASC, MMA.
There is no clear indication that the state budget will be out of conference by
June 30, but that is the hope.
In the 201 million sum for the Circuit Breaker there is room to add SPED
transportation costs of about 35 million since we only spend about 135 – 140
million for the initially defined costs for the Circuit Breaker. At this time
the work to be done is to get the word “transportation” into the language, so
the expectation of using the dollars for that exists.
If districts would just fill out the end-or-year report correctly, and on time,
we wouldn’t have some of the problems we have. Without complete and accurate
data there are not the numbers needed to indicate real costs. Everything is done
by data, and without it nothing can be done. The DoE only has the information we
give them. If we don’t give it to them they don’t know.
Politically there are no more emotional pressures to add dollars to the “black
hole” of SPED. Our job is to graduate kids, not specific kinds of kids. Now we
need to invest in the home structures for SPED, not in the ever-widening pyramid
of transporting out. While sometimes there is no choice but to go
out-of-district, much can be, must be, done at home. At other meetings there has
been talk of the collaboration between contiguous districts for programs for
like kind of SPED needs. The Groton/Dunstable resolution asks for the Circuit
Breaker to go to three times out-of-district costs instead of the current four.
They may decide to accept four.
Regional transportation may receive a few million over the Senate’s 50 m. Both
Senators Murray and Antonioni understand the need for that, and Senator Brewer
has been very determined on the subject.
Everybody understands the costs of Health Insurance. All that is being done
about it is to survive. When work begins on the foundation budget a major
component will have to be in this area.
Declining enrollment is an intractable problem in this formula. The big picture
shows increased dollars coming into communities from the uncapping of the
lottery funds, from the dropping rates of required contribution. Next the
foundation budget must be brought up to actuals. The state has to ensure that
the foundation budget is funded. The actual spending divided by the number of
kids equals actuals. To get actual amounts we must have the end-of-year reports
fully, accurately filled out, and submitted in a timely fashion.
There are some changes in how the required minimum is going to be calculated.
Gene Carlo and Dave Tobin will be presenting this information at the MASS Summer
Institute in July.
Minutes recorded and respectfully submitted by Dee Dee Niswonger
For More Information Contact:
Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools
P.O. Box 334, Williamsburg, MA 01096-0334
Tel: 413-268-3607
E-mail:
niswonger@comcast.net
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Massachusetts Association of
Regional Schools