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MARS Board Meeting Minutes
December 11, 2007
12 11 07 MARS meeting minutes
Present: Joel Barrera, MAPC; Charles Gobrun, Northborough-Southborough;
David Papagni, Bay Path; Reza Namin, Ralph C. Mahar; Donna Harlan,
Central Berkshire; Chris Lynch, DoE; Stephen Hemman Narragansett; Sue
Gee, Quabbin; Mike Zapantis Ashburnham Westminster; Bill Fisher Cape
Cod Tech; Dave Ferreira, MAVA; Peter Dewar, Keefe Tech; Michael
Fitzpatrick, Blackstone Voc Tech; Gene Carlo, Assabet; Ken Rocke, Gill
Montague; Mindy Kempner, Southeastern Regional Voc.; Cliff Fountain,
Quaboag; Maureen Marshall, North Middlesex; Paul Gagliarducci, Hampden
Wilbraham, Dee Dee Niswonger, MARS
Presentation on GIC
Ken Rocke presented a thorough coverage of the process for connecting
to GIC and the benefits of that connection to Gill Montague. The
current fiscal benefit is $700,000. on an overall school budget of
$16,000,000.00 or about 6% savings.
The process requires the committed participation of the administration,
the union and town. Building trust between the parties was the most
challenging task but when the savings to the district became clear the
union was glad to participate to save jobs and restore programs, while
the towns quickly saw the benefit of a savings of 6% in the overall
school budget. Trust was developed by making all calculations very
transparent. Because it was transparent all the people at the table
worked their own constituencies and that was successful.
Gill Montague has been part of a small self-insured group with 5 or 6
very costly participants. Thru the MTA plan benefit comparison analysis
was done by Boston Benefit Partners. Gill Montague administration did
the net gain to district analysis using Excel. The contrast between
that membership and moving into a much larger risk pool increased the
benefit to the district tremendously. GIC is such a big group and very
well run, that the savings can be immense. Only analysis of your own
situation in contrast to GIC can demonstrate whether it would be
prudent to move to GIC. For Gill Montague the gains for 09 keep
accelerating. As the number of districts joining increases it may be
possible to drive better and better deals.
To find out more about this complex but advantageous project, you can
go the GIC web site, to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council website
www.mapc.org, and you can contact Ken Rocke at
Gill Montague.
Attachments relative to the presentation are above.
Joel Barrera, the Senior Project director from MAPC, visited MARS. He
informed us that Athol/Royalston has joined GIC for next July and added
that regional districts are at the forefront of this movement to join.
Meeting with SBA
Steve Hemman reported on the meeting he had arranged with
SBA. Attending with him were Paul Gagliarducci and Michael Wood. Joe
Budley, the facilities director and 10 or 12 others attended from
SBA. The purpose of the meeting was to explain to them the vagaries of
regions; the differences that can be found in regional agreements; the
need on the part of SBA to learn how the region with which they are
working differs from any other region, and how the member towns differ
one from another. Furthermore, SBA needs to understand that in a region
both the school district and the towns are involved, that time lines
are more difficult to meet in this more complex configuration. Another
factor is the need to be very careful with enrollment projections. The
use of debt exclusions was explained and how districts are limited in
their ability to put out information by the Campaign Finance laws. They
learned that a failed vote to go ahead in the towns will place the
project way way back on the list, for a long time.
Our regional people attending this meeting felt it was clear that the
information they brought was new to the SBA attendees. How regions
work, and the small size of regions yet the numbers of them in the
state was all unfamiliar, as well as how to deal with two town regions
in disagreement.
Suggestions for initial contact with SBA are to give them a copy of
your regional agreement first and to fully describe your region, budget
process, number of member towns, difficulties with overrides and so
forth.
All involved agreed that it had been a successful meeting.
One question at MARS was whether SBA will take full day kindergarten
into consideration. Does SBA know what future directions DoE is
taking? It is thought, no.
For more detailed information you can contact Stephen Hemman at
Narragansett Regional and Paul Gagliarducci at Hampden Wilbraham.
STATE UPDATE
The usual cautious words are coming out of Boston about any growth in
the Budget. At this point it looks like Chapter 70 is not likely to go
above an additional 225 million, if that. (Information from a later
meeting the same day with several legislators indicates that it is
likely that House One will come out, at the end of January, with a
dependable number, previously agreed upon by the House and Senate.)
There is a lot of talk about the efficiency of regional
transportation. It behooves regions to work very hard this year to at
least maintain the current level of reimbursement. It may be possible
to get a bit more but to do so good explanations of anomalies in
transportation costs need to be made. In other words, any
inefficiencies in expenditures need to be fully explained to counteract
the questioning attitude in Boston on this point.
There is a lot of talk about full day kindergarten that may be coming
out of the governor's office.
Predictions in December are kind of early but Assabet has level funded
both Chapter 70 and transportation.
E & D
The common practice for access to a district's E & D account is that a
superintendent recommends to the school committee a specific amount to
be expended for a specific project, with a school committee vote
recorded in the minutes, the amount then withdrawn and placed in the
general fund for the specific use. Because E & D has been certified (
an essential step for every regional district) the towns are notified
what the E & D amount is. The towns should be notified of the use of E
& D.
This process has been followed by most regions but not by all and the
DoR is attempting to crack down on all regions because of the
few. Aside from scaring districts DoR has not any punitive authority in
this matter. However, this has been an on-going problem for years and
needs to be fixed. MARS has asked Rep. Cleon Turner to work with us on
this issue, and we thank him very much for his efforts for regions. The
initial proposed language is being revised as the process moves
forward. The DoE is available for technical assistance and their help
is much appreciated as well as Rep. Turner's.
Have a wonderful Holiday season! For those of you who like snow, this
ought to be the best such season in years. And Happy New Year!!
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