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MARS Board Meeting MinutesDecember 15, 2008 Minutes 1. Welcome and Introductions Members completed the sign in sheet and introduced themselves to the members present. The sign in sheet is attached to the official minutes. 2. Approve Minutes of October 7, 2008 and Annual Meeting Nov. 17,2008 A motion by Cliff Fountain, second by Bruce Kaiser, the minutes of October 7, 2008 were approved. A motion by Bruce Kaiser, second by Joseph Ciccolo, the minutes of November 17, 2008 were approved. 3. Stephen Hemman, Executive Director introduced Jeff Wulfson, Associate Commissioner from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for a presentation concerning: a. E and D proposed regulations b. Budget Approvals c. Budget for 2009 status d. Budget projections 2010 Jeff started by saying that the 9c cuts from the Governor did not include cuts to Chapter 70 and other types of direct aid to municipals and schools. He feels that there will most likely be no further cuts to the direct aid this year. The FY2010 budget year will be most difficult. Aid to municipals and schools will most likely be reduced. State revenue will not rebound until sometime in 2011. He suggested we might see a 10-15% reduction. Chapter 70 reductions affects to regions depends on the individual district type of aid. He suggests that Superintendents clearly understand the type of aid they receive. There is a need to keep districts at foundation and this can cause the change in Chapter 70 to vary among school district. The past two years there has been an early local aid resolution but he is not sure what will happen this year. House 1, which will be filed the third week of January, will be the first indication on what will happen to local aid. Members could call the reps and senators and indicate that an early resolution is requested even if it is bad news. At least districts could begin to plan on how to balance the budget. Regional Transportation could see a cut across the board. Lottery aid mostly likely will be affected and put pressure on districts. Districts could see a 10% to 15% in reimbursement for both transportation and circuit breaker. It was noted that regional transportation is the only incentive aid for regions that is still provided. It was mentioned that the Readiness Project encourages regionalization and what message does this send when transportation reimbursement is reduced. The Executive Directors indicated Regional School Districts will need to call the reps and senators concerning cuts to regional transportation. Jeff stated that MSBA is facing financial situations in that the sales tax collections are down which will affect future funding for school building projects. A main concern of regional school districts is use of E and D. Jeff indicated that two years ago they updated the regulations but the 45 day vote has caused some problems. The regulations states a Town will have a town meeting when the budget is changed. This has caused some problems because there is no mechanism to force communities to have a town meeting. He has talked with MASS, MMA, MARS and MASBO concerning the E and D issues. DOR indicates that when a District uses E and D during the year, they have increased their Budget without a vote of the member communities and this not correct. In order to clarify the issue it was felt that legislation would be need. After much discussion it was decided to change the regulations indicating that after the member towns are notified of an E and D transfer during the year, towns have 45 days to call and have a town meeting. If they don’t hold one, in affect the town has approved the actions by the Regional District. Discussion took place concerning E and D transfers during the year. The member towns should be notified and then let them decide to have a town meeting. Concern was expressed about the 45 day time period. The regulation change will be presented to the Board of Education in January or February 2009. Jeff discussed that districts could have a constituency account in the budget as well as stabilization accounts. Use of these funds does not increase the budget. E and D can be used during the budget process to reduce the assessment to member towns and does not require special approval. Jeff also discussed current financial issues facing districts as well as reserve funds. Discussion took place concerning statutory assessment and alternative methods. Districts need to refer to the laws, regulations, and regional agreements when doing assessments. Extensive discussion took place concerning regionalization as it pertains to the Governor’s Readiness Project. The Secretary of Education Office is working on the regionalization. There will be proposed legislation filed this spring concerning the formation of regions including transition plans. There is concern with districts that are below 300 students because of ability of small communities to provide the resources needed for education (limited tax base). Mention was made that the number of districts going into GIC was small considering the savings that might be realized. There will be more to come concerning this topic. Discussion took place concerning Charter Schools and the Governor’s Readiness Schools. Districts have the opportunity to form Readiness Schools as an answer to Charter Schools. Jeff was thanked for coming to our meeting and we appreciate his efforts in the area of E and D. 4. Legislative consulting services and legal services The Executive Director indicated that he is working with Tom Scott of MASS to finalize an agreement with an individual so serve MARS concerning legislative consulting services. MARS plans to use Mike Long for legal services. 5. Locations for future MARS meetings and evening meetings The Executive Director presented the membership with a map showing the locations of the regions. We will be discussing meeting place in different location in order to make travel easier for members. 6. Informational items a. Special Municipal Relief Commission—Hearing on December 3,2008 b. Parents visiting Classrooms-policy c. Other items of interest to MARS The above items were present to the membership for information. 7. Standing Committees a. Laws and Regulations This Committee is working on the survey concerning the governance of regions. A draft was distributed to the membership. This will be filled out online using Surveymonkey. b. Insurances—Health and General Insurance c. Budget d. Grants e. Professional Development 1. Working with MASS 2. Program for new Superintendents MARS is working with MASS to provide new superintendents with a program during the orientation program that MASS offers in July, August, and October. The Standing Committee is also working with MASBO f. School Building---MSBA 1. Meeting on Nov. 24, 2008 2. December 10, 2008 PAUL C. GAGLIARDUCCI provided the membership with updates from MSBA. They held a Regional Taskforce meeting in October with representatives from MARS, MASC, Sec of Education Office, DESE, and Rep Haddad. MARS will be keeping in contact with MSBA. g. Readiness Project-regionalization 1. Meeting with JD LaRock 2. Survey on Governance and Finances There is a meeting scheduled with J. D. LaRock from the Sec of Education office concerning their efforts in the areas of regionalization. More information will be presented to the membership at the next monthly meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 11: 45 pm
Next Meeting: January 6, 2009 10:00 am Assabet
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