Adams-Cheshire Committee Hoping to Find Compromise Budget
Cheshire officials and residents are trying to keep their elementary school open; Adams officials are warning that the price may be to high.
The Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee has three times attempted to pass a budget, and failed when the seven committee members split primarily along town lines.
The sticking point has been the decision to close Cheshire Elementary School, also voted along town lines.
Now, the committee hopes to return next Monday with a plan that will keep both the district's elementary schools open and provide some of the positions that officials say are critical to advancing the students' education.
On Monday night at Hoosac Valley High School, the School Committee looked at an alternative budget that would be a $325,000 increase over the superintendent's $19.2 million proposal, but far less than the $19.9 million budget the three Cheshire representatives proposed last week.
"Everyone's comments are being heard and I think that our obligation here is to try to improve the quality of the education ... but at the same time, I think it is important that we try to keep the district together," School Committee member Darlene Rodowicz said.
"I am trying to find that compromise that will allow the two communities to come together at least for the next year or two and figure out how we are going to move forward."
The committee has been batting around different budget scenarios the past few weeks and with the three Cheshire representatives not supporting budgets that close Cheshire School, the School Committee has been unable to pass a budget with the required minimum 5-2 vote.
If a budget cannot be passed by April 30, the district would be funded with minimal town assessments; if both town meetings cannot agree on a budget, the district will have to operate with a decreased one.
The increased alternative budget does keep both Cheshire School and C.T. Plunkett in Adams open but does not include all of the Collins Center recommended positions. That budget would come in $238,760 higher for Adams, which set a 3 percent increase limit, and $86,790 higher for Cheshire.
The budget would still rearrange the district so grades are co-located in the same buildings.
Before the meeting, the Audit and Evaluation subcommittee discussed the alternative budget that Rodowicz said she felt would quell Cheshire residents' concerns and protect the district from the potential loss of revenue of Cheshire parents sending their children to another district.
Subcommittee members also feared that with the increase requiring an override in Adams, the budget would not pass the annual town meeting. Conversely, if they stayed with the $19.2 million budget and closed Cheshire Elementary, Cheshire town meeting may shoot down the budget.
"If the two towns don't approve the budget, we are just in a mess," Rodowicz said.
Superintendent Robert Putnam said he felt the only way to guarantee a safe budget passage is to approve the $19.2 million budget currently on the table, but keep both schools open. This would come at a cost of cutting all Collins Center-recommended positions from the budget.
"It is a mathematical and what I fear to be a political conundrum," he said.
The University of Massachusetts' Collins Center recommended the positions after an extensive study of the school district, saying they would ultimately save the district money and increase its state scoring level.
Adams Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco added that it would be unlikely the Selectmen or the Finance Committee would favor cutting deeper into the municipal budget and that an override may be a hard sell in town.
He reiterated that the School Committee could approve a two-step budget and approve the $19.2 million budget along with placing an article on both town meeting warrants that would ask the towns for additional funds.
Passing that supplementary spending would most likely result in overrides in each town.
If the overrides pass, the district could rescind its decision to close Cheshire School. If they fail in either town, a budget is safeguarded.
Mazzucco said it would provide the Adams-Cheshire staff with some security and allow proponents of the larger budget to make their case.
The School Committee chose not to vote until seeing a complete budget presentation. Committee members also asked district counsel to provide input on how they could procedurally present the two-step budget at the town meetings.
District counsel Jeffrey Grandchamp said there may be difficulties in this process and he would have to do more research.
"I think the devil will be in details and I am not prepared to answer those right now," he said.
Grandchamp added that there is still the opportunity for the process to result in a failed vote if Adams shoots down the override, causing Cheshire to shoot down the entire budget.
Putnam said staff is ready to make do with whatever budget they are given – they just need to know what budget that is.
"I think for my staff that they are ready to do whatever it is we need to do they just want to know what that is," he said. "As long as we know what it is, we can tackle it."
The School Committee will see the new budget and how to legally proceed Monday, April 10.
Tags: ACRSD_budget, fiscal 2018, school closures,
