submitted by Jay Byer
Over the next couple of weeks voters in Mendon and Upton have a very important decision on a proposition 2 ½ override for their community. We are in the middle of a state mandated shift in responsibility reducing state funding from 60% to 35%. Two town accounts funding the schools are mandated, the third, operational additional, is funding above the mandated minimum. Mendon’s FY16 mandated increase in school funding is $545,000, but Mendon can only afford $204,000. Mendon covers this increase by using the operational additional account, which used to have $1.1 million in it. Within two years there will be $0 as funds are transferred to the mandated school accounts. Once operational additional is at $0 the only way for the town to cover the mandated increase is by reducing some other town service. We will then be funding the school district at the lowest amount allowed by the state without being penalized.
I think we all agree we want the best school and town services we can provide. A few years ago the school district and the towns were in this very place. Class sizes were close to 30, electives were cut, and fees were increased. Public safety was understaffed, library hours were reduced, road maintenance was limited, and the town beach only opened because of a private donation.
What is not disputable is there will be an override required in the next couple of years. The question is whether we want to destroy the quality of our community, and then pass an override, or save it by passing one now. To me the choice is clear. Pass this override now and invest in our future. We have spent the last four years rebuilding after the last round of cuts, why do we want to do it again?
Jay Byer
Mendon
UPTON DAILY 
I agree the choice is clear, the State has directed our Towns to provide a larger share of funding of our District and it is a reality we have to continue to face. The Superintendent and District has engaged the communities in putting forward a strategic plan to continue forward with improvements and investments in our Schools and they are on an upswing after recovering from a big setback five years ago. I, like many, would like to see a slow down in the growth of our residential property taxes but we are statistically one of the cheapest in the entire commonwealth with regard to spending per pupil so I think it is tough to continue to ask our school leaders and teachers for more and better results with limited financial resources. The State’s funding priorities and our Town’s inability to better balance our tax base and spending on other services should be evaluated before we allow another setback in our long journey in funding our schools.
Level Service would place Mendon’s override at around $735K, about $400K less. So yes, you could say that would prolong the “crossing of the lines” for another year or two. The difference between level service and the proposed is implementation of the strategic plan. Usually schools enact a strategic plan and then never implement it because it requires funding. MURSD had been criticized for this in the past. This is the educational reasons for the override, improvement. Any good business should have a game plan of where they want to go. MURSD does, and there were many who had input to it.
“Any good business should have a game plan of where they want to go.” Totally agree. Although, the business world doesn’t have the benefit of funding their strategic plans by simply “vote in larger revenues.”
Jay, I can see where an override would be necessary in the coming years. I want to ask though, the need to dig into the operational additional bucket so deep is due to the way the school plans to spend money over the next few years, correct? How far does the school need to dip into operational additional in order to maintain current services in FY16? If the school maintained level services, how long would the operational additional fund last? I believe the override ask would be cut in half in order to maintain current services, correct?