Is that Budget Advisory Committee the group that supported the school committee when all of the school employees were laid off and rehired at a 90% schedule and pay rate? I may be off in my timing, but I remember the controversy.

That's the same group. I think they also supported the redistricting of the schools figuring it would save the district money.

Hello Jo,
You are correct, I was a member of the Budget Advisory Committee at the time.
Here is a link with details of the options to address a $1.8 million shortfall.
http://www.tewksburyissues.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7963
Ray Lisiecki

What needs to be addressed is the highest costs - health insurance and pensions and concessions from the unions are necessary. Who will address that?

Most of the school department employees are teachers. Their pensions are funded by them through the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System. The town does not have a pension obligation for them. That is often lost when discussing compensation. The teachers are in the first year of a three year contract so the two members elected will be on the board for the next round of negotiations.
Health insurance is negotiated by the Town Manager and those costs have gone up for everybody, municipal employee or not. There are options that an employee can take that will cost the town less, we need to find ways to make that an attractive choice. If you go to the table with the only goal of making the other side give something up, you have already lost. We need to be fair, if the primary revenue of the town is property tax capped at 2.5% we cannot increase total compensation -salary and health- in excess of that amount. The math just doesn't work.

Bob,
I will not be the person to stand up and say no more.
I will be the person that understands our financial position and negotiates for the best possible outcome for our students while respecting our employees and the taxpayers.
In my previous post, I attempted to explain should not commit to spending more than we take in.
I believe that I can contribute to the mission of the School Committee and I hope that you will consider me on April 6.

Cecil,
Thank-you or the feedback, I do not know the answer to the stipend question. I will find out.

Ray -
How much money did we save by redistricting?

Interesting, I do not know if you are aware of a concept refered to as "maintenance of effort". It is a requirement that school districts need to report on to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It appears to me, based on the figures that you supplied, that Tewksbury is not in compliance with that concept. With a decreasing budget, how are services bein "maintained"? How would you address that?

Hi Jo,
I was not aware of the concept.
http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/titlei/parta/program-design/default.html?section=ME
Districts are required to demonstrate that the level of state and local funding remains relatively constant from year to year in order to receive the district's full Title I allocation. A district's education expenditures from non-federal funding sources must be at least 90% of the prior year amounts.

Both decreases were less than 1%.

The budget rebounded starting in 2012 ( 44,511,234) but I believe the question is just as important today.

Hi Jo,
My answer was too long. I had to split it.

I believe enrollment decline is one of the biggest challenges facing the Tewksbury Public School Community. Save Harmless provisions have made up the difference in Targeted Aid and Actual aid.

We need to increase our enrollment and improve our retention rates while we have the Save Harmless funding.

We need to be the school of choice.

Student Preparation – By starting with Full Day Kindergarten we enable our students to be fully prepared for the next grade. We build on this year by year. Address startup costs and recurring costs. With a reallocation of the resources we have we can minimize the impact to the budget. There is a lot of work to make this happen but we can get it done.

Educator Enablement – We put our teachers in a position to help our students get to the next level rather then catching up to minimum requirements. Every child gets the opportunity to succeed. We improve the student experience and employee environment.

Parent Confidence – The improved student experience will be reflected in improved MCAS scores and other tangible measurements. The improvement will help move the elementary schools from tier 2 to tier 1 status.

The schools are moving in the right direction but we need to take steps to protect the funding.

Ray

Hi Ray,
Do you have a website with more information on why you are running for school committee? I appreciate the answers you have supplied with your background information. With all do respects, you seem very knowledgeable of the financials which your background information provided above does support. With that being the case, I'm curious why you are not continuing on Fincom.

Hi Kathie,
I tried to respond and I got the following response from the Patch.
"Easy there, Tolstoy. Your comment cannot exceed 1500 characters."

So I posted the full response on my website.
http://tewksbury.co ( there is no 'm') on the Goals page.
Thank-you
Ray

Hi Ray

I looked at your site and have read your articles and I have a few concerns.
As part of the fin com you took a stance “not to fund the overtime for the south fire station”. This is concerning to me because I am a firefighter myself, not in this town, but in the area. Every city and town has there budget issues, but not agreeing to fund the overtime in my eyes can/is a public safety issue. I’m not trying to single out the fire department, but it’s a recent statement you made publically, which I will attach below, that have me concerned with what you will cut when it comes to my kid’s education.

Over the years they have experienced oversized classrooms, schools not making the MCAS, redistricting (to fix the MCAS problems because none of our elementary schools could get their students to pass) and throughout the district teachers don’t even have a budget for supplies, it’s the parents that are constantly sending supplies into the schools. Our school district is in the process of trying to close a $218,000 budget gap and that’s going to have an impact on my kid’s education somehow. This district is always sacrificing my kids education over sports programs and astro turf and that’s why the students are leaving our district, let’s just see it for what it is.

So my question to you is if that you took a stance on not funding the overtime for the south fire station will you take the same stance when it comes to cuts in education and are you willing to cut the athletic budget to close a gap if there were not other alternatives. This part of the budget always seems to get a slap on the wrist when it comes to cuts, but it always seems to have an impact on my elementary and middle schooler’s education? I’m not looking for a negotiation, I don’t want you to dance around the question, and I would like a straight “yes” or “no”answer?

Also I read in one of the local papers today your comment that you “didn’t really want to run at first” what does that mean? On your site it states that you wanted to “run focused campaign using social media tools” and that you “need to be more visible in my commitment so I am placing the order” for signs? It’s doesn’t sound like you really thought this through. I’m not sure if I feel too comfortable knowing that your decisions could ultimately impact my kids education. If I was in this local and I had to deal you’re your decision I could deal with it, but when it comes to my kids education it’s a different story.

http://vimeo.com/61686943

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the response I found the link online at http://www.tewksburygop.org/ . I was on there checking out the republican candidates and didn't realize the other races were recorded. Where we disagree is on why people are leaving, my wife and I have even thought about other schooling options for my kids because of the budgetary choices that are made “around” athletics. A few years back the BAC, which you sat, looked to lay off teachers, reduce their work schedule, which would affect my kid’s education, increase class sizes, and possibly start charging a busing fee. That’s according to the link you posted above. I didn’t see anything in there about athletics, so that’s my point. Your comment seems a bit arrogant about running, almost as if your throwing your name in just because nobody else was, but it’s good to have a couple people running and it’s nice to have options. Please know that my comments are not in anyway saying that you don’t have my vote, it’s just that I have some concerns with the past decisions that you have made or have had a say in which has made an impact on my kids education.

Dan