Guest Column: Actual Experience Matters for Newbury Schools
We are a town with deep heritage and commitment to educating our children. Since its inception, Newbury Schools has weathered the ebb and flow of demographics, state funding and de-funding, unfunded state mandates and loss of businesses in the community, all while producing excellent graduates and contributors to society all over the country.
Today, with the pace of technology, it’s easy to find information, but it is also easy to be misinformed. Hence, our letter.
It’s important for our community to take note of the state of Newbury Schools over the last six years. Many advancements and improvements in the school district’s programming for students, as well as discussions and investigations have occurred since our great community passed its last levy.
The past board and staff’s prudent financial oversight has brought the district into a very strong financial position. As a community, we need to celebrate that a deficit isn’t looming any time soon — unlike many other districts.
This strong financial position allows Newbury to operate with vision and at the same time still explore options such as consolidation/merger with other districts. These discussions should never be rushed, hurried nor taken as the number one priority when job number one is to operate and manage a district for our students.
Consolidation/merger is not a quick fix solution to decreasing enrollment or lower taxes for any school district. As past discussions have shown, the districts discussing consolidation/merger must take into account more than just one district’s concerns. It takes a careful balance of the issues within each community.
The five-year forecast from May 2012 — that’s only 6 years ago — past treasurer David Haskins showed fiscal deficits starting in 2014. Those negative numbers would have lead us down fiscal emergency planning with the state and reputation ruin as a community. Since the passage of the levy in November 2012, much work was done with new administrators, grant writing, reorganization and complete overhaul on financials, along with extensive investigations with consolidations/mergers to name a few.
The current treasurer, Nancy McPeak, showed in May 2015 a five-year forecast of positive numbers.
Please note, a state audit cannot legally account for inflation of insurance costs, union negotiation changes, fuel increases, unforeseen repairs to facility, increase costs of shared service agreements or state funding changes that have already been given notice to school districts. Only local treasurers and boards can and should plan for those occurrences in their forecasts.
We encourage community members to do their own personal research and examine the current forecast just approved by the school board in May. The new forecast aligns with the forecasts approved by last year’s board.
The recent independent audit — at a cost of $10,000 to our district — didn’t change the trajectory of the finances. The forecast is a positive reflection of the able management of recent past school boards and administrations and their conservative approaches.
All decisions in recent years have been well discussed and thoroughly researched before votes were cast. For example, the grandstand project began in the spring of 2016 when the board regarded safety first and closed their use. The topic was discussed for several years at many different meetings. It was not a hurried decision.
As our school and community move forward there are many difficult decisions to be made. These decisions will need to reached after careful investigation, due diligence, patience, consultation with knowledgeable and experienced education professional, and input from the community at-large.
It needs to be noted the only people on the current board with actual experience in consolidation/merger discussions are Mr. Sanders and Mr. Simpkins. This is in addition to the experts in the district with educational degrees, national recognition and certification in school financing, Superintendent Kalish and Treasurer McPeak.
The new school board members would be well advised to listen to the guidance of those that have recently been through these discussions and the knowledge they bring to the table on these matters. Receiving community input should always be a board goal, but we strongly suggest being cautious of advice received from others without current school board experience or those who may have personal agenda’s that do not have our community’s best interests at heart.
With respect and gratitude,
Susan Arnold, John Gingerich, Anne Kolenic, Guy Munn, Marty Sanders, Kirk Simpkins
Past and Current Newbury Board of Education Members
