At last night’s mandatory
annual joint meeting of the Melrose Board of Aldermen and School Committee,
Mayor Dolan formally presented his FY16 budget for consideration by the Board. Funding highlights in the
area of education are as follows:
-
Continuing
renovation of MHS, including renovation of the Resource Center into a “21st
century Learning Commons that will benefit our students and the entire
community.”
-
Implementing a
comprehensive plan to address technology challenges across the district and
across the city.
-
Replacing the
Hoover School windows and renovating its entryway; and reconfiguring areas of
the Winthrop School to move the principal’s office and add a classroom.
-
Partnering
with ECC families to renovate the playground.
-
Rebuilding the
Lyons tennis courts. (Note: it’s the
traditional home of the MHS Girls’ Tennis Team.)
-
Undertaking a
demographic study to explore trends in increasing school enrollments.
-
Adding two Kindergarten
teachers and two elementary teachers (Note:
A full-time Academic Facilitator is also added.)
Mayor Dolan also
recommended that the Board approve placing a question on the November
ballot asking citizens whether they support a tax override in the amount of
$240/year ($20/month). According to the Mayor, “It will fund much-needed
educator positions at all levels: 5.5 elementary teachers,
6 secondary teachers, and one district-wide educator for technology
integration. In addition, this
investment in our community will eliminate the structural deficit in our public
schools, increase vital line items for professional development and materials,
and allow us to hire two additional police officers, which we absolutely need
to enhance our public safety and reduce overtime costs.” He added: “I propose [the
override] measure in order to advance public education, to advance public
safety, as well as to sustain the successful financial foundation we have built
over the last decade, even during the hardest economy since the Great
Depression, for our time now and for decades to come. This is not an easy thing
to propose, but in my opinion it is necessary.”
The Mayor shared that this override proposal is different from others he
has witnessed in Melrose in that the city is currently financially stable and
strong, but our ability to raise new money is capped. State and federal funding
is decreasing and 94% of our community is residential so we have very limited
commercial tax revenue. Our tax base is lower than a significant number of
local and similar communities but our housing market is seeing substantial
demand resulting in a large influx of students to our schools.
The Mayor believes that a different avenue for
investing in our community is needed and that the time is now. He noted: “We
are a stable and well managed community, but we are not able to devote one more
dollar to operate our public schools in future years. In fact, we needed a
supplemental budget of over $700,000 to balance the current school budget, and
we will need to do so again next year. There is little or nothing left for
other city departments and no flexibility to deal with unexpected situations.
Being such a desirable community in which to live brings additional costs as
the population changes. We can no longer count on Washington or Boston or hope
or short-term fixes to get us through the next decade. This is a structural problem
that is not going away…” He added: “Every citizen is going to have to make up
their own mind [about the override]. I am simply offering a proposal that I
believe is necessary. That is my job. It is your job to make the decision.”
To watch Mayor Dolan deliver his remarks, click
here: http://www.mmtv3.org/index.php?categoryid=28.
His remarks span from 3:30 minutes-26:00 minutes.
