School Slashes, Library Losses, and Rainy Day Raids

Deserves a bump (0.00 / 0)

Thanks for writing the post and bumping it front page.

Another resource and watch list is the MMA that has been keeping a tally of the towns/cities going for overrides and those that are successful or unsuccessful.

They have a good proposal for revenue sharing with state government and DVD.  Many legislators like to chuck about MMA as the acronym for More Money Always, but given the relative plight of cities and towns to the state coffers, I would suggest the lens be flipped.

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by: HeartlandDem @ Fri May 09, 2008 at 20:10:19 PM CDT

Fiscal Addiction? (0.00 / 0)

Please explain

... but given the relative plight of cities and towns to the state coffers, I would suggest the lens be flipped.

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by: bostonshepherd @ Sat May 10, 2008 at 07:21:44 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Dependence upon state funding (6.00 / 2)

Is a reality for most (and I would suspect all) communities in the Commonwealth.  Prop. 2 1/2 has set a ceiling that is difficult to override when local revenues and state aid are insufficient to sustain necessary services.  If you prefer to describe the reality of the situation as fiscal addiction that is certainly  your prerogative.

FY '02- Local Aid represented 32% of state revenues.

FY '08 - Local Aid represented 26% of state revenues.

Further shift of fiscal burden to the local level continues with un/underfunded mandates including special education mandates that do not include transportation in the circuit breaker formula.

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by: HeartlandDem @ Sat May 10, 2008 at 21:54:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

necessary services (0.00 / 0)

Assuming a community has the same total number of students....what defines "necessary" in your mind....

Do you think that its budget should rise by inflation, plus rises in "external" costs it cannot easily control (health care for employees, energy to heat buildings and move buses, increases in special ed enrollment)?

Or

Do you think that if a School Board wants to increase compensation* by 5% or 6% to the staff, year after year, which is perhaps double the level of inflation, that is also necessary?    

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by: GoldsteinGoneWild @ Sun May 11, 2008 at 11:21:23 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Reply (6.00 / 1)

Do you think that its budget should rise by inflation, plus rises in "external" costs it cannot easily control (health care for employees, energy to heat buildings and move buses, increases in special ed enrollment)?

Yes.

Do you think that if a School Board wants to increase compensation* by 5% or 6% to the staff, year after year, which is perhaps double the level of inflation, that is also necessary?

     

No.*

The first question should also include un/underfunded mandates.
*The second question would require flexibility in the reply, if say for example the current pay scale were grossly below market levels.  A re-adjustment would be required to bring wages to fair market and the overall benefit package must be considered.

I don't think the 6% staffing compensation is "necessary" but may be desired by the school board or community.  If the community is willing and able to fund at those levels and sustain it over the long run they have an avenue to pursue that through raising property taxes...but you already know that.  

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by: HeartlandDem @ Sun May 11, 2008 at 12:38:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

well said (6.00 / 2)

My only observation is that in many communities, the biggest driver of the K-12 annual cost increases is salary increases above inflation.  

I think the school boards sometimes "hide" that fact, and talk more about factors beyond their control.  

Imagine a district with a $50 million budget.  $30 million goes to salaries.  $4 million goes to health care.  

Health care has a big price increase, +10%.  Advocates for a prop tax increase cite that as the key factor in why increases are needed.  That's $400,000 more, about $270,000 above inflation.  

But salaries are rising by 5%.  That's $1.5 million more, or about $600,000 above inflation.  

Now it might be that the salary increases make sense.  

But it's inaccurate for the school board to characterize the MAIN cause of the tax increase as health insurance (not something we control) versus salaries (which we do control).  

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by: GoldsteinGoneWild @ Sun May 11, 2008 at 13:40:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Some mixed feelings (6.00 / 1)

Prop 2-1/2 overrides have always been an asymmetrical struggle. The "Yes" side wants things that are specific to each community--a detailed bundle of services that would otherwise be cut. The "No" side wants the same thing everywhere--no tax hike.

No coincidence that the "yes" signs and slogans are all specific to the locale. Yes for Newton! Arlington Yes! The "no" signs are so generic that they are passed along from town to town. Stop the Tax Hike! Save Our Homes! No New Taxes! Works anywhere.

A conference like this fills an obvious need. However I'm not sure how I feel about telling my neighbors in other towns how to tax themselves. As someone who has been active in 3 override campaigns, I naturally identify with people who are grappling with similar issues in other communities.

But all communities are not the same. They have different populations, different shares of the state-aid pie, different potential for new growth, different needs. One size does not fit all.

The "No" partisans do not think like that. They do work together, some, and believe they have a stake against anybody raising taxes anywhere for any purpose.

That's obnoxious and I'm against that. But I can't cop the reciprocal point of view and be in favor of every tax hike anywhere for any purpose. That's as brain dead as the universal No.

Isn't joining the battle in this way--forming the League of Yes Always to fight the Empire of No Everywhere--a victory for the brain-dead way of defining the problem? The way, incidentally, that helps the No side to win? Will my town's next override campaign be about Arlington--in which case I think we might win--or about taxes? in which case we lose.

I said mixed feelings, and I've mostly given vent to the critical thoughts here, because I wonder if anyone involved has an answer to them. But I have cheered and cheerful thoughts too.

Still, I guess I think the appropriate focus for a grassroots movement on this issue is to get more state aid to the cities and towns. The venerable Massachusetts Municipal Association owns this issue but owing to institutional constraints is limited in what it can do.

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by: Trickle up @ Sat May 10, 2008 at 21:06:19 PM CDT

Town by Town, City By City (0.00 / 0)

You're absolutely right, and the hundreds of local Civic Warriors struggling to design their own customized override campaigns know the path to winning is to focus on understanding and respecting their own community's political environment.  

Their amazing energy and commitment to building a healthy community of their own is apparent in some very savvy aspirational campaign material that includes letters to the editor and quotes in local papers and the Globe's override central blog.

Very tough this local political work is. Makes the Legislature look like a Church.

Unless you've been involved in Church politics. ;)

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by: Judy Meredith @ Sun May 11, 2008 at 07:51:42 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Who are the "No Partisans"? (0.00 / 0)

Globe West profiled a few "no" and "yes" folks in Newton.

Estelle Dezotell, 75, West Newton
Override tax impact: $297 Override vote: No
A former longtime employee of the city's school district, Dezotell was laid off in 2003, a year after Newton's last override. As a senior on a fixed income, she said the approximately $300 extra she would pay in taxes because of the override would require her to cut something out of her monthly budget, such as cable television. Eventually she will have to consider moving out of Newton, Dezotell said.
''I don't have the faith in the decision-making. The city was looking for $24 million and they settled for $12 [million], so you know next year they'll be in the same boat again.''

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by: GoldsteinGoneWild @ Sun May 11, 2008 at 11:24:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

They are people (0.00 / 0)

who come from out of town to hold "No" signs at the polls. Out of some sense of ideological mission, I guess.

I'm just saying, I can't see doing that for a "Yes" campaign that is not in my town.

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by: Trickle up @ Sun May 11, 2008 at 16:00:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Two questions ... (0.00 / 0)

First, when was the last time a city like Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Springfield, Fall River, Lowell, Lawrence, etc., had an override to pay for services or a debt exclusion for a school? Like, what, never?

I find it funny that the One Mass. org is so obsessed with covering overrides when communities of color are getting a large portion of the resources in this state and the pain is then passed on to communities which seem to be more affluent. Those communities, in turn, pass the burden for "keeping up with the Joneses," if you will, on class sizes, pay scales for teacher, etc., onto their property taxpayers, creating animosity and pain in many of those communities, even though many of them cannot afford the extra taxes.

I guess one could go over to clt.org and look at their collection of stories about overrides being rejected by voters because they are being hammered by taxes and no amount of spending is ever enough for some folks. That is why a lot of folks, like myself, while we may still work in Mass. and pay taxes there, moved to New Hampshire to get some tax sanity and frugality.

I do agree with some of the other comments about unfunded mandates. The federal government should be paying for its mandates - or they should rescind them, which might be the better option.  

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by: Tony Schinella @ Sun May 11, 2008 at 19:53:15 PM CDT

Sorry, second question (0.00 / 0)

Judy, why don't you have a disclaimer on your post stating that you are a staffer [paid] of this org?  

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by: Tony Schinella @ Sun May 11, 2008 at 19:55:46 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

ONE Massachusetts disclosure (0.00 / 0)

Hi Tony,

One Massachusetts is one project of the Public Policy Institute. I am Executive Director of the Public Policy Institute.  

ONE Massachusetts is a network-in-formation of people and organizations sharing a common vision: rebuilding public confidence in our capacity to work together, through our government, to expand economic opportunity and improve the quality of life in Massachusetts. 

ONE Mass is a learning community consisting of regionally based civic, social and political activists who come together for a training curriculum that includes budget and tax policy literacy, advocacy and strategic communications based on the Demos How to Talk about Government Project.

We are engaging community activists from all sectors of our state's civic life to create a ripple effect of activities and messages that will help move public sentiment towards a more positive understanding of the role of government in our state and in our local communities.

We have a district based grassroots training program to meet a variety of organizational needs, from 45 minutes for an annual meeting plenary to a 90-minute workshop to half- and full-day convenings.

The job of ONE Mass leaders and staff is to weave together existing and emerging leadership and coordinate statewide activities and messaging regarding taxes and government and to provide the skills and knowledge to communicate with the media.

You can find a description of the ONE Mass governance structure and a list of our leadership team here.

Our website features a NEWS Roundup that captures stories about local and statewide budget and tax policy budget debates featuring local community activists talking to their neighbors and friends about the kind of local government they want and how they think it should be paid for as they campaign for -- and against-- Prop 2 1/2 over rides. 

This morning you will find the first of many stories of a statewide budget and tax policy debate featuring organized activists debating for - and against-- the repeal of the state income tax.

Part of my workplan as Executive Director of the Public Policy Institute is to conduct outreach for ONE Massachusetts. I find all kinds of venues to recruit activists to learn more about budget and tax policy debates so they can make an informed decision about how to participate. Hence some of my postings on BMG. I will figure out how to disclose my role in a briefer fashion next time.  

Please consider joining Tony.

Go to onemassachusetts.org, click join, and just say you agree with with the ONE Massachusetts Collective Value Proposition. It's more than a mission statement really, it's a committment to work together though government to do what we cannot do alone -- like strengthen and maintain the public structures that educate our children, keep our water and air clean, repair our roads and bridges, protect our frail and elderly and make our communities safe and properous.     

We want—and recognize that all Massachusetts residents deserve—healthy lives; healthy families; quality education; safe, vibrant communities; and broadly shared prosperity in a thriving state.

These are goals we cannot achieve alone and can best accomplish by working together through a participatory, democratic government.

By joining our diverse voices, experiences and resources together, we can create the public will to build effective, fairly—funded government that achieves these goals.

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by: Judy Meredith @ Mon May 12, 2008 at 07:32:37 AM CDT

[ Parent ]