"Further review needs to be done of it. There are some pieces of the budget that go with the Strategic Plan, and parts of the Budget that I have seen first hand the needs for being a volunteer in the school system. These items I would hate to see pulled from the budget, as it would seriously halt the progress that is being made in the school systems to date. I will will comment on them in a later post in more detail.
I understand that when there is a greater than a 20% increase in the budget we really need to look at why there there was such an increase and exactly how that money is being spent. It is also the job of the School Committee to clearly communicate what that proposed school budget is made up of and why there is such an increase to the different demographics of this town.
I believe the most important is the 'why' behind the need to approve the budget, any budget- what ever the #'s may be after reviewing them. The why that is important to me may not be important to my neighbor across the street on the fixed income. However, educating the children of this community should be all of our responsibility as they are the next generation, if they are in schools they are not getting into trouble, they are becoming citizens themselves in the community, and are the investment for our future."
It is my view that communicating all of the details, and all of those details in the new budget, falls on the School Committee at this present time. In the future, I would like to see a more interactive role between School Committee and the Superintendent to communicate with the community and the town groups so when the final number is said at the approval meeting everyone will be on the same page as to where, how, and why the money is being spent.
Some interesting information that unless you really dig a little and look, even on the school's web site web site you probably don't see or bother to really look at or follow too closely at least, unless you are involved in the education system some how, but in this instance will affect you. The MA State EQA Report reported negatively on Auburn school district for not having curriculum leaders in the schools. The report also stated that we need to continue to work to fully establish and align curriculum at all grade levels.
The EQA Report is available from the state on any town's school district. As any papers are because of the Freedom of Information Act, as an aside.
In the Conclusion section of the EQA Report from the state ( this report is just one guideline to judge the health and state of our school systems) it was stated the following and I am quoting directly from the report here:
"Due to the fiscal constraints within Auburn, the town's revenue, rather than the student achievement data, became the driving force in the budget process. Auburn's budget and supplemental funds were not adequate to provide for effective instructional practices or sufficient operational resources."
In regards to budgeting process again, I know that we need to be fiscally responsible, I am not saying that we shouldn't. We need to get the long term plans in so that we can set our goals and work towards them, and none of this is going to happen over night. I do want accountability and deadlines met.
But in regards to budgets, at what time in the future Mr. Selectmen (current and future) and community are we going to change the way we do things in this town and show that the students come first (really and truly) so that people and businesses want to come and live and work and hire the children that are in our school systems. When those children go off to college they will want to come back here and stay or open businesses here for the right reasons and raise their kids here?
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