Above: Unlike Articles brought by the regional high schools, the two brought by the Southborough School Committee will have support from the Select Board and Advisory Committee this Saturday. (images from upcoming and past presentations)
Public schools that serve Southborough will have four special Articles on the Warrant at Annual Town Meeting (in addition to the usual budgets and administrative Articles). Town officials support two, are split on one, and oppose another.
Here’s an overview.
Articles not universally supported by Select Board and Advisory Committee
Article 26 Capital Stabilization fund for Northborough-Southborough Regional School District
The Superintendent’s team and the Regional School Committee are advocating that a special fund would help them to plan for maintenance and renovation costs for the school’s facilities, including for the new GonkPlex outdoor athletic/recreation facilities.
The argument is that over the years, the school underinvested in keeping the rec facilities in good condition. That led to deterioration that ultimately came with a higher price tag when the Towns agreed to repair and update the facilities. By creating a fund that is consistently budgeted each year, the district would be able to plan for future maintenance and updates without significant impacts to the annual budget for each town.
The town’s would still have a say in how that money is spent, just not through Town Meeting. The Warrant explains that projects “will be presented to the Southborough Capital Improvement & Planning Committee as part of the annual budget process.” (That doesn’t give the CIPC veto power, just the ability to ask questions, raise concerns, and make suggestions.) The expenses would have to be approved by the Regional School Committee, elected by Southborough and Northborough voters. (You can view their presentation for Town Meeting here.)
The Advisory Committee argues that Town Meeting should retain the right to make spending decisions. (You can read more detail on their position on page 6 of their report to Town Meeting here.) The Select Board agreed.
Article 43 Capital Stabilization fund for Assabet Valley Regional Vocational
Technical School District
Here, Advisory and the Select Board had differing views. Advisory has the same opposing arguments as cited above.
From the school administration, there was a similar pitch but with a slightly different focus. Superintendent Ernest Houle told Town officials that the $62M renovation didn’t address all of the maintenance needs of the 50 year old school. He explained, “the floor is starting to pop up in certain sections. We have roadways and parking lots that need to be addressed.”
Meanwhile, an increase in accepted students within the 7 district towns over the past few years has meant a decrease in the ability to accept students from other towns. That contributed to a budget increase for taxpayers across the 7 towns. The intent of the stabilization fund is to plan for the maintenance needed.
The Select Board opined that the share of costs Southborough has to share is small, and they didn’t think that the school administration should have to make its case at Town Meeting for each of the 7 partner towns. Therefore, they supported the ask.
Articles Supported by the Select Board and Advisory Committee
Article 24 Establish Stabilization Fund for Southborough School District Special Education
Unlike the capital expenses, Town Meeting has no real choice but to pay for Special Education costs incurred by the School District.
According to Southborough School Committee Chair Kamali O’Meally and NSBORO Superintendent Gregory Martineau, the biggest spikes and dips in the year-over-year budgets are caused by the fees assessed for students placed in special needs programs outside of our schools.
(See images above from their presentation to the Select Board and Advisory and the presentation for TM on the Town website. But note that the graphs are based on the percent change for each of the budgets, not on dollars.)
Creating a stabilization fund would allow the administration and committee to budget a more consistent set-aside for the unpredictable expense, helping to better plan the overall budget each year. The Select Board and Advisory agreed. You can see the presentation created for Town Meeting here.
Article 25 Lease and Power Purchase Agreement for Trottier School
Years ago, Algonquin piloted a solar panel project. Based on that success, the administration has been pursuing more projects throughout the district to save on energy costs.
With the elementary school situation in flux based on the work of the Neary Building Committee, the middle school is the only available Southborough School building.
The article gives the Select Board the authority to do what is needed to enter a 10-20 year agreement with a solar provider for the installation and maintenance of panels and a power purchase agreements. The board would only enter an agreement if they found the details “acceptable”.
Updated (3/22/24 8:05 am): I added images I didn’t have time to upload yesterday, plus a link to the Southborough School Committee’s presentation created for TM that was posted to the Town Meeting website.
Updated (3/22/24 12:09 pm): I added the Regional School Committee’s Capital Stabilization presentation which I missed was added to the Town Meeting website.
