December 16, 2004
Bridgewater
Raynham
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Bridgewater-Raynham Schools
Massachusetts
USA
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Opinion/Analysis
Joseph Gillis Jr.
You can do something!
Back this past spring, a presentation was made with those blue Annual School Budget books (dated March 31, 2004). At that time, the total requested budget was $48,242,430. To date, four "gifts" have been provided to Bridgewater-Raynham from the two host towns, and these now total $2,036,697. The budget figure for Revenue approved at the 12/15/04 School Committee Meeting was for $45,329,039.
Therefore, compared to the initial budget request of $48M, the net difference in funding is actually $876,694. Yes, some of this gap was closed by one-time money (gifts), but the fact remains that the School District is now looking at revenue far greater than last year, and less than a million dollars less than the initial goal.
Page 18 of the blue Annual School Budget book described the four Tiers. It is important to note that these Tiers are separate from one another - the dollars for each Tier level do NOT include lower levels.
Tier I = $290,000; transportation, utilities, school supplies and 5 professional staff positions
Tier II = $530,000; high school athletics, extracurricular activities, supplies & materials, rescheduling kindergarten ($60k) and NOT utilized; therefore, the effect of this Tier is $470,000.
Tier III = $1,243,063; hiring freeze on 22 retiree positions. After the previous two Tiers, $116,694 needs to be reflected in this area. Therefore, TWO positions would not be able to be replaced.
So, when all is said and done, there has been an effect on many areas, but we should only be looking at a loss of two teaching positions. Unless we cannot believe last year's budget presentation.
