November 5, 2007
I just took a look at the NESDEC report that is online, and it is the Facilities Analysis. There is a separate report that covers the topic of Regionalization. It is this 2nd topic that has recently been referred to.
This 2nd report addresses maintaining quantity & quality of education (offering same level of programs and appropriate numbers of classes) and related costs if the region were to break apart. Back in 2001, the report estimated that a complete breakup of the district would cost the two towns of Bridgewater & Raynham approximately 2.9 million more than operating as a unified district.
The current issue at hand is a grade K-8 de-Regionalization Article by the Selectmen.
In today's dollars, there are a few things we can determine about costs (these are all my calculations) :
The school population is
high school Bridgewater students 15%
high school Raynham students 9%
k-8 Bridgewater 48%
k-8 Raynham 28%
(if you add B up you get 15+48=63%; R is 9+28=37%; and these are the published %'s)
Since Bridgewater is contemplating de-Regionalizing K-8 only, about 48% of the student population would be effected. Thus, about 48% of the overall $55M budget.
Taking a look at a few areas of concern:
(a) B-R receive $1.150M in regional bus transportation reimbursement from the State. Towns are not eligible for this. Therefore, about 48% of this amount would be lost to Bridgewater = $552k. Raynham's loss would be the 28% or $323k.
(b) B-R has all employees at 85/15 for health insurance. Bridgewater is at 88/12. The overall estimated difference in employer-share costs is about $400k for this three point swing in cost split. Nearly half of the district's employees would become Bridgewater employees, and thus would change from paying 15% towards insurance costs to only 12%. With that same 48% being Bridgewater , this is about $192k more Bridgewater would need to pay for the same number of employees.
(c) The third point is an interesting one -- Raynham pays more per student for education than does Bridgewater . This is because the State and its Chapter 70 formulas judge Raynham to be a wealthier community. [The State also thinks Andover and Wellesley are wealthier communities - and thus the State expects a larger local tax contribution to education.] Mathematically, Bridgewater pays about $5230 per student and Raynham $5640; this over $400 difference has been referenced many times before during budget discussions.
Quite simply, Bridgewater is paying $5230 per student for an education that costs about $5380 per student; Raynham is paying their $5640 per student for the same $5380 education. Bridgewater comprises 63.1% of the student population, but paid this year $19.5M or 61.3% of total district costs. If the regional costs were split at the 63.1% to 36.9% that is the student population ratio, Bridgewater would have been required to pay nearly $20.1M towards district costs.
Bridgewater is therefore receiving educational services valued at $565k more than it is paying because of the State formulas requiring Raynham to pay more per student towards education.
Adding these three items provides a total of $1.3 million more it would cost Bridgewater to do everything the same as right now - same buses, provide health insurance, cover per-pupil costs. The $1.3M would not provide for any additional teaching staff, classroom materials or books; it would just be lost dollars.
All of the calculations are approximations - a detailed study would be necessary to determine exactly. However, these three points show tremendous increased or new costs to Bridgewater .
Lastly, not having heard nor seen anything substantive from Mark Oliari, Stan Kravitz or Chris Flynn on the matter of their proposed de-Regionalization of Bridgewater-Raynham, I submit the above as a preliminary analysis of costs relative to the breakup of grades K-8 of the school district.
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Joseph Gillis Jr.
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