February 24, 2009
While the Governor has repeatedly said that schools were held harmless with his recent 9C cuts, that is not completely true. Detailed figures are not yet available; however there were reductions to two financial programs that provide revenue to B-R.
(A) The Circuit-Breaker account that provides funds for extraordinary special education costs to a school district had a state-wide cut of 6.3%.
(B) The Regional Transportation account that reimburses regional school districts for certain costs related to state-required bus services had a state-wide cut of 4.8%.
Over the past couple of years, the Bridgewater-Raynham School District has enacted many measures that increase revenues and decrease costs.
(A) Implemented an energy savings program. Also, applied for and received a $95,000 Mass Technology Collaborative Green School Grant as Phase I of a plan to design photovoltaic panels which will provide renewable energy to the B-R Regional High School.
(B) Last year, 70 employees were laid off by the District. (27 Educational Assistants and 43 Cafeteria workers.) Vacated positions are not automatically back-filled; a careful review is done prior to determining if/when the position should be filled.
(C) The Cafeteria management and operations were privatized, thereby removing costs and liabilities from the B-R School District.
(D) To reduce special education costs, B-R has joined a Transportation Collaborative to assist in minimizing travel costs for our students. B-R has also moved some special education programs in-house to better control our costs.
(E) Several years ago, B-R implemented a pilot School Choice program. That first year, 30 students chose to come to B-R. In the second year of the program, 57 students chose our School Choice option. This current (third year), 83 students are coming into B-R Schools. Over $400,000 in revenue is coming to B-R this year, and approximately $850,000 in revenue has come to B-R over the three years that the program has been in place.
(F) Eliminated ‘Sick Leave Buyback’ from all contracts; thus no more balloon payments to employees when they retire.
(G) Eliminated Master Medical indemnity health plan from insurance plan options, and have gone to a single-provider further reducing costs.
(H) All employees at 85/15 insurance split or 80/20. The change from 88/12 to 85/15 resulted in insurance cost savings. With a couple of years of new hires at 80/20, approximately 24% of B-R Active employees are in this split; resulting in about $55,000 in insurance cost savings this year.
Finally, I do not (and the B-R School Committee does not) consider our work done. There are other ways to improve the financial situation of the District, and new initiatives to explore and implement. As we proceed into the FY2010, there will be more ideas made public.
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Joseph Gillis Jr.
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