Sue Flicop

I’ve recently been in touch with Neil Bernstein, a School Committee member in Swampscott, MA. Neil responded to my guest column in the Newton TAB about instituting long-range planning for our public school system. The School Committee and administration have recently done this in Swampscott, where information is posted on their website: Swampscott Public Schools Financial Information.

The planning model is very similar to the work the CAG did in this area. One of the most interesting results is that the Swampscott Superintendent has a five-year budget strategy—a natural outcome of a long-range financial planning document. This makes far more sense than the annual budget guidelines that our School Committee develops—which can be very different from year to year and not provide sustainable support for important programs.

The other interesting item is that even though there are 5 School Committee members in Swmapscott, there is a Finance Committee. As far as I know, there is no such sub-committee of the Newton School Committee. While it seems to me that all the SC members share the responsibility for keeping within the annual budget, I think a Finance Committee could be very helpful in designing, evaluating, and presenting a long-range financial plan. This could become a very important element in moving forward, especially if there is no agreement on hiring a Chief Financial Officer until a permanent Superintendent is in place.