Sue Flicop

I’ve been pouring over the Citizen Advisory Group (CAG) report on School Cost Structure since its presentation. The CAG members were very thorough in their investigations of school costs, METCO, the school lunch program, and transportation. The result is that the CAG found the main drivers of school cost increases to be health benefits, SPED costs, and utilities, and made the following recommendations:

• Health Benefits: The City of Newton should consider joining the Commonwealth’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC). This is the State’s health insurance program that has, over time, experienced less of a cost increase than Newton’s health insurance program. Any shift to the GIC needs to be approved by the unions in Newton. The CAG also recommended a review of the insurance cost split (currently 80% for the city and 20% for the employees). While these changes require discussion with the unions, I do feel that both changes need to be explored in contract negotiations.
• SPED Costs: The School Committee should perform an outside analysis of the SPED program by professionals to see if we are providing the best services for our children in the most effective and cost efficient way possible. Just as with regular education, I hope such a review would outline the choices we have as a community in providing SPED services as well as the State and Federal mandates that are required. Since both cost and the SPED population are increasing quickly, I feel we should do this type of review far more regularly in the past—possibly every 6 – 7 years.

• Utilities: The CAG report did not contain a great deal of information on how to address these costs. As a former Stand for Children member and ESCO advocate, I do know that the schools, along with the City, are entering into ESCOs, energy services contracts that leverage future cost savings to pay for improvements to the schools that improve energy usage.

The CAG found that the salary increases in the teachers’ contract was not a major factor in creating the structural deficit (where revenues will not be enough to maintain the system as the previous year.)

One theme that runs through the report is the need for a community-wide discussions about what we value most in our school system and what type of trade-offs we are willing to make. I think teacher quality and professional development should be at the top of our values list. Research shows that the quality of a teacher has the most impact on a child’s education—parents instinctively know that an excellent teacher in a larger classroom of 27 kids is better than a mediocre teacher in a classroom with 23 or 24 students. [An international study by McKinsey & Company is available by link on the “more information” page.] We need to focus our resources on creating, supporting, and retaining high-quality staff in our school budget and in the policies that the School Committee creates.

Lots of news to report from tonight’s School Committee meeting.  First there was an update on user fees from the subcommittee.  The members are reviewing all fees–for athletics, 4th grade instrumental music, bus, and use of school buildings (USB).  In the public comment section at the end of the meeting, I spoke about the need to communicate with parents about these reviews–it would be terrible for an increased fee to be a surprise.  This was the case for the after-care programs a few years ago when their USB fees almost doubled.

About the bus fees, I recommended they contact the Safe Routes to School organizers.  They have done a great deal of outreach to the community–even the families who use the bus.  And the families that walk to school would also be affected by the fees when people start to drive their kids instead of paying a higher bus fee.  Lots of implications–to traffic, to safety, to the environment, and to parking.

The last part of my comment was about the instrumental music fee.  I strongly feel that, if there has to be a music fee, the 4th grade is the worst place to do it.  This is when kids are first exposed to something other than the recorder.  They should be encouraged to experiment–a child might find a new passion in their life.  But in this economy, a fee might stop that  child from trying something that is so beneficial for them.

There were two presentations that were both very good.  Ed Hauben of Newton Community Education gave a thorough presentation of the program.

Brenda Keegan also spoke wonderfully about the Strategic Planning Initiative and what 21st Century skills are.  The list of skills came out of concern in the business world that students were graduating without abilities needed to be successful today.  These skills supplement the standards-based education–they do not replace it.  Catch it on NewTV if you can!