I see handwringing over "where is the one million dollars going to come from" to fund the school budget? Woe are us says the school committee.

I am sincerely asking here, How can this be?

Is there really a shortfall?

How did costs increase by one million in a year?

Does this have to do with the mayor's threats made after the override failed?

Are the school system's legal bills a million dollars? 1/2 a million but not a million is the figure I've seen.

When there was 3 million dollars, found laying around a few months ago, why wasn't 1/3 of it set aside for the schools?

I would appreciate an explanation, if anyone has one. It doesn't make sense to me without some kind of information.

There is no explanation. The whole thing is the yearly charade to try to scare MEF Moms and their lemmings to go tell everyone we need an override. Just watch. The punishment for mommies and daddies not passing the override last year will be a major increase in fees for sports, music, and extracurriculars, for which parents are already paying way beyond the district's actual cost to provide.

That's evil to punish the parents like that.

That's evil to punish the parents and kids like that
while the district's top administrators spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars set aside for educating our kids on high priced attorneys and public relations firms to defend themselves from their defenseless actions. And now they need more money?? Sick.

This Mayor has more slush funds than you can shake a stick it! As the Mayor sometimes says to his closest friends, thank god for enterprise funds!

"I see handwringing over "where is the one million dollars going to come from" to fund the school budget? Woe are us says the school committee."

Why would you expect anything different from this School Committee, mayor, and superintendent?

"I am sincerely asking here, How can this be?
Is there really a shortfall?"

It's a game they're playing, and we lose.

"How did costs increase by one million in a year?"

Of course costs increase. Haven't you been to the grocery store lately? But that isn't the reason the administration is claiming a "deficit" any more than it was when they claimed that fake "structural deficit" they trumped up to try and get their override. This is all an artificial construct based on what Dolan and Della Russo came up with behind the scenes that they are now using to scare the community, all part of their sick power play.

"Does this have to do with the mayor's threats made after the override failed?"
Of course it is.

"Are the school system's legal bills a million dollars? 1/2 a million but not a million is the figure I've seen."
How would anyone but the administration and chair of the school committee even know since they are hiding most of it? They tried to charge their own member $8,000 to have that information! CKK showed us over many years the way they have been working so hard to keep critical information like this from the public, or even from those who are supposed to authorize the payments to the law firms representing the district. She showed us recently (February) that there were something like $85,000 just in one "warrant" that represented just one of the attorney's billings for 5 months that they claimed they only just then knew about even though she argued that they were date and time stamped by White-Lambright going back each month starting last August. But where were your questions (which are good ones) then?

"When there was 3 million dollars, found laying around a few months ago, why wasn't 1/3 of it set aside for the schools?"

Perfectly fine question. It's all a cynical manipulation that the mayor, school committee and superintendent are able to pull off because too many are willing to give up after a short burst of mini-outrage and few are willing to step up and stay with it. Real honest-to-goodness, sustained advocacy with tough questions and dialogue that often involves struggle is attacked as "negative" by too many here. Read that ridiculous Facebook "Community Page" and see how "negativity" is attacked instead of the real problems that should be their focus if the adults there they wanted to see a more mature, "positive," fair and kind Melrose.

Sure, parents, teachers, and kids (and probably city staff) have learned that retaliation and unfair treatment (shunning being a big one) are a typical response now in this culturally hostile environment. But it doesn't have to be that way. It will only change, though, if good people retake ownership of the community.

I agree with you - I am sick and tired of this annual complaining about "not enough money in the budget".

- Oh by the way - we had a 3 million dollar surplus last year even though we asked for an override - please don't ask us where that money is.

- Oh by the way, we need more money to pay for legal fees - please don't ask what for.

-Oh by the way, we need another $10k to pay for a PR firm to tell us how to communicate with the public - please don't ask why we need a PR firm.

-Oh by the way, we need more money to give our teachers another 25% raise over the next 3 years but we will tell the stupid public that it is only a 1% raise - it worked the last time around and the public has a short memory - please don't ask why 20% of them "needs improvement".

This stuff reminds of the Abbott and Costello skit called, "Whose on First?"

"Read that ridiculous Facebook "Community Page" and see how "negativity" is attacked instead of the real problems that should be their focus if the adults there they wanted to see a more mature, "positive," fair and kind Melrose."

Yes, as of today there was one presumably well-meaning parent who posted about "working with the school administration, not against" with the clear implication that those who are doing the heavy lifting and revealing the truth are somehow working "against" the district and being "negative." That is just such an immature and irresponsible way of looking at all of these things. Any parent who is being responsible knows that part of doing the right thing often means being "negative" (as in calling out what isn't acceptable), though hopefully doing it with the best intentions.

The current budget debacle is a perfect example of the dysfunction and the immature attitudes the community seems too willing to accept on face value. It isn't just the elementary parents, either, though the leaders of that ed foundation are doing quite the job of discrediting themselves and the elementary parent population with their highly political behavior and linkage to the whole patronage system this mayor has woven for his own political agenda.

A big part of what is wrong in Melrose these days is this attacking and shunning of anyone deemed "negative" and refusal to support those who have been fighting for our kids, doing the dirty work of learning about and handling the bad stuff and trying to force accountability. It's been way too easy for gullible parents, PTO, etc. to jump on the vilification bandwagon and blame the wrong people for the troubles in the community or the reason for the lack of public engagement with the issues. Listen to most of the aldermen and certainly all of the veteran school committee members and you hear this kind of immature and irresponsible mentality. There is no way that this community can continue to expect others to do its heavy lifting while hanging back and even attacking anything deemed too "negative." Time for the community collectively to grow up!

You hit the nail on the head Hoover. If you dare say one negative thing about the schools on social media you might as well paint your house with a giant scarlet A. Same was true during the override process. Look how many people voted no but never said a word publically. Accountability is something severely lacking on our SC and with our administration.

The MEFoundation is made up of the same power-grubbing, patronage-seeking parents as the failed YES campaign. It's the same cast of characters, same ignorant and strident agenda. They all paint themselves as "we're all about helping the schools," when in fact they're all about helping themselves feel a tad more powerful with their children's school principals and teachers and feeling like they're favored insiders with the Dolan and Taymore administration. It's hard to fathom how college-educated parents can't see beyond the obvious when they're talking to the likes of Dugan, Deselm, Lisa Lewis, Jen McAndrew, Elizabeth Christopher, Martha Grover, Gagliano, etc., but then there are quite a few very gullible parents here.

Amazingly Dolan is getting them all revved up to go for another tax initiative, because apparently they didn't get the message from the voters last November. They are now convinced that they just need to be a little better organized and refocus the request to something more believable than that lame list of teacher coaches, etc. that Taymore and Dolan put out there last time. This time they are trying to raise the spectre of the district "getting cited" by the DOE for failure to have a science curriculum or teach ESL according to the law. Believe it all at your own peril! Three cheers for "negativity" (aka, unfortunately, The Truth, as it now is in Alice's 02176 Looking Glass).

Voted No on the Override and will vote No on any future attempt despite all the ravings of the MEF narcissistic parents. Get the message. You are not getting any additional $ until the SC and admin clean up the budget shenanigans and fire the incompetent staff. No wonder the teachers call in sick. The stress is killing them...literally.... Who would sub for the pay allotted for substitute teachers? The 50 bucks per day hasn't been raised in 20-25 years...at least....? But we can pay for the health insurance of the BOA members....current and retired ....and find CT "exemplary" and give her raises....get a grip, Melrose! No, No, No...Thank God, I do not have children in the school system anymore...they got out before the meltdown.

It is sad enough to have members of the community act that way but when civil servants and elected officials jump on board with the bashing and retaliation(sadly, very common here in Melrose), they violate their oath of office and ethics regulations. But that appears to be tolerated in this City for some strange reason.

Much like the Mayor sitting on the school committee. Does he run from one side of the room to the other during budget meetings? Representing both sides of any discussion.

It's like when you're a kid performing a skit with your friends and you don't have enough actors for all the roles so you run around the stage playing different parts. The audience is your mom though so it's funny to her. Here, the stakes are a little higher.

One of the reasons I voted no was because of the health insurance for BOA. I do not believe there will be layoffs. Every year they say it but the money does seem to appear. I Also I noticed in the budget memo that CT is getting a 3% raise this year? The money must be available!

And be sure there will be a "pot of money" for mid summer raises for Taymore's crack team of administrators who have thrown the district into turmoil. But you won't know about it because the school committe waits to vote on this when everyone is vacationing in July. Maybe we should be voting on this now, while they are discussing the budget?

It looks like the extra Kindergarten classes will be at Lincoln and Roosevelt. So will they hire Asst Principals? We have so many condos and apt buildings going up there will be additional enrollments. Not everyone moving to Melrose buys a home. There are lots of residents who rent or buy condos with small children. I am glad Melrose is booming but we are busting at the seams.

Not only will they not hire assistant principals, but they won't hire more custodial staff, or specialists. Let's hope they hire 1st grade teachers for the two extra classes that are currently moving up! Current kindergartners in those schools attend art, music, gym, library - with more than 35 kids in each class. This is inexcusable that Melrose had "no idea" this was coming and shut the Beebe school. Thank our lucky stars for MVCS or we would have 300 more kids in the district - and close to 200 in the elementary schools. And yes, by all means, keep building more condos.

Since it looks like the schools are going to be overwhelmed for the next few years, planning is in order. For more than next year. Long term including consideration of a population decease if there is one on the horizon.

The charter school gets maligned but if it closed tomorrow, as said above 300 students would need space in MPS. Students who have parents that didn't want to send their kids to MPS so presumably not on board with the doings of MPS.

One point of confusion is that Melrose is participating in school choice where students from other communities can apply to come in for certain grades. Melrose receives 5k each for these students which in under the Melrose per pupil expenditure so how is this a good thing? Doesn't the city lose money by having the out of town students here?

Even if there is not the same level of overcrowding in the grades that accept the school choice students, could any 'extra' resources be moved down to the lower grades where they are needed? [:-?]

Darn fortunate that the school system is so wretched and has a reputation that is anything but enviable now. The taxpaying parents of those 550+ students who now attend private or parochial schools are keeping things afloat for Paymore to accrue large increases in the administrative budget and for all those consultants and attorneys without taking up spaces in the district. Paymore and Doughland had better make sure the system continues to worsen. Maybe more students will be pulled from the system while the tax dollars continue to funnel in. Don't know why ClownA$$ is so upset with those who are going to private or parochial schools because this scheme is actually working for the disastrous administration.

Cost of Out of city pupils came up on the community page back during the override. I don't remember fully, but I do not believe we get only $5000 for those pupils. Are you going from proof you saw personally on the spreadsheets? I looked back then but have now forgotten the amount exactly. Having said that, I still don't believe it was anywhere near $5000.
Also, they only sold less than 5 open seats across high school grades only I believe. Selling an open seat is not something they see as a problem. Though I would say to some parents, like me, it does indeed bother them that a handful of classes couldn't enjoy less students sometimes.

And speaking of money, I have recently wondered, why do St. Mary's students get to use Melrose public school specialists for their students? Does St. Mary's pay the city of Melrose for the use of their specialists? They, I assume, also get their students tested by MPS?

Does anyone have the facts on any of this?

I readily admit I do not have the facts about any of those inner workings, only generalities I have heard from chatter around town and what may be completely wrong chatter I know.

Here's an idea, instead of continuing to lose money on the ecc, why not get rid of it and put all the K overages there? Think of all those MEF mommies needing to find a new pre-school for their little types just so that our kindergarten students have a place to take class.

By law, the district has to evaluate any taxpayer student for whom there is a concern of special education needs. Once identified as SPED, the district must provide services for said student. The families still pay taxes here, so even if they send their child to private school, they can still utilize the services in the city. Same for homeschooled kids.

Thank you. Makes sense. So it's not that any student ( other city student) at St. Mary's is getting services at MPS. Good to know.

Exactly what SPED law said. It's Melrose students using the services. Saugus kids would have to get their services through Saugus for example. Do the specialists come to St. Mary's? My friend who works for the Reading Public Schools told me the same as SPED above except that the family has to come to the public school for the services if they don't already attend.

Referencing the out of district student issue, someone who worked on the task force to determine whether was it feasible for Melrose to accept the out of district students, said on the facebook community page that the city received 5K for the students. That's what I remember anyway. I can't see what the other poster was asking exactly because of how the message box only shows the previous post but I think that was the question.

Thank you for the confirmation and extra info. And yes, I was told the St Mary's kids take a bus to MPS for services. The specialists don't go to there.
@ out of district students-Wow. That would be something if it was only $5000. Am thinking my brain wouldn't accept that number back then and dismissed it as false when it was on the community page. It just seems so wrong. Thanks again.

Well a decision needs to be made soon on Kindergsrten. Little over 5 months to get it straightened out!

Where are they on deciding if they are going to add a K to the HM? I think there was talk about putting it in the current library. Perfect.

And then the library would go where?

The HM principal has her hands full just trying to maintain the HM school and the district at Level three status. It was just a couple of months ago that some lobbying efforts and a little massaging of the stats with DESE mysteriously brought the school back to level two. Besides, she's usually busy retaliating against families who complain about teacher misconduct or student's IEPs not being implemented. Her behavior is ripe for an Office of Civil Rights complaint or two.

Anonymous is the differentiator? That is the most ludicrous comment I've read in a long time.

Substitute pay will increase from 55.00 to 60.00. Yes that will attract more substitutes in Melrose ! 5.00 raise will do nothing at all to help alleviate the shortage.

http://www.doe.mass.edu/finance/schoolchoice/choice15.html

FY15 school choice tuition rates are set at 75 percent of the FY14 operating cost per full-time equivalent pupil for the receiving school district, with a cap of $5,000.

Melrose receives 5K for each school choice student. Per pupil expenditure is higher than that. So how is it that Melrose isn't losing $$$ taking these kids in? If you're going to complain about not having $$$ SC, then maybe don't sign up for money losing propositions.

Many districts don't do it. Belmont, Weston, Winchester, Wayland, Newton, etc. You can draw your own conclusions.

http://www.doe.mass.edu/finance/schoolchoice/choice-status.pdf

These students from school choice are occupying available extra space - it is not costing the city anything extra. No additional teachers are hired, not additional resources are needed, just using existing resources. That is why it makes economical sense - don't understand why that is so difficult to understand! If you had watched the discussion at school committee meetings, you would have known this fact.

Personally speaking, I don't believe the School Committe. I wonder how the teachers feel about taking on extra students from out of district? More paperwork from these kids, homework, tests, conferences with parents and the responsibility of actually teaching these kids. Interesting that books, other school supplies, and whatever other costs there are in educating a child in Melrose is, comes in under 5K for these chilren. Economies of scale only go so far. Gym, the cafeteria, art supplies, extracurriculars that are city subsidized even if there's a fee, and much more, are MPS resources being stretched further if there are more students. There is a breaking point. Period. Hopefully enough cushion was left for families moving to the city and children re-enrolling from private, Catholic and the charter school. Ironic that the school system would agree to this at a time when there is consideration of moving elementary students to the middle school and middle schoolers starting high school in 8th grade because of looming over crowding issues.

A stupid decision made by a stupid school committee. The choice was backed by a stupid city government officials and incompetent, stupid school administrators. I am so glad I voted NO on the override !

Please don't forget that this budget "crisis" is totally made up by the mayor, SC and Paymore. He made it clear that the override was for future cushioning and not for actually meeting the expenses of the schools.

This manufactured crisis is basically punishment for those who voted against the override. It is a temper tantrum and the kids suffer. Again.

Of course, Paymore is using this made up crisis to say this is all she can work on instead of actually dealing with real issues.

This is so true. I keep seeing where this is the excuse of the month. From the SC too. How can I possibly deal with anything else when I have the "budget crisis" to manage? Maybe manage relocating the 3 million+ dollars that you had a short time ago? What is the explanation for its disappearance?

There needs to be a series of public town hall meetings where city and school officials answer all questions. The status of the MPS situation, including the budget, student numbers, IEP violations and the OCR findings must be addressed openly. The schools are in crisis and rumors, PR spin doctors and the avoidance approach is not working to solve Melrose's problems or heal this divided community.