New Accounting Proposal for Support Services Riles School Committee

When a committee holds a public hearing on a school budget proposal that is $49,764,206 and no one comes to comment one way or the other — what can go wrong?

Plenty … as the school committee very quickly found out after it unanimously approved the budget for fiscal year 2012 which begins July 1.

The process that led to the approval is the real story.

Led by new and his vision for accountability and high academic achievement coupled with a realignment of grades that affect elementary, middle and high school levels and a new attitude overall, the school committee studied the plan from all angles for over six months.

All of that preparation was swept away by , who serves as chair of the school committee, one minute after the remaining school committee members voted.

Stevens, who by law must abstain from voting, upset five of the six members by announcing, "This is not the amount I will present to the city council. There will be some changes in benefits and $8.5 million in school support (normally absorbed by the city) that will be moved from the city side (unemployment compensation, health care costs, Medicare disbursements due to retirements, school committee salaries and life insurance costs) to the school side of the budget."

Citing that it's merely an accounting function, Stevens was flabbergasted by the school committee's response, which was very negative.

School committee member Kathleen D. Robey was the only one who did not object to the mayor's proposal. "I understand what you're trying to do. What's the big deal?"

But all others lambasted Stevens for her ill-timed curveball to the committee.

"Why didn't you bring this up earlier so that we could have planned for this?"        "Why this year? Let's wait until next year," said one member.

"I'm unhappy. You should have said something earlier in the process," added another.

 "We've been working for six months and now you tell us this — after we've taken the vote to approve the budget."

Another member said they felt "hoodwinked."

Stevens initially defended herself but eventually apologized to the committee and said she didn't expect to receive that type of reaction from the committee.

She said she would speak to her finance team and report back to the school committee at a later date.