Question puts budget on ballot

Opponents appeal to voters to revoke OK

How much money should be spent on the public schools next fiscal year has become the front-burner issue in Wakefield as the town struggles with a financial crunch.

Residents opposed to the size of the fiscal 2009 school budget approved by the annual Town Meeting last month have successfully petitioned to have the matter become the subject of a ballot referendum. At a special election May 27, voters will decide whether the town should appropriate $27,437,670 for the public schools, the amount approved by Town Meeting.

Should a majority vote "yes," the Town Meeting vote will stand and the school budget will be $27.4 million.

But if a majority votes "no," the Town Meeting-approved budget will be nullified. Barring further action by a Special Town Meeting, the school budget starting July 1 will be set each month at one-12th of the $25,980,430 fiscal 2008 school budget.

"My purpose in doing this is to help the people of Wakefield," said Selectwoman Phyllis Hull, who led the petition drive and is urging residents to vote "no" on May 27.

Hull contends that residents cannot afford the spending provided in the school budget, which represents an 8.25 percent increase over this year's budget, or $2.05 more than what the Finance Committee requested.

But School Committee chairman Chris Callanan said defeat of the school budget would force the district to operate next fiscal year at the current year's spending level or - in what he called a "distinct possibility" - a Special Town Meeting might opt to adopt the Finance Committee's even lower school spending figure.

Either way, "the School Department will be losing many positions and suffer from increased class size, lost efficiencies, a reduction in librarians, administrators, textbooks, and supplies," he said, adding that the situation could become more dire if utility costs continue to escalate.

The referendum campaign comes as officials grapple with how to close an overall $2.3 million projected deficit for fiscal 2009. They have said spending cuts, a Proposition 2 1/2 override proposal, or some combination of the two are all on the table for discussion.

Because the schools account for $2 million of the deficit, the outcome of the referendum will have a direct bearing on whatever remedy they propose, officials say. Should voters reject the school budget as approved by Town Meeting, the size of the town deficit would fall to $851,602, according to officials.

Betsy Sheeran, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said discussions on possible solutions to the deficit are continuing among the Board of Selectmen, the Finance Committee, and the School Committee, but that decisions are on hold until after May 27.

"We really can't move on anything until we see the results of the ballot question and the people speak," Sheeran said.

Town Administrator Thomas P. Butler has said a number of factors made the fiscal 2009 budget extremely tight, including increases in health insurance and retirement costs, a deficit in the snow and ice budget, and the fact that 2008 spans 53 weeks. Departments other than the schools were collectively cut 2.2 percent, and the schools were asked to reduce spending by 2.15 percent, or $558,000 over the current year.

Prior to Town Meeting, school officials said they would need to make severe cuts to adhere to the town's budget figure.

A list of $1.79 million in reductions the district said it could make without collective bargaining with its unions included the elimination of 41.9 full-time staff positions, the director of technology, two assistant principals, two adjustment counselors, and three elementary school librarians.

Town Meeting voters agreed to the School Committee's budget figure.

Following that action, it restored spending cuts that had been made in other departments, including $90,000 apiece for the Police and Fire departments, $25,000 for the public library, and $87,000 for the Department of Public Works.

Those actions and some smaller spending approvals left the budget in deficit.

Hull said she decided to target the school budget for rejection because it is $2 million out of balance.

"The School Committee was instructed like every other department by the Finance Committee to cut their budget by 2 percent because we don't have the money to fulfill everything that we need to do. What happened instead is that the schools came back . . . with a budget over 8 percent" higher, she said.

While she has long opposed Proposition 2 1/2 overrides and would not support one this year, Hull said, "if the School Committee had any courage at all they would have made a recommendation for an override instead of hiding behind the skirts of the PTO and the override moms."

Hull said she plans to actively campaign for a "no" vote at the referendum, helped by the Wakefieldians Opposed to Excessive Spending committee.

The group, of which Hull is a member, has registered with the town clerk as a ballot committee for this referendum election, allowing it to raise and spend funds for a campaign.

Town Clerk Mary K. Galvin said no ballot committee has registered with her in support of a "yes" vote at the referendum.

Callanan said the School Committee is attempting to communicate to the public the impact a rejection of the school budget would have.

"We are hopeful that the residents of Wakefield will show that they value education," he said.

Meanwhile, a citizens group formed prior to Town Meeting to educate residents about the town's financial difficulties is actively encouraging residents to go to the polls May 27 no matter what their position is on the school budget.

"We want people to go out and vote and have their voices heard," said Laurie Hunt, a cofounder of the group, Wakefield Residents Information Group.