High School Budgets
Turned Down
By Voters

By Sandy Cooch

In the largest turnout in years, voters turned down both a $6-million Randolph Union High School budget and a $2.5-million budget for the Randolph Technical Career Center, in polling in Brookfield, Braintree, and Randolph Tuesday.

The RUHS budget was defeated 296-208, and the RTCC went down by a smaller margin, 275-238.

Two other money articles on the ballot, however, passed. Voters agreed 282-223 to use $62,424 of surplus funds from the 2004-05 fiscal year for a technology upgrade, and to place another $145,833 in surplus money into a building fund.

It was the first time in about 10 years, board members said Tuesday night, that voters had rejected the high school budget.

Ironically, this year's proposed RUHS and RTCC operating budgets carried significantly smaller increases than usual. The RUHS budget was up 2.6% and the RTCC budget was level funded from last year.

Last year, an RUHS budget with a 6.2% increase passed 194-145, while the technical center budget, with a 3.4% increase passed 213-126.

Reasons Probed

Board members said Tuesday night they were disappointed by the votes, especially since administrators had worked hard to keep budgets trim. However, they admitted that were not too surprised, and they cited several factors they felt contributed to the outcome.

One was Act 130, a state-mandated reporting change that this year created an apparent 26% increase in the high school budget, when in fact school operating costs were up 2.6%.

The new law, which affects only union school districts, requires those districts to move some significant expenses, including technical center costs and transportation, from elementary budgets to the high school. This shift resulted in an extra $1.48 million in expenses being tacked onto the bottom of the RUHS budget this year, instead of at the tail end of the Braintree, Brookfield, and Randolph elementary budgets.

The happier side of the shift will become apparent in March, when "total" expenses for the elementary budgets will shrink by 7-15%, because of the reporting change.

RUHS Board Member Andy Becker said he spent 10 minutes explaining all this to an unhappy voter Tuesday. Afterwards, the man told Becker he would have voted for the budget had he understood the change before he entered the polls.

Rising tax rates-despite the relatively small increases in the budgets-were clearly also on voters' minds, board members said.

In a story that has become all too common in school budgets across the state, education tax rates in Randolph, Brookfield, and Braintree are slated to rise at a much steeper percentage than their school budgets. The culprits are a drop in a town's Common Level of Appraisal (CLA), which inflates the tax rate, falling enrollments, which results in less state aid, or both.

Board members agreed Tuesday night that they needed to do a better job to help voters understand and utilize the "income sensitivity" mechanisms in the school funding law.

Supt. Brent Kay noted that about 90% of residents are eligible for the program, but only about 50% of the eligible taxpayers actually fill out the necessary rebate and prebate forms. Income sensitivity limits school taxes paid on a house and two acres to somewhere between 2-3% of income, he said.

Board members also surmised that some of the "no" votes were linked to the Randolph budget committee's recent call for voters to reject Randolph town, highway, and capital budgets in March. Probably some voters applied that advice when they voted the RUHS and RTCC budgets this week, it was posited.

Supt. Kay said he would meet this week with RUHS and RTCC administrators to discuss possible budget reductions.

Board Chair Linda Minsinger said she couldn't support big cuts.

"I thought the budgets they brought forward were lean budgets anyway," she said. "I don't want to cut them to the bone."

The RUHS board agreed to meet again in a few weeks to consider budget revisions. A revote will then be set. With a required 45-day warning, voters will probably head back to the polls in about two months.

8-Minute Meeting

With only a few non-money articles on the warning, the RUHS annual meeting Tuesday night in Murray Auditorium took all of eight minutes, which is a few minutes longer than usual, noted Moderator Peter Nowlan.

This is what happened:

The 12 or so voters in attendance, plus administrators and board members, said the Pledge of Allegiance, despite the fact there was no flag in the auditorium.

Voters re-elected Nowlan as moderator for a year, and elected a new clerk and treasurer for Union High School District #2, as Doris Bowen was stepping down from both posts.

George Gray of Braintree is the new treasurer and Anne Yawney, also of Braintree, is the clerk.

The small crowd gave Bowman a big round of applause for her 31 years of service.

Reports were approved; the board was given authority to borrow pending receipt of revenues; and the meeting was adjourned.

Questions Arise About

Construction Project

The handful of voters attending the eight-minute annual RUHS meeting Tuesday night stuck around another hour to question board members about a proposed $14.8-million bond for repairs at the RUHS/RTCC complex.

Board member Ron Beaudin explained that his committee is now developing a list of exactly what that $14.8-million will cover. A series of extensive public information sessions will occur before the actual bond vote, he promised.

The bond vote, according to Board Chair Linda Minsinger, will probably be in the late fall, when all details are fully ironed out. If it passes, construction could begin in the spring of 2007.

There were plenty of questions from voters about the roof, and plenty of disbelief that it could cost as much as $7 million, when whole buildings were built for much less.

Supt. Kay noted that the RUHS/RTCC roofing project requires structural changes, as well as new insulation and ventilation.

When the school was built, he noted, "oil was cheap" and the roof was designed so that heat loss would melt the snow. Also, insulation was laid on ceiling tiles, resulting in condensation forming under the roof, he said.

Because of the weight-bearing limits, some "overbuild" peaks will have to be put on parts of the roof.

Nothing about this roof is simple: The 200,000 square-foot roof is on more than a dozen different levels, Kay noted.

Assoc. Judy Hynes noted the maintenance staff had to put in heroic efforts to deal with multiple leaks during a "driving rain" a few weeks ago.

Bethel Factor?

The board was also questioned on how the possibility of Bethel sending its high school students to Randolph in the future might affect bond plans. Because the state smiles on consolidation efforts, the addition of Bethel students would make the RUHS construction bond qualify for 50% state aid, instead of 30%

Supt. Kay noted that before any consolidation could take place, Bethel voters would have to approve the idea, and the state would have to okay the application. The availability of 50% aid sunsets in 2008, and Bethel would have to complete its process by then for RUHS to receive the higher aid level, he said.

As a result, the state has advised RUHS officials to proceed with their original plans, and not try to expand the project in anticipation of more students and revenue.

Board members noted that the merger idea had only arisen in the past two weeks and talks were still at a very preliminary stage-and Bethel is also engaged in consolidation study with South Royalton

The RUHS board will meet with the Bethel board later this month, Minsinger said.

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