Selectmen approve additional funds for schools
By Angela Greiner Community Reporter

Hudson - Executive Assistant Paul Blazer recommended the addition of $329,000 of funds to the fiscal year (FY) 2009 school budget for the selectmen to approve at their March 10 meeting. The funds will come from the additional state aid that both State Rep. Patricia A. Walrath, D-Stow, and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi agreed would be available from the state Lottery funds whether or not casino gambling is approved.

Although Blazer said he was pretty confident that the money will be distributed, he also said that the additional school funds would be contingent on the distribution of the $329,000 of state Lottery aid.

The additional funds will bring the school budget increase from the 4.5 percent that the selectman originally said they could support up to 5.72 percent. The additional financial resources will bring the FY 2009 school budget to $27.7 million, which still leaves the proposed school budget (with a 6.2 percent increase) still $146,000 short.

Selectman Joseph Durant asked Blazer if the school budget still included the line item for the salary of a school painter.

"I will not vote for a budget that maintains the position of a school painter when the school has a maintenance department," Durant said.

Blazer, who did not know if the position was still in the school budget, said that the School Committee has heard the message from both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee regarding the painter position.

The criticism of the position came in light of the School Committee's decision to eliminate a principal position, with one principal for two schools.

If the selectmen's request to remove the painter position is denied, Selectmen Anthony Loura, Carl Leeber, Durant and Santino Parente have all said they will argue against the position at Town Meeting.

Parente reiterated to the School Committee the need for the everyone to understand the existing budget crunch.

"We are all making sacrifices," he said.

In other news, Blazer addressed the selectmen about his review of the recent report issued by the Department of Internal Aff airs about Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School (AVRTHS). The only finding that Blazer said could potentially have a major financial impact on the town was the one that the school did not report millions of dollars of surplus funds, something that Blazer found no evidence for.

Blazer also explained that the school budget was subject to an annual audit and review by the Department of Revenue and was in compliance.

"I have looked at the school's [AVRTHS] budget, and I was not able to replicate the findings of the Department of Internal Aff airs," Blazer said.

After reviewing the budget, Blazer did suggest an adjustment of the school's existing policy on district payments and spending that might benefit the towns. The school, he explained, collects a $3 million tax assessment in payments over one fiscal year and then holds them until the following fiscal year. What Blazer proposed is a change in the existing policy that would give towns a one-time windfall of funds.

Blazer emphasized that he does not think the school did anything wrong and concluded that AVRTHS's approach is how most technical schools manage their funds.