Tired of School Dept. losses, Doucette leads charge on new bylaw

SAUGUS-Town Meeting member Frederick Doucette said he is tired of seeing the School Department get the short-shrift and he has an idea to change it.”I want to make a bylaw change that the Town Manager is hired by the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee with a 6-4 vote,” he told Town Meeting members Monday.Doucette said he believes that would send a message to any future candidate that the budget for the School Department is just as important as the budget for the town.Since that announcement, Doucette, who is a teacher in another district, said he’s learned that the change he seeks would be a charter change, not a bylaw change, but he still plans to pursue it.Speaking Thursday, Doucette said he had a long talk with colleague Peter Manoogian following Town Meeting.”I started to push this with Peter about two months ago,” he said.Doucette targeted Manoogian because Manoogian is heading up the drive for a charter commission. Doucette said he wants to make sure potential charter commissioners are aware of his desire to make the change.”I’m just tired of the School Committee getting the fluff,” he said. “It’s not like I think the (town) manager is doing an awful job. He’s level funding his budgets and not filling positions, which is what you’d expect him to be doing in these financial times.”But it still leaves the budget skewed in favor of the town, in Doucette’s opinion. Case in point is the distribution of funds at Monday’s Town Meeting.The town netted a small windfall of $992,000 through savings in group healthcare claims and an unexpected $200,000 from the state.Doucette pointed out that during last spring’s Town Meeting the School Department was hit with a $1.3 million budget cut while the town side of the budget was cut only $300,000.Monday, Town Meeting gave the schools $175,000, while the town took the remainder of the funds netting them nearly $300,000 over the June cuts.”If the School Department had a little more responsibility in hiring the manager, it might help them have more say over their budget,” Doucette said.In 2006, former School Committee Chairman John Serino took a path similar to Doucette’s in seeking a more equitable budget for the School Department.Serino sponsored an article that asked meeting Town Members to support a non-binding resolution that would commit 41-cents of every tax dollar to the schools. It was soundly defeated 26-15 and led Serino to resign from the committee in frustration that nothing in regards to school funding would ever change.Doucette said he is sure he will not gain the Selectmen’s support on his issue, but that would not deter him.”But I’m willing to do the leg work,” he said. “The budget process is just a little skewed with the School Department getting the leftovers. I just want to help the School Department.”