Questions remain over Nahant school budget

NAHANT – Town officials urged the public and members of municipal boards to collaborate in examining the school budget, after Tuesday night’s Advisory and Finance Committee meeting revealed that questions remain concerning school finances.”Clearly this school budget discussion has been very hotly debated and I think that people on both sides have presented a lot of information ?,” said Advisory and Finance Committee Chair Joyce Maroney on Friday. “But I think that what people are confused about is how Nahant school spending stacks up against other towns and I think that those are the questions that continue to go unanswered to peoples’ follow-up.”School officials proposed the override to fill a budget shortfall due to a $113,000 reduction in state and federal funds coupled with an increase in special-education costs. Voters addressed the request three times, rejecting it definitively at a special election held June 25.But the discussion Tuesday night revealed that questions remain over about the school budget and whether the override was necessary.Superintendent Philip Devaux opened the meeting by requesting that the committee approve a transfer of approximately $9,100 from the town’s reserve fund to pay for recent unanticipated special-education costs. He also requested $20,000 for costs that had not been budgeted for 2012.Meeting attendees had many questions.Devaux said he could not answer some questions because the employment situation was in flux. He also said he could not legally speak about litigation in great detail. He noted, however, that the transfer request revealed the variability of special-ed costs. The committee approved the $9,100 request, but postponed acting on the costs for next year.Later in the meeting, Selectman Michael Manning requested that town boards and citizens revisit the school budget and try to find a solution to the projected shortfall. This sparked further discussion.Finance Committee member Robert Vanderslice expressed disappointment that Devaux – who had left the meeting at the time, citing another commitment – was unable to simply answer several questions about the impact of the override’s failure.Manning raised additional questions about the impact of special-education costs. He said that, according to figures posted on the Department of Education website, the school’s special-education costs for this year does not significantly differ from the average that the school has spent in special-education over the past decade.”If that number is not much larger than the average of other years past, why an override?” he asked in an interview on Friday.But other meeting attendees wondered whether people had not taken advantage of available opportunities to ask such questions.Maroney acknowledged that it was “responsible” to examine the line items of the school committee’s budget. But she said that she did not think that the town needed another committee to oversee the school committee budget – as discussion seemed to suggest.School Committee and Finance Committee meetings “are public meetings,” she said. “We’ve spent a lot of hours going over the budget and I feel like forums exist to have very specific discussions.”Manning said Friday that he would recommend people take that opportunity – as he would himself – to ask questions about the school budget.School Committee member Lissa Keane encouraged people to send her questions or ask questions at the committee’s next meeting.Many other people may be wanting to have those question answered,” she said.