Dear Board Members,
Before sharing suggestions for amending the 2027 budget, allow me to observe that very few community members ever attend your work sessions; for the last year I have been there on behalf of Rising to Learn because our organization is interested enough to observe and spend time trying to understand the many challenges before you and our school system and, based on that understanding, to provide feedback and input to you. Accordingly, I am writing to share two ideas, both of which have been shared previously with you, but, I believe, they are worth repeating.
First, at your most recent business meeting the report of the Budget Advocacy and Review Committee was presented to you by the committee’s chairperson, Evvie Williams. Among the most significant recommendations that group made was to provide you with the order in which to prioritize financial needs of the system during the coming budget process. First priority, the group shared, was to provide any enhancement possible to employee salaries. As you consider how to direct the $800,000 of financial resources the administration has freed up for you to direct as you see fit, I urge you to follow the suggestion of the committee you appointed to provide this kind of recommendation to you: enhance the salary resource pool.
As a brief aside, if you fail to take advantage of the recommendation of the Budget Advisory Committee, why bother to appoint one? The work done by the Budget Advocacy and Review Committee is intended to spare you the deliberation in determining how to spend additional “found” money. The voice of the Budget Advocacy and Review Committee represents the input of citizens in our community; it should be honored and their recommendations implemented unless you care to cast aside the input of our community.
Secondly, as I have previously shared with you and as two Board members discussed in your work session, the elementary ABLE program, which has provided for online instruction for only forty-seven students during the 2025-2026 academic year, is a highly underutilized program, and it is unusually expensive. As Mr. Proulx stated, the cost of the program is about a half million dollars, and the staffing of 6.25 FTE staff members only adds to the program’s exorbitant total cost. It appears the only criteria the Board of Education has for measuring the success of this program is enrollment. What about attendance? What about student achievement? What about the cost effectiveness? Delaying the elimination of the Elementary ABLE program because a few Board members believe the program has not been properly advertised begs the questions - What additional advertising is to occur? When? At what additional cost? With nearly one million dollars dedicated to this one underutilized program, it would benefit the entire school system much more to direct the resources supporting it to the priority needs of the system as defined by your Budget Advocacy and Review Committee: support the salary resource pool with these dollars.
Sincerely,
Roger Stenersen,
Communications Director
Rising to Learn