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Questions & Answers1)How large will the new district be?
New Questions8) Will the region be open to “school choice” students?
The region will have around 1800 students, and will assume operation of the schools in Fiscal Year 2012 on July 1, 2011. Ayer and Shirley students in grades 6-12 (middle school/425 students, high school/475 students) will attend the middle/high school in Ayer (although some residual Shirley students will be allowed to complete their high school in Lunenburg). Two elementary schools, grades K-5, will operate (Page Hilltop in Ayer/550 students, Shirley Elementary School/350 students).
7) How will the school operating budget be assessed to the towns? The regional agreement specifies that the region will use the statutory assessment model. This means the towns will contribute their required local contribution, as they do now. Using FY 2010 figures, this is 80% of the total assessment, which is about $9.8 million of the total estimated regional expenditures. The remainder of the assessment is the cost of transportation (8.0% of the total assessment), capital (2.3%), and the towns’ contribution to school spending that exceeds the state requirement (6.4%) The Regional Planning Board realized that it was highly unlikely that the assessment model would mirror the local budgets exactly. They agreed to language, which essentially holds both communities harmless financially in year one. That means that each town’s assessment in the first year of operation will equal the dollar amount each town budgeted in the final year of operation plus any normal small percentage increase approved by the Regional School Committee. After year one the Regional Planning Board developed a sliding scale model to allow either community to close a funding gap in a reasonable manner. (Section 6 of the Regional Agreement). 8) Will the region be open to “school choice” students? The final decision regarding school choice rests with the Regional School Committee who will act on a recommendation by the Superintendent. That recommendation will be made based on available seats and other educational reasons. Students who are “choice in” to either district at the time the region comes into existence are “grandfathered” in by law and are allowed to remain through graduation. 9) Can someone give a final cost to the suggested addition/renovation project at the Ayer Middle/High School? Will there be renovations to Page Hilltop? We will not have a final figure for the Middle/High School project until the feasibility study is complete. We have been using $35 million as a rough estimate for descriptive purposes to show the likely cost to Ayer ($6.4 mill) and Shirley ($5.2 mill) after 67% MSBA reimbursement to the region. This benefits both towns. Regardless, it will cost towns less than their independent district options. Renovations will have to be undertaken at Page Hilltop as well. The facility remains serviceable but there are facility concerns that must be addressed also. Ongoing capital improvements will be made, but the long term solution is a large scale renovation. This is true as a region AND independent district. We will press for a feasibility study immediately after the middle/high school. 10) What type of vote will be held at the Town Meeting? 11) How will Special Education/IEP students be handled? The blending of IEP’s will be a major focus during FY’11’. Although most student plans will be seamlessly moved from local district to region, there will be some that will require more attention, for example, out of district students’ transitions will need to be closely monitored. We are expecting that the merger may create some programmatic synergy that will benefit our ability to meet student needs. In all cases, Special Education students will be transitioned with great care. 12) Can Ayer Middle/High School adequately handle a larger high school population and a merged middle school? We believe that there is enough available space to house the merged middle school and more high school students. It may require some spaces be reclaimed for classroom use and will likely require tighter scheduling but it is a doable task. It is important to note that our transition plan includes some funds to do any needed retrofits. It is also important to note that the two schools (middle/high) while sharing core facilities (gym, café, etc.) will be housed in substantially separate wings of the building. Class size concerns will be addressed by increased offerings on teams by adding staff. 13) What is the Required Local Contribution ($9.8 million in FY’10)? When the two FY10 budgets were blended and the statutory assessment model applied, we computed the amount of “Required Local Contribution” which is the minimum amount of funds that DESE mandates communities spend on education. In FY10 the total amount would have been $9.8 million. When the “Statutory Method” of assessment is used this is the amount that the two communities agree to spend. The remaining amounts of “excess” of required spending are allocated/assessed by foundation enrollment. In FY10 this “excess” amount was approximately $1.4 million. Remember, this was done to provide a descriptive model, but the numbers tie back to the actual budgets. Submit a question:
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Last Updated on 28 January 2010 |