School funding and the challenges facing Amesbury

On April 1^st, the Amesbury School Committee voted unanimously for an increase of $800,000.00 in the FY 2015 district budget to $28.1 million. To put this amount in perspective, it is slightly more than the average percentage increase in the school budget for the last five years, and almost $100,000 more than the absolute five year average increase. Overall, our FY15 budget proposal focuses heavily on education, with about 80% of city wide spending growth going to our schools.

However, as it currently stands, even with this substantial increase in funding, we face the possible reduction of teaching positions and course offerings.

The situation we find ourselves in is not new, and it is not unique.  Like many communities in Massachusetts, Amesbury has been painfully cutting school programs and raising fees for many years.  A major cause of these cuts is the gap between funding provided and mandates imposed by the state and federal governments.  For example, annual Chapter 70 funding to Amesbury will be at least $1,000,000 less in 2015 than it was in 2001, while the cost of funding our schools has risen by almost $10,000,000 during the same time period. The bottom line is that the taxpayers of Amesbury continue to be burdened with making up the ever increasing difference. To that end, I urge you to ask our legislators and the Governor to support increasing local school funding.

In the meantime, please be aware that we are by no means at the end of the budgeting process. District administrators and school committee members are working hard to identify alternative cost saving measures and additional revenue opportunities with the goal of preventing the looming cuts in programs or loss of teachers. Moreover, this work will not end with the upcoming City Council vote.

While we would like to spend more on schools, Amesbury has the 4^th highest property tax rate in the state; a fact which depresses our property values and necessitates keeping Amesbury’s overall spending increases to a minimum. To that end I’m happy to report that many of our municipal departments have risen to my challenge to find creative ways to reduce department costs while maintaining or improving services.

It’s taken Amesbury many years to accumulate the financial challenges that currently confront us and it will take some time to overcome them.

This is my first budget, and my short term goal is to keep spending increases to a minimum while still investing heavily in our schools. Concurrently, my goal is to focus on initiatives that will, in the longer term, result in the growth of our commercial/industrial tax base, thus reducing the future tax burden on homeowners, and providing new sources of revenue that will benefit all Amesbury residents.

Ken