School Officials to Withdraw Town Meeting Warrant Articles

The two articles that would have funded technology and football stadium lights will be withdrawn from this year's Town Meeting Warrant, the Easton School Committee decided Wednesday morning.

The three members present, Colleen Less, Laurie Han and Jane Martin voted unanimously in both cases.

The decision comes after Town Administrator David Colton released a revised Capital Budget Monday that included the school department's full funding request of $173,000 for technology in the schools - the bulk of which would allow the Easton Middle School and Olmsted-Richardson Schools to go wireless.

The revised capital budget overrode the Capital Planning Committee's recommendation that the School Department receive $50,000 of what was requested.

"I’m thrilled that Mr. Colton is seeing the need for this type of expenditure to fund the needs of our educational system," School Committee member Colleen Less said.

The warrant article intended for technology and funded wireless for the three K-2 schools in addition to Olmsted-Richardson and Easton Middle School.

School officials said they will go through the normal capital planning process again next year to request wireless funding at the three K-2 schools.

The warrant article that would have requested for light fixtures at Muscato Stadium was also withdrawn Wednesday after Superintendent Michael Green expressed concerns to the school committee.

"The [Athletic Director] stated that the lighting could be done with $50,000 or more depending on what vendor you went to," Green said. "After doing some additional research, that cost is exceeding that amount."

Green noted that poles would likely need to be replaced as well and he expressed additional concerns that the light fixtures did not go through the normal capital process. He also said it would have to go through a bidding process in order to be achieved.

Less, who wasn't present at the previous meeting said that while she probably would have been on board at the time, she agreed with Green's recommendation.

"Putting it on the warrant article is a knee-jerk reaction that [the Capital Planning Committee] doesn’t seem to support many of our requests," she said.

School Committee Chair Jane Martin said officials should look into options regarding outside funding from organizations who use the field.

"I think the school committee message is this is obviously something that is requiring attention," she said. "We would assure that the folks who would support this.. we’re not saying that this isn’t a priority. We just think this is a priority that we should consider in a [different] way."

Less expressed frustration about what she felt was a conception in town that the school department garners too much of the town's money.

In FY12, the most recent per-pupil expenditure report released by the Massachusetts Department of Education, Easton spent an average of $11,132.85 per pupil. Of the 312 reporting districts in Massachusetts that year, Easton was 28th from the bottom. Provincetown had the highest rate at $33,811 while Grafton was at the bottom with $10,063.

"There seems to be a misconception in town that the School Department gets 75 percent of taxpayer dollars in this town," she said. "That is so not the case."

School Committee members also discussed infastructure needs in many of its schools that have been before the Massachusetts School Building Authority such as boilers, plumbing, and brick work.

Green said he was happy that one capital item this year set aside $100,000 for the Municipal Building Authority to inspect every town-owned building, including the schools.

"We’ve got to find a way to get some of these critical capital infastructure needs addressed," Martin said.