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Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee approves transfer to maintain budget level

Date: 12/18/2014

WILBRAHAM – The Wilbraham-Hampden Regional School Committee voted unanimously to transfer $449,000 from its Excess and Deficiency account in order to cover a reduction of the same amount in regional transportation funding from the state and keep the district's budget at the same level.

“We’ve taken a hit to our Excess and Deficiency reserve, which is our kind of fiscally stable reserve account,” Assistant Superintendent for Business Beth Regulbuto said. “So, that is going to weaken our position at this point. It is going to give us less available for what we may consider contributing in the [fiscal year] 2016 account down the road.”

Superintendent of Schools M. Martin O’Shea said during a Dec. 11 Middle School Task Force meeting the state is supposed to reimburse the district for 100 percent of regional transportation costs.

In 2008, the state reimbursed the district for $1.7 million in regional transportation aid, he added. This year, state reimbursement was for $1.1 million. The district would have received an additional $5.4 million during the last eight years if the state reimbursed the district fully for regional transportation.

Just before Thanksgiving, the district learned of Gov. Deval Patrick's announcement of 9C mid-year budget cuts in anticipation of revenue shortfalls, O’Shea noted.

Before the announcement, the district had budgeted 85 percent of its regional transportation costs, he added. 

“In the beginning of the year we took $650,000 and applied it to the budget and now in this same budget we’re applying another $450,000,” Ducey said. “This budget, we're going to apply over $1 million in reserves to it, which will take our reserves down to about $750,000. It will really tie our hands to do anything of that measure for the next budget.”

The district's budget is $44 million and it is permitted to hold 5 percent of reserves in its Excess and Deficiency, which constitutes about $2.2 million.

Regulbuto said a large amount of money in the reserve fund would allow the district to maintain a low borrowing rate.

“This just isn't one year,” Ducey said. “It’s a systemic issue. We've got to get our hands on this better. Something needs to change.”

A regionalized school district must provide transportation to its students without charge, Wilbraham Selectman Susan Bunnell said.

The School Committee also voted unanimously to contribute $1,000 to the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools (MARS) legal fund aimed at providing legal consultation regarding the 9C budget cuts and the impact that it has on regional transportation.

“They’re reaching out to regional districts like us and asking for a contribution of anywhere between $500 and $1,000,” Ducey said. “They think there's some legal basis that these 9C [budget] cuts in terms of regional transportation are illegal.” 

Peter Salerno, a member of the School Committee and the Middle School Task Force, said MARS has asked a law firm for its legal opinion from a 2010 Massachusetts law.

“The regional transportation allotment, as it’s passed, has a provision subject to appropriations,” he added. “That is the reason why they'll say, ‘You can't go back to prior years.’ But this 2010 law is saying, ‘You can't do it this year,’ because it's locking you to the standard of Chapter 70 funds.”

O’Shea said the Massachusetts Administration & Finance Office has rejected the interpretation that 9C cuts cannot target regional transportation.

“If it does gain traction it would protracted,” he added. "It would take a long time for this to work its way through the court. I don’t see this necessarily providing relief in fiscal year 2015.”