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Citizens for a Strong Community |
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School Study |
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Our Mission Statement: Hamilton and Wenham residents who work to strengthen our community by gathering and disseminating information on important community issues. Our goal is to enable citizens to become more informed about, and more involved in shaping the quality of life in our towns. To view PDF files, To view PowerPoint presentations you need a free copy of the PowerPoint Reader Get the Update Your address information is not shared with anyone. Questions? Problems?Send an email directly to info@hwcsc.org
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Click here to enter data to the School District Comparison Study |
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CSC's School District and Town Comparison Study, released
4/12/04
View all 27 pages, on the
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The complicated and acrimonious school budget process that Hamilton and Wenham suffered through in 2003 inspired this study. Schools typically account for the largest portion of a town’s budget, and in Hamilton and Wenham the school budget is perennially the most controversial element of each year’s town meetings and elections. In 2003, debate over school spending and programs became extraordinarily unpleasant and divisive. We know we are not the only town having this experience. Every town in Massachusetts has encountered dwindling state aid, unfunded state and federal mandates, and rising costs of such budget items as pensions and insurance.
Last year, many towns considered Proposition 2 1/2 overrides, with varying degrees of success. Hamilton and Wenham made headlines because one town voted yes while the other voted no on two consecutive override requests to fund our regional school system. In order to avoid a state takeover of our school district, we held a unique meeting open to all voters in both towns in the district where we finally approved a budget, which required elimination of 40 FTE positions in the district. Even after various citizens groups contributed $312,000 to the school district, 12% of the school district staff was laid off.
It became apparent during the months of debate that Hamilton and Wenham voters had insufficient information. Residents and town officials had very limited information about town and school programs in neighboring and similar communities. Comparative financial data published by the state was sometimes years old. Citizens had a sense of how the FY 2004 town and school budget proposals compared to prior years’ budgets, but had little perspective on other towns’ municipal and school offerings, finances, or trends in budgets and services.
Starting in September 2003, several dozen Hamilton and Wenham citizens formed a new group called Citizens for a Strong Community (CSC). We believe that if our community is thoroughly informed, much of the rancor associated with last year’s budget debate can be avoided in future years. CSC has taken on four projects to strengthen our community by gathering and disseminating information on important community issues:
The Update - Since September, we have been publishing a weekly Update which is e-mailed to a growing list of people in Hamilton and Wenham. These Updates include a schedule of upcoming meetings, meeting agendas and information about issues that affect our community. We have also been helpful in promoting volunteerism by posting open positions available in our towns.
The Observer Group - More than 30 CSC volunteers have taken turn at attending selectmen’s meetings and school committee meetings, where they take notes, which are distributed in our weekly Updates.
Our Web Site - Starting with the most recent weekly Update, it also includes archived meeting notes and a number of special downloadable studies about our towns and schools, and others of broader interest. Eventually we will have message forums to facilitate debate on important community issues, and links to our towns, schools and other community based organizations.
The School Comparison Study – CSC’s School Comparison Committee has recruited volunteers in approximately 25 school districts to cooperate with us in gathering pertinent data about each district. We will organize this data in a set of reports, which will allow comparison and study of a wide range of school-related information. We plan to make the study available to all interested citizens in Hamilton and Wenham in March, so they will be better informed this spring as they consider and ultimately vote on the programs and budgets proposed for FY 2005. These reports will also be shared with each participating school district.
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