To the Editor:
The time of year has arrived when each town government begins preparing its fiscal 2016 budget in preparation for annual town meeting. In many of the Island towns, it will be higher than expected or, possibly, not even affordable. As eyes look toward budget cuts, concentration centers on the item that has the largest increase: the school budget.
After all, the thinking goes, the biggest target should provide the biggest savings and be the easiest to hit, the easiest to achieve agreement for reduction. That is the problem with not looking at the “big picture” first.
The largest component of the school budget is salaries. However, the caliber of the teaching and administrative staff directly affects the quality of the product: the education of our children. In addition, all government employee salaries, including the educational staff, are negotiated through contract-setting deliberations, which, once agreed-upon, are binding. Other educational expenditures are related to building maintenance, which, very recently, has been shown to be required a.s.a.p. due to deferring necessary repairs over the past few years.
As, for many of us, the education of our children, grandchildren and, indeed, all Island children is a priority, reducing other town costs should be studied first, while cuts in education should be considered a last resort.
Abraham Seiman
Oak Bluffs