Education is a Priority

The time has come for Oxford to decide where its priorities lie with regard to the Board of Education budget referendum. For the last several years, there has been a deficit in this area both in funding and in the programs offered to our children to broaden their experiences.

This year Oxford might see a small surplus attributable to the fact that we were forced to use an interim Superintendent and an interim Director of Special Services (savings in benefits). We experienced a very mild winter with reduced heating costs. There were a number of other smaller cost saving measures put in place by the Facilities Manager, John Barlow and Business Manager, Rosemary Hanson, (Both hires were sound decisions by the previous BOE) all of which were taken into account while creating this budget. However, abnormalities within this year do not constitute the ability to reduce the budget further. Many costs like salaries, insurance, hard supplies, etc are fixed.

The proposed budget by the Superintendent was reduced by the Finance subcommittee and the BOE by roughly 2% to come in with a realistic budget to accomplish some of its goals. None of those cuts were an easy decision because the school system has been “doing without” for so long. Stephen Brown's article details the budget proposals well as does the interview article with Dr. Reed, interim Superintendent. An additional 1% cut by the Board of Finance is even tougher to swallow. We cannot speculate on how further cuts impact the district as there are too many unknowns. The way we go about a $250K cut differs from say a $400K cut. And I do not even want to think about the devastating impact that would have if this budget fails. Repeated denial of funding does impair what our students can learn about and the manner in which they can go about it. While I agree money isn't the only thing to make a great school system, it is none the less a necessity to continue in a forward fashion. Oxford has gotten used to the mentality of “put it off for 1 more year.” That 1 year has become many years for numerous items.

I do not see Oxford as a robust district with the many opportunities it once had. It is getting by and our staff has been doing a wonderful job making do. However, you can only whip a workhorse so much before he dies of exhaustion or leaves for greener pastures. We need to retain what we have in dedicated staff. It is our responsibility as concerned citizens and taxpayers to fulfill our obligations to educate and mold the children of Oxford to the best of our abilities through great staff, training, and resources. “What do I get out of it?” shouldn't be the question you ask yourself. It won't be a monetary answer or have a “cost benefit analysis” attached to it. Universities and colleges look for more than good test scores and grades. They want well rounded, productive members of society.

I think Dr. Reed put it best before we hired him as interim. Oxford is a diamond in the rough. We need to make it sparkle with the financial backing to dig deeper. It is imperative to pass this budget on Tuesday May 15 at Quaker Farms School.