Medeiros to School Committee: Hold vote for complete budget.

I am continuing to call for accountability and transparency now that the override has passed. At their Tues. 4/23 meeting, the School Committee is expected to take their final vote on the FY ’20 School Budget using an incomplete document. The members should hold off until they receive a full document.

Since the passage of the override, this is the first opportunity the City has to demonstrate to the taxpayers, in a clear and transparent way, the real impact the tax increase will have on specific line items within the school budget. The public deserves this accountability.

Despite beginning their budget process Jan 29^th, the first the School Committee members and the public saw of an actual line by line budget was with the release of the 4/23/2019 agenda documents. This budget document under the Finance and Facilities section of the agenda is missing some key elements including a budget message and a year over year line item comparison.

Although the Superintendent presented her budget message on Jan 29, 2019 labeled as a “Budget Narrative” on the Melrose Schools website under the FY ’20 budget tab, this message is not included in the document the committee is set to vote on Tuesday night. Also, since it refers repeatedly Budget A and Budget B and whether the override would pass, the message needs updating before it should be made part of the final document voted on by the School Committee.

Most importantly, the proposed final budget which the School Committee will consider for a final vote on Tuesday night shows only the proposed FY ’20 numbers with no context. This document should be revised to include line by line year over year comparisons (FY ’18 actual, FY ’19 budgeted, actual YTD spending along with the FY ’20 proposed figures).

Taking the time to get this right is worth it. Scheduling another meeting to review the updated documents on April 30, 2019 makes sense.

Please join me in asking the School Committee (schoolcommittee@cityofmelrose.org) to hold their vote until they receive a complete budget document so they and the public have adequate time to review and weigh in on it.

School Committee member Lizbeth DeSelm has already called “for a complete budget document- one reflective of past year's budgets with an eye towards future budgets. One that shows we are good stewards of the Override funds.” This is a reasonable request for information which frankly should have been provided publicly before the public was asked to vote on the override.

The next meeting is set for 7 pm Tuesday, April 23 in the Aldermanic Chamber (4/23/19 School Committee Agenda). Members of the public may speak during the “Public Comment” session or may send emails to the Committee at schoolcommittee@cityofmelrose.org.

Alderman-at-Large Monica Medeiros, is a former School Committee member and current candidate for Mayor. She is the current President of the Massachusetts Municipal Councillors’ Association and the Aldermanic liaison to the School Committee. Opinions expressed here are those of her own.