Matt Hills’s Record of Fiscal Failures

I feel bad for Matt Hills after hearing that Ruth Goldman and her clique of left-wing ideologues on the School Committee deposed him as School Committee Chair. My pity does not endorse his left-wing worldview. I understand the most staunchly left-wing Democrat ideologues in Newton politics distrust Hills because he ran against Sue Flicop for School Committee back in 2009, but it is obvious Matt Hills’s left-wing Democrat credentials are comparable to Sue Flicop’s left-wing worldview when we consider the following:

• Hills supported the 2002, 2008 and 2013 override tax increases.
• Hills voted for every budget during his tenure as Ward 7 School Committee Member, which cumulatively boosted annual school spending by 34% while enrollment only grew by 10%.
• Hills was a part of the 2011 contract negotiating team, which was responsible for the costly last-day raises embedded in the 2011-14 labor contracts.
• Hills refused to address Newton’s $9 Million net annual cost for educating ~600 out-of-district students who don’t live in Newton, but attend Newton Public Schools.
• Hills’s leadership of the 2015 contract negotiating team was responsible for giving pay raises that were in line with the fiscally irresponsible growth rates under former Mayor David Cohen.
• Hills defended the use of building project cost overruns & in particular the sloppy use of “placeholder estimates” on Ken Parker’s show when he debated Ward 3 City Councilor Ted Hess-Mahan and
• Hills served as the Treasurer of Newton North Now!, which demanded the new Newton North High School, aka Newton’s $191 Million White Elephant

When Bill Heck and I debated Matt Hills during the 2013 override, we were at a disadvantage as we were limited to using real facts and verifiable data while Hills and the rest of the pro-override group used “Alternative Facts”. They also pretended to be fiscal reformers during the 2013 override season while benefitting from the local media’s ideological willingness to whitewash their long and verifiable record of fiscal irresponsibility in order to satisfy their hard-left political agenda.

The Newton Public Schools system’s long and proud tradition of fiscal irresponsibility continues in its 2018 budget. Total spending grows by $8.3 Million (3.9%) and compensation (up $5.7 Million) continues to drive spending growth. Compensation spending increased by 3.1% even though the number of FTEs declined by 1.6% as a result of the proposed cuts of in-school librarians and the Latin program. Yes, we are paying more compensation, but getting fewer teachers to teach our kids. Unaffordable fringe benefit spending grows at a faster rate than overall budget ($1.7 Million 4.9%). Moreover, the 2018 Budget book no longer lists the off-budget items funded by the city ($27 Million last year) for the direct and exclusive benefit of the school system (such as debt service, nurses, crossing guards, retirement benefits for employees other than teachers and administrators), which is a setback for transparency.

The 2018 Budget fails to address the following areas of wasteful spending:

• Out-of-District Students will cost Newton taxpayers $9.2 Million in 2018 (net of state aid)
• Lavish health insurance benefits in excess of state requirements result in overspending and the key driver of Newton’s $719 Million net unfunded post-retirement benefits other than pensions
• Teachers and secretaries not at the maximum salary step get 6% annual cash pay raises (combination of step raises and “cost-of-living adjustments”), well in excess of 2.5% promised during override
• In House Custodian Program costs Newton taxpayers $1 Million more than it should while the results of the program are below minimum acceptable quality scores as measured by the Association of Physical Plant Administrators.
• 2011 SPED Review Report recommendations have not been implemented, which cost Newton taxpayers at least $20 Million annually and
• No money has been set aside for future infrastructure projects
• No wonder why the budget is imbalanced by $2 Million for 2018

No organization can outrun the worldview of its leadership. In the case of Newton Public Schools, its chief executive officer David Fleishman is a career bureaucrat and an admitted plagiarist with a left-wing worldview. During his tenure as Superintendent of Newton Public Schools, he presided over soaring spending growth, a refusal to implement the recommendations of the 2011 SPED Review Report because they ruffled the sensitivities of Newton’s political class and implemented the inferior Common Core Standards & its PARCC testing regime in the Newton Public Schools.

Unfortunately for Newton’s beleaguered taxpayers, the school system’s board of directors has been content to rubber stamp David Fleishman’s mediocre management, left-wing ideology and lack of fiscal stewardship of our school system. Our children and our community’s taxpayers deserve much better than David Fleishman, Matt Hills and the rest of the Newton School Committee.