Letter to the editor: CapComm recommends Minuteman withdrawal

To the editor:

Tonight, the Vocational Education Options Working Group will be holding a public forum to discuss their findings and offer the opportunity to ask questions about Lincoln’s vocational education options in advance of the upcoming Special Town Meeting. I encourage you to attend the meeting and learn about the various options and their implications.

The Lincoln Capital Planning Committee (CapComm) met on Tuesday evening to discuss possible withdrawal from the Minuteman Regional High School district within the context of proposed modifications to the school district’s regional agreement and the proposed Minuteman capital project. In the interest of sharing the insight CapComm has gained through our consideration of this issue, including a presentation to CapComm by the Minuteman Regional High School administration on the subject, CapComm is distributing the result of its deliberations.

While we expect other committees in town will do the same, we understand CapComm’s meeting schedule makes it the only such committee that will have had the opportunity to make a recommendation in advance of the public forum this evening.

CapComm unanimously voted to recommend that the Town Meeting vote “yes” on Articles 1 and 2—that is, to authorize withdrawal, based on the following considerations:

1. The cost of vocational education services at Minuteman is high relative to other options;
2. A disproportionate and unfair percentage of the cost of the proposed building project would be borne by Lincoln;
3. The risk that enrollment lower than projected by Minuteman could significantly increase the cost to Lincoln;
4. The potential impact on the affordability to taxpayers of other Lincoln capital projects; and
5. The desire to enable those towns that support the building project and amended Regional Agreement to proceed without impediment from towns that do not support the project and/or amendments.

We encourage you to attend the forum tonight, learn more about the issues and form your own opinion.

Sincerely,

Andy Beard, chair of the Capital Planning Committee, on behalf of the committee (Jaki Apsler, Peter Braun, Jim Henderson, Maria Hylton, Audrey Kalmus, Pete Montero, Tim Moynihan, Al Schmertzler)

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