To the editor:
At Special Town Meeting on Tuesday night, Lincoln will reconsider the nature of our continued involvement in the Minuteman school district. The Finance Committee encourages voters of the town to attend the meeting and consider this important question.
Minuteman has served several generations of our students admirably, providing an excellent vocational education for six Lincoln students, on average, over the last decade. The question in front of the town is not about eliminating that educational opportunity but is instead about the costs and risks of remaining a member town in the school district that guarantees and governs Minuteman.
Membership in the district, currently 16 towns, could be reduced to as few as nine towns as a result of February deliberations in Lincoln and neighboring communities. Non-member towns currently provide an important component (40 percent) of the student population at Minuteman, and, in projections provided by the school, will need to continue to do so to support the school in future.
Minuteman is in need of a building project. This is driving the proposed changes. Minuteman provides the most expensive public vocational education in the state and has faced an enrollment decline of 10 percent over the last five years. Minuteman outlays are a significant Lincoln budget expense with our FY ’17 assessment estimated to be $325,000, an increase of $172,000 over FY ’16.
Under the changes proposed by the Minuteman School Committee, Lincoln, if it remains a member of the district, can expect our share of Minuteman operating expenses to increase, our voting power to decrease and our debt service costs to increase significantly. As a member town with five Lincoln students enrolled in 2020, Lincoln’s estimated cost would be approximately $56,000 per student.
If we vote yes on Question 1, our estimated cost per Minuteman student as a non-member town will be on the order of $30,000, which is approximately 45 percent lower than our cost as a member town. This would result in an estimated cost savings for the town of at least $87,000 in 2020.
The risk of remaining a member town is substantial. The district currently has an OPEB [other post-employment benefits, such as health insurance] liability of $18 million and is projected to take on additional building debt of approximately $101 million. The remaining member towns will be responsible for these obligations regardless of Minuteman’s total enrollment. With Minuteman costs per student at levels 20-40 percent higher than comparable nearby options, continued declines in both in-district and out-of-district enrollment are a realistic possibility. This will further increase both operating costs and debt service costs per in-district student.
Withdrawing from the district introduces a risk that the school will not have the capacity to accommodate Lincoln students wishing to attend Minuteman. Given recent enrollment trends and Minuteman’s cost disadvantage relative to the alternatives, this risk seems minimal. Exiting the district will also open up other vocational educational options not currently available to Lincoln students.
Given the higher cost and higher risk of remaining a member of the district, the Finance Committee unanimously recommends a “yes” vote Tuesday on Question 1.
Sincerely,
Peyton Marshall
Chair, Lincoln Finance Committee, on behalf of the the committee (Jeff Birchby, Eric Harris, Gina Halsted, Jim Hutchinson, Chris Kasper and Laura Sander)
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