Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of letters about Minuteman Regional Vocational School District from Sharon Antia, Lincoln’s representative on the Minuteman School Committee. The previous letters were published on January 4, January 14, and January 24. She invites readers with questions to email her at Sharon.antia@gmail.com.
To the editor:
On February 23, Lincoln will hold a Special Town Meeting at which we will be asked to vote on two things: whether to approve the amended Minuteman school district’s regional agreement, and whether to withdraw from the Minuteman school district.
Massachusetts evaluates a town’s ability to pay for public education based on property values and personal income (“wealth factors”). Using this information, the state determines the fair and equitable distribution of state funds for education by subsidizing schools serving communities with low wealth factors at a higher rate than schools serving towns such as Lincoln where wealth is determined to be high. This matter is determined by the state and is not something that can be controlled at the local level.
Assuming we stay in the district, the amendments to the regional agreement are approved, the building project is approved, and district enrollment remains stable in all the towns, the total cost for Lincoln to send students to Minuteman High School is estimated to increase to approximately $279,576 ($39,939 per student) by FY20 if the district remains at 16 towns based a rolling average of seven students per year from Lincoln. In a 10-town district, Lincoln’s per-student cost would be $41,256. Based on Lincoln’s budget last year of $34 million, this is just under 0.1% of the budget.
In comparison, according to Minuteman’s FY17 budget book, last year Lincoln sent four students to Minuteman at a cost of $144,233 ($36,056 per student). This year, 10 Lincoln students attend Minuteman at a cost of $313,107 ($30,973 per student).
Minuteman is the most expensive career and vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts. Some factors contributing to this expense are teacher salaries, which as we know are much higher in our area, the fact that 47% of Minuteman students receive special education services, and transportation costs. The 16 towns that comprise the Minuteman school district cover the area from Dover in the south to Arlington in the east to Carlisle in the north, and all the way west to Lancaster. The sheer size of the area covered contributes significantly to the cost of transporting students.
And finally, the bottom line. The marginal cost to taxpayers in Lincoln will be approximately $6.10 per $100,000 of property value (a median cost of $52.09 per homeowner per year) in a 16-town district, or $6.27 ($53.58 per homeowner per year) in a 10-town district. The costs associated with career and vocational/technical education are just one of the considerations we in Lincoln must weigh as we consider how to best educate our children.
Sincerely,
Sharon Antia
165 S. Great Rd.
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.
[AW2]Link highlighted phrase to “Lincoln-v1.0.pdf”
[AW3]Link the phrase “16-town district” to “V 17.0-All member Towns-RRA Tax Impact.pdf”
[AW4]Link “10-town district” to “V 16.5-9 member Towns + Lincoln-Tax Impact.pdf”
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