To the editor:
Amidst all the information being distributed regarding the upcoming votes that Lincoln will take regarding Minuteman High School, the Lincoln Vocational Education Options Working Group (VEOWG) wants to ensure that accurate and consistent data is provided to the public. To that end, the VEOWG has reviewed Sharon Antia’s recent letter and the accompanying charts provided by Minuteman that projected Lincoln’s per-student cost for fiscal year 2020 (FY20) under the revised regional agreement. We have also inquired with Minuteman to clarify its methodology for its calculation, particularly its use of seven students as the applicable “HS Enrollment” used to divide into Lincoln’s total projected cost for FY20.
Minuteman has informed us that it used seven students because that is Lincoln’s estimated four-year average enrollment for FY16-19 (including the actual enrollment for FY16 and an estimated five students in each of the other three fiscal years). We disagree with Minuteman’s methodology and have so informed them. In order to provide an accurate per-student cost estimate for a particular year, the only accurate and consistent methodology is to divide the total cost chargeable to Lincoln for that year by the actual number of students enrolled that year. Since the estimated enrollment for Lincoln is five students in each of FYs 2017, 2018, and 2019, the only reasonable estimate for FY20 is also five students. We also confirmed with Minuteman that five students is the appropriate assumption for FY20.
Dividing five into the total projected FY20 cost of nearly $280,000 yields an estimated FY20 per-student cost of nearly $56,000. This is the number that the VEOWG will use to describe Lincoln’s potential cost of remaining a member, in comparison to the projected per-student FY20 cost on an out-of-district basis at Minuteman and the other vocational/technical schools we are considering.
We hope to see you at the upcoming public forum (February 11) and Special Town Meeting (February 23).
Sincerely,
Selectman Peter Braun on behalf of the Lincoln Vocational Education Options Working Group
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.
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