Support Our Schools

School audit: speak now or hold your peace

Now is your chance to ask questions, share opinions
on scope of HWRSD operational audit

Joint Meeting
Boards of Selectmen, Hamilton and Wenham
THIS Tuesday, June 22, 7 p.m.
Wenham Town Hall

The operational audit process is moving very quickly.

This Tuesday, the joint boards of selectmen will meet to discuss the Request for Proposal for the $90,000, taxpayer-funded audit of our regional school district. This RFP lays out the scope of work for the project – that is, which aspects of the school district will be examined by an independent auditor.

To read a draft of the RFP, click here.

It appears this Tuesday will be the only time before the RFP is issued that citizens can ask questions, make suggestions or share their expertise.

It’s a busy time of year, but please come Tuesday night and offer your input before the RFP is formally issued.

Thanks

SOS Position on Operational Audit

In June of 2009, the Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) presented its final report to a Joint Board of Selectman meeting.  That report found that the Hamilton Wenham Regional School district had above average cost compared to the cohort districts in the study.  The BRC found those above average cost were due to:

• A higher number of teachers and aides, resulting in a lower student/teacher ratio – and not the costs of administration, teacher benefits, facilities operation, maintenance or materials.
• The district’s spending on special education, as a percentage of total spending, is at the top of the peer group for the school year analyzed (2007).

Further evaluation of the numbers by a post BRC group and the DESE found similar results.  These results were to be expected given that the community has valued lower class sizes for many years and the school district placed a priority in maintaining lower class sizes. There are also a number of other factors contributing to the situation.

Given their findings the BRC recommend that the two towns and the school district should agree upon and proceed with an RFP for a detailed 3rd Party Review of Instructional Operations at HWRSD to clarify gaps between the district and cohorts. 

On March 8, 2010 a citizens’ petition was filed asking for an amendment to the HWRSD Regional Agreement to require an operational audit of the HWRSD.  We are aware that counsel for the HWRSD School Committee has advised that an audit can not be mandated through the Regional Agreement since the school committee holds the authority to determine spending and it cannot be required to pay for or implement any recommendations of the audit. 

We would urge the Hamilton Board of Selectman to work with the Wenham Board of Selectman, the Regional School Committee, the citizens’ petition supporters, and others supporting an audit to move forward on a third party audit of the district without seeking an amendment to the Regional Agreement.

SOS supports an audit of instructional services as recommended by the BRC in June 2009.   If there are other areas which can cost-effectively be included in the audit, and which are reasonable targets for evaluation, SOS will support an expanded scope.

The audit should be funded by the towns of Hamilton and Wenham and be under the direction of a joint committee of representatives of both towns and the Regional School Committee.  Once this audit is complete, it should be presented to the School Committee for consideration of whether any recommended changes can and should be implemented and whether any additional audits or studies should be undertaken.  The results of the audit should be made publicly available, so voters have an opportunity to understand the results and recommendations of the auditing firm and can seek to influence the School Committee’s decision-making.

With the planned departure of the HWRSD Superintendent at the end of this school year, now is an optimal time to identify areas of change that can benefit the budget and quality of education provided in our schools.

So what did the Blue Ribbon Committee find?

Last year, our towns appointed a Blue Ribbon Committee of citizens to review our schools. The BRC will present its findings and recommendations at a televised Joint Meeting of the Hamilton and Wenham Boards of Selectmen and the School Committee Wednesday, June 17th at 7 p.m. at Wenham Town Hall. Please join us—or watch the presentation on television—to learn about the Committee’s findings.

So what did the BRC find? Briefly, it found there are no more obvious opportunities for significant cost savings in our schools at this time. But it will recommend that the towns hire an educational expert to explore whether efficiencies can be identified in the delivery of instructional services — the only area in which we outspend our peer school districts. The committee also found that our towns’ current system of negotiating the school budget needs improvement.

Attend the meeting—or watch it on TV— to learn more.

Presentation to Town Boards on Wednesday, June 17, 7 P.M., Wenham Town Hall

Have you heard?

Boston Magazine’s School Issue is out which placed HWRHS in the top 25 percent of Boston area schools that “are performing well…while operating efficiently.” Click to view the full set of articles at Boston Magazine
Click to view chart at Boston Magazine Click to download the chart as a spreadsheet

Return here soon for a more in-depth comparison with other schools in our region.

New “Articles” Section

We have created a new section of the website called “Articles“. It will include a number of articles about schools/education as it relates to the Hamilton-Wenham School District. We’re starting off with three articles reprinted from the Boston Globe North edition published last week which deal with the cost of extracurricular fees in our region. There is a link at the top of the page, or you can click this link.

New Report Available

At the request of the Hamilton Board of Selectmen, the Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services (DLS) has completed a financial management review of the Town of Hamilton. The 30 page report is available at http://www.mass.gov/Ador/docs/dls/mdmstuf/Technical_Assistance/FinMgtRev/Hamilton.pdf (PDF, 166KB)