“Regionalization” Meeting Disappoints

Last night’s meeting at Gaudet Middle School on the subject of regionalization was a big disappointment.

State Representative Amy Rice chairs the Special House Commission to Study Regionalizing and/or Combining Administrative and Other Functions of the Newport, Portsmouth, and Middletown School Systems. Members of the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee and officials from all 3 communities in addition to other interested parties were invited.

Unfortunately, the meeting focused on Commissioner Deborah Gist’s presentation relative to the proposed funding formula and not on regionalization itself. If anything, the topic of regionalization was lost amid audience concerns about funding under the proposed formula.

As a result of the attempt to equalize support to the cities and towns by assigning specific dollars for each student, the same pot of money (or perhaps a very slightly increased pot of money) will be redistributed across the state, and communities that have seen increases in enrollments will get more funding while communities whose enrollments have decreased will receive less funding.

Under the current plan, Newport will lose $1.66 mil, Portsmouth will lose $2.66 mil, and Middletown will lose $3.12 mil. By the way, none of those specific numbers were shared with the audience last night.

When asked if there would be any adjustment for regional districts, the Commissioner said that there would be adjustments in housing aid. Unfortunately, this statement was not given the attention it deserved.

In other words, there will be no incentive for regionalization because the money follows the student. If there is money to be saved, it will not happen with the help of the state. It will only happen if the local communities make a concerted effort to cut costs beyond the instructional program. However, and this is a BIG however, the state WILL double the housing aid from 30% to 60%. What does this mean? It means that the state will only provide a pot of extra funding IF THERE IS A CONSOLIDATION THAT RESULTS IN NEW CONSTRUCTION.

As I have been saying all along, regionalization will only save money if there is consolidation. We can nickel-and-dime it by looking at common purchasing or we can bite the bullet and close buildings. A mere $5,000 here or there is not going to amount to a hill of beans. However, incurring the same costs for 700 students (in 2010) that we did for 1250 students (in 1990) doesn’t make sense, especially when those costs have escalated with inflation. How long will we cling to the vestiges of the past while our tax dollars are swallowed up in the future?

Our island communities are talking about building new elementary schools when they should be talking about consolidating the high schools. Before we spend huge amounts of money and strap ourselves with debt service, why aren’t we looking for the best bang for the buck?

Please don’t ask me to vote for a new elementary school when the high schools on the island are aging, they are in need of expensive repairs and upgrading and, furthermore, are half empty.

What are we thinking? What are our leaders thinking?

And don’t talk to me about a funding formula that most people already consider a done deal. Talk to me about saving money through consolidation in a manner that makes sense, one that I can believe in. I’m tired of lip service. Give me some rational action.