Select board, finance committee reject school budget proposal

LAKEVILLE -- The Lakeville Select Board and Finance Committee have unanimously rejected a proposal to use rainy day funds to bolster the regional school district budget.

“It’s very difficult to be in this position,’’ Select Board Chair Lorraine Carbone said at the joint meeting held July 21.

The Special Town Meeting was called by the Freetown-Lakeville Regional School Committee after Lakeville Town Meeting voters on June 6 approved an amount lower than what the school district was seeking.

The Special Town Meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 27 at Apponequet Regional High School.

The school committee had asked Lakeville to fund $1.7 million to cover Lakeville’s portion of the increase in the school budget. Instead, the town opted to pay $350,000, leaving the schools $1.3 million short.

The school committee then voted not to accept that figure but to call for a Special Town Meeting in Lakeville town meeting to reconsider the issue.

The town has proposed taking $1.35 million from the stabilization account, what is commonly referred to as a “rainy day fund,’’ to make up the difference.

They made that decision, Town Administrator Andrew Sukeforth said, because they were forced to present an option to voters to fully fund the school budget.

 Voters on May 19 already rejected an override, which would increase taxes, to fund the entire school request.

That left three options, Sukeforth said. The town could take money from its operating budget, which funds daily operations, take money from the stabilization fund or develop some combination of the two.

In voting to reject the proposal, Finance Committee Member Barbara Mancovsky said that taking money from the stabilization fund is not the answer. She has compared that move to “using a credit card to pay your mortgage.’’

The schools would see a drastic impact if the school budget is ultimately rejected, according to school officials.

The lower budget amount would result in significant numbers of layoffs, impact class sizes and program offerings and possibly cause the New England Association of Schools and Colleges to look at the high school’s accreditation, school officials have said.

Rising health insurance costs have driven much of the increase, Freetown-Lakeville School District Finance Director Jack Higgins has noted.

Three other articles are proposed by resident Bryan Enloe. These articles take funds from a variety of town sources, including free cash, which is money that wasn’t spent in prior years, and the septic loan program.

Select board and finance committee members opted not to make a recommendation of those articles, because they were submitted by a resident and not town-sponsored.

If the school budget is rejected at Monday’s meeting, the school committee could call a joint meeting with Freetown voters to reconsider the issue. Freetown voters have approved the full school budget.

If voters still cannot agree by Dec. 1, a commissioner from the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education could step in and decide, Sukeforth said.