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5/8/2008
Neighborhood meetings will be held at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, May 13 at Cumberland Hill School
Monday, May 19 at Ashton School
Tuesdsay, May 20 at Garvin School
She and Town Councilor Jeff Mutter, who chairs the Finance Subcommittee, plan three combined budget hearings in neighborhood schools to give residents a convenient way of participating in the discussion that will set the new school budget.
The sessions will be: Tuesday, May 13, at the JJM Cumberland Hill School; Monday, May 19 at the Ashton School; Tuesday, May 20 at the Garvin Memorial School. All meetings will start at 7 p.m.
Residents are invited to the school that's most convenient or to attend all three.
Morelle says, "The overall goal of the school budget presentations to the Finance Subcommittee is to provide a clear connection between the student learning needs in our schools, the district initiatives in place to support those needs, and financial needs of the schools necessary to support improved student learning outcomes."
Morelle says the May 13 session will focus on the history of education budgets in Cumberland, along with an overview of the Fiscal Year 2009 budget and a look at student achievement in Cumberland.
The May 19 meeting will cover "financial needs of the district to support student need and district initiatives."
The May 20 meeting will look at "budget solutions and constraints."
Mutter opened the door to this unique meeting schedule in March when he said he wanted the school budget discussion this year to focus on how more dollars might improve student proficiency in core subjects.
He said then he wants Cumberland to recapture the premiere school system reputation that was once enjoyed by the town.
Cumberland schools, Mutter said, "were a hallmark of Cumberland and should be again. I'm not sure how we get to that point but it will take partnering with parents, teachers and administrators."
School board members are proposing a $52.3 million budget that represents a 1.8 percent increase over this year. Schools want an added $1.2 million from taxpayers.
Said Mutter in March, "I think now that the idea of expending more dollars has to be tied to better scores. How do dollars equate to better scores? We want the job done."
Mutter said then that he's been listening to school budget presentations for 10 years. "I don't want to go through any more spin talk. I'm watching the scores go down. I am a big public school advocate. I graduated from Cumberland High School and I think it provided me with a very good education and it prepared me to go to Providence College and graduate."
Said Mutter, "I don't want to hear about per-pupil costs and how we rank nationally.
"I want to hear how are we going to improve Cumberland."
