Officials tell of a sinking school system;
State board's visit may help prompt look at education funding

RANDOLPH – School officials just wish the attention was paid sooner.

“The Randolph Public Schools hit an iceberg years ago,” School Committee Chairman Larry Azer said Tuesday following a visit to town by the state Board of Education.

Hearing firsthand about how budget cuts are affecting education was “very distressing,” according to state board chairman Paul Reville.

The board held its monthly meeting in Randolph. Reville said members wanted to get an idea of what changes are needed to provide equal educational opportunities – the goal of the 1993 state Education Reform Act – and to ensure that all students are able to perform at high levels.

“The school financial system is fraying at the edges,” Reville said.

That’s not news to Randolph residents, local school officials said.

Azer said the help the school system has received from the state in recent years has amounted to reports saying, “You hit an iceberg,” and “maybe a few buckets.”

“I would say the band played on, but that was decimated by budget cuts years ago,” he added.

State education officials heard about a Randolph school budget that has increased by less than 1 percent during the past five years, translating into the loss of nearly 70 teaching jobs, the closing of two schools, a huge reduction in the number of courses taught at the high school and the elimination of school bus service.

It has meant larger classes even as school enrollment has dropped by nearly 25 percent. The high school’s accreditation will be placed on probation, and the Randolph Community Middle School is under state oversight

“Our students are getting less and less each year,” Azer said.

School Superintendent Richard Silverman said that restoring services to the level that existed in the 2001-02 school year would cost about $12 million – a budget increase of 40 percent.

Seventy percent of the system’s students have MCAS scores in the two lowest categories, and all remedial programs except the one that is federally funded have been eliminated for budgetary reasons, the superintendent said.

Board of Education member Thomas Fortmann of Lexington wondered why the Randolph school budget has stayed the same even though state education aid has increased by 16 percent over the past three years and even though the town has the ability to raise property taxes under Proposition 2 1 2 .

Azer replied that state aid to the Randolph schools has only grown by about 1 percent per year. And he said money from property-tax increases has been used to cover other costs, like higher health-insurance costs.

Three attempts to increase Randolph property taxes through Proposition 2 1 2 overrides have failed in the past four years. The bulk of the money from the overrides would have gone to the schools.

Other town departments have had budget problems and service cuts, Azer said.

Selectmen Chairman Paul Connors said the school committee’s approval of the $580,000 buyout for former school superintendent Arthur Melia after an unsuccessful override attempt caused residents to lose faith in the committee’s financial management. That has started to change, he said.

Keisha Johnson, president of Randolph High School’s senior class and captain of the school track team, said the cuts have “demoralized the students,” who are coping with larger classes and do not get the attention they need from teachers.

Also making presentations to the state board were Randolph Chamber of Commerce President Mary Fernandes, parent Anthony Price and Randolph Education Association President Karen Manning, an elementary school teacher.

The meeting, held in the Randolph High School auditorium, was attended by more than 150 people, including Bridgewater State College President Dana Mohler-Faria, an education adviser to Gov. Deval Patrick.

Mohler-Faria said in his visits to 37 schools during the past 10 months, he has found that “communities understand the value of education.” How the state supports local schools needs to be looked at, he said.

Reville said what he heard Tuesday shows that education-reform financing needs to be reviewed.

“This increases our sense of urgency to look at other communities around the commonwealth and report to the Legislature on what we find,” he said.

Fred Hanson may be reached at fhanson@ledger.com.