For as long as anyone can remember, the Mohawk Regional School District budget process starts with the superintendent asking the principals for the amount of money they’ll need to run their schools for the year.

It’s not unlike the pentagon asking the generals how many bombs they’ll need.

I think it’s an open-ended question that is ripe for inflation.

At the end of the budget process, the towns are told there was tremendous negotiation to bring the budget as presented. I think the generals will report that they need a mountain of bombs and throw in some extras in case Grenada decides to counter attack.

At the end of their negotiation, they’ll give up the bombs for Grenada and declare they did a superb job of cost control. It’s a flawed process that leaves the taxpayers on the hook.

Somehow after the declarations that Mohawk presents a bare bones budget, there mysteriously appears discretionary money to add positions like curriculum coordinators, restorative justice administrators and a co-principal.

Add them up, and it’s a hefty burden on the taxpayers that provides no direct benefit to the classroom. It is work that can and has been done by the existing staff in the past.

We’re in changing times. There is a lot of consideration given to consolidation. The driving force is cost control and better allocation of resources. To be consistent with that effort, the School Committee should put a hiring freeze in place, except to fill direct open teaching positions, until we see the effect of consolidation and the cost benefit. The hiring freeze will help town meeting members to be confident that Mohawk has genuinely presented a tight budget.

The School Committee has a lot on its plate. I would add to that a change in how the budget process works. It would be more responsible (we heard the word “transparent” a lot last year) to come to the towns for guidance as to what the towns can reasonably afford.

Bring that number to the table and make it work.

When we sit at the kitchen table to talk the household budget we start with knowing our limits.

Leo Ojala

Chairman

Shelburne Finance Committee