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The Select Board and Town Manager must withdraw Article 13. If the article proceeds to Town Meeting as written, Sudbury taxpayers will likely vote it down as did the Finance Committee, as the proposed funding would require either reductions in SPS funding or other the reduction in other funding sources.
Article 13 is premature and based on limited information. A formal subcommittee as proposed in the article should nevertheless be created and tasked with conducting a comprehensive survey and analysis of Sudbury students vocational education needs to support all future data-driven vocational education proposals.
A key omission in the Article is a directive that a future evaluation committee consult the six other towns—Belmont, Boxborough, Carlisle, Lincoln, Wayland, and Weston—that withdrew from the Minuteman district in 2017 along with Sudbury. Understanding their reasonings for leaving the regional district; their current vocational education solutions; and why none of the 6 towns have sought to rejoin MM or join any other district would provide essential information.
In my opinion, I believe the decisions by Sudbury and the additional 6 towns to leave were not arbitrary nor without cause. During my appointments as Sudbury’s representative to the Minuteman School Committee (2009–2016), confidence declined in the district’s governance, particularly performing its statutory fiduciary responsibilities for the fair utilization of taxpayer funds.
Concerns included a revised district agreement that disproportionately favored high-enrollment larger towns that provided those larger towns increased voting power and reduced assessments, the effects of which were imposed upon smaller member towns.
Additionally, the district enrolled large numbers of underfunded tuition students from non-member towns without adequate financial oversight to disclose and pay for the resulting revenue deficits.
This practice resulted in subsidies—totaling millions of taxpayer dollars over several years—provided to non-member towns which were paid for by member towns through undisclosed assessment increases.
Enrollments were inflated with tuition students that provided no definitive benefits to students.
Further financial and governance issues arose from the administration and school committee officer’s determination to unnecessarily replace the existing and viable campus with a $140 million all new campus, increasing long-term debt for smaller towns already facing inequitable cost distributions.
If reentry into the Minuteman district involves financial conditions like those reparations previously imposed on Belmont, Sudbury would potentially face a one-time payment approaching one million dollars, despite Sudbury already contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition debt service fees/payments since 2016-2017.
In conclusion, Article 13 must be withdrawn for the following reasons:
A. The article appears premature and based on opinion and limited information.
B. All vocational opportunities must be reviewed and impartially evaluated by a Select Subcommittee to justify financial decisions.
C. As described, the unjustified reentry costs to Sudbury would be substantial in both the short and long term with reparations likely distributed disproportionately to larger member towns with no benefits to Sudbury as a smaller town.
All the above will be expanded and clarified with supporting details and financial analysis in subsequent communications before Town Meeting.