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Local school boards have managed to turn back the clock to the 1960s — or so they would have taxpayers believe.
That’s when student enrollments were soaring and school boards had to hustle to get enough teachers and classrooms ready to handle the load. Understandably, budgets grew to deal with the hordes of baby boomers entering school.
The local economy could easily accommodate the extra spending. Companies were hiring workers by the thousands which, in turn, attracted more people to the area. New businesses were shooting up.
That was then. Things are far different now.
It was more than amusing when two local school boards on Monday decided to get into Mr. Peabody’s time machine and go back nearly 50 years.
Sharon School Board hiked taxes by 2 mills to fund the Case Avenue building project, which is estimated to cost between $18 million and $21 million. It’s all but certain more tax hikes are on the way to fund that project which administrators say is crucial for the district.
Crucial? Let’s take a look at some other numbers:
In 1964, total enrollment in Sharon schools was 5,003; that number includes the high school, junior high and elementary grades. By the end of the 1983 school year, enrollment had dropped to 2,529 in grades one through 12. Administrators pegged enrollment this past year at 1,948 in those same grades. That means the number of kids in Sharon classrooms has been whacked by far more than half.
Yet somehow, with fewer kids, the school board has determined it must spend more money.
Sharon school directors are not alone.
At nearly the same time Monday night, West Middlesex Area School Board approved boosting the salaries of administrators, one by as much as 16.5 percent.
All that spending comes when the local economy is at best, stagnant, and at worst, declining. We get the feeling the school boards are in denial about what’s really going on — and they’re not the only ones.
Nowhere is there a more dramatic story of plunging student enrollment than in Farrell. In 1972 the district boasted that 210 seniors were awarded diplomas. Last month, Farrell awarded 53 diplomas, a 75 percent drop. Reportedly there are 37 students in the class of 2011.
If that doesn’t make a case for school consolidation, nothing does. Our local boards have to face reality: We live in a declining area, where property owners can no longer afford such high price tags.
School boards will not change their out-of-control spending practices until taxpayers rise up and say they aren’t going to take it anymore. There is a lot we as a newspaper can do to point things out to school boards and administrators, but until voters start yelling about what’s going on, things will not change.
We can only hope people pay heed to what West Middlesex board member Tom Hubert said when he cast the lone vote against giving administrators a salary hike: “I could not face the taxpayers with double-digit salary increases when most people are just praying each night to hang onto their job.’’
