Town Meeting approved the remaining Proposition 2½ debt exclusions to fund the purchase of school buses and a feasibility study for the renovation of the Minot Forest Elementary School, as well as a Proposition 2½ override to avoid teacher layoffs on Tuesday.

The School Committee has proposed a Proposition 2½ override and four debt exclusions to ease the impact of budget cuts in next year's budget.

An override would increase property taxes above the 2½ percent annual cap on increases for an indefinite amount of time – or until voters pass an “under-ride” to stop the tax increase. A debt exclusion would also increases property taxes above the annual 2½ percent cap, but for a fixed period of time.

Two debt exclusions, one for textbooks and technology and another to fund repairs to the Wareham High School roof, have already passed through Town Meeting due to the meeting's lottery system.

There are three things that must happen in order for the override or any of the debt exclusions to ultimately take effect.

1. Town Meeting must authorize the town treasurer to "borrow" the sum of money requested in the override or debt exclusion, to be paid through the increased property taxes collected.

2. The Board of Selectmen must vote to put the override or debt exclusion(s) on a town-wide election ballot so the electorate can decide whether it wants the property tax increase.

3. The measure(s) must be approved by voters at the ballot.

Override

Town Meeting passed the override to raise $780,000 for the purposes of avoiding teacher layoffs.

"If this doesn't pass, 19½ teachers that are currently employed, will be laid off," said School Superintendent Barry Rabinovitch while introducing the article. "Our funding is below the rest of the state, minimum funding is not enough to educate the children of Wareham."

Through the course of the debate, it became clear that the funds raised from the override could be used by the School Committee according to their discretion, and after the first year, the money from the override would go into the Town's general fund -- not earmarked for the School Department's budget.

School officials vowed to use the funds, if the measure is passed at the ballot, to save those teaching positions.

Finance Committee member Larry McDonald asked the voting body to trust the leaders who developed the budget to do the right thing with the funds.

"The people who built the budget [built it] with complete transparency," said McDonald.

Similarly, School Committee member Cliff Sylvia defended the School Department's decisions.

"We have cut administrators, we have cut programs, we have cut to the bone," said Sylvia. "This idea that we are being wasteful at the School Committee level is completely ridiculous…ladies and gentlemen, we have to staff the school department.

McDonald added towards the end of the debate that the support of the school system was of prime importance.

"The most important asset we have in our town is not our 56 miles of coastline…it is our children," he said. "We may have a president in one of these classrooms and we owe it to them."

Debt exclusions

Town Meeting voted to raise $360,000 to replace school buses, and $575,000 for a feasibility study for renovations to the Minot Forest Elementary School.

The School Department has struggled to find a way to regularly replace the school buses in its aging fleet for more than two years.

The $360,000 approved at Town Meeting are to purchase new or used buses. The $360,000 would be paid off over five years, which school officials say would cost a median-assessed homeowner with a $230,000 home a total of $4.90 for each of the five years.

The $575,000 debt exclusion for the Minot Forest Elementary School, which dates back to the 1960s according to School Superintendent Barry Rabinovitch who presented the article, is to help renovate the school.

Students are currently receiving one-on-one instruction in the hallways of the school,  in the school's library (which no longer functions as a library), and in an unused shower room, among other non-traditional places.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority has approved Minot Forest Elementary's application for a renovation and expansion project, which if completed would be eligible for state reimbursement for a percentage of the cost.

The town must follow state guidelines in order to qualify for reimbursement, however.

The $575,000 “feasibility study” is the first step in that process of meeting state guidelines.

Among other things, it will include a traffic study, geological study, a study of existing conditions at the school, a study of the educational needs of the school, and the hiring of an architectural firm.

The state will reimburse the town for at least 60% of the $575,000, said Rabinovitch, who added that the funds would come within 14 days after officials submit for the reimbursement to the state.