Hopkinton Public Schools

Documents	Posted
Increased Role of Municipal Advertising for Revenue Enhancement in the Town of Hopkinton	Feb 8, 2008
Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Booklet	May 16, 2007
Long-Term Budget Model for the Town	April 30, 2007
Summary of Hopkinton's State Aid	April 27, 2007
Final Fiscal Year 2008 School Committee Budget	April, 2007
The 2007-2008 Proposed School Budget: Structural deficit	February 2007
The 2007-2008 Proposed School Budget: Summary of cuts	February 2007
The 2007-2008 Proposed School Budget: Where cuts will be made	March 2007
Did You Know? 5 misconceptions about the school district	June 2006
Did you Know? Fees could cost you more than an override	June 2006
Funding for Quality: The Community's Choice	January 2006
Key Factors Driving the Budget	January 2006
Chart: Key Factors Driving the Budget	January 2006
Annual Performance Report	January 2005
Issue Update - School Building Needs - FAQ	February 2005
Issue Update - Student Enrollment Study Increase Projections	February 2005
Your Investment in School Facilities - Dave Stoldt	January 2005

Issue Update - January 2005

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School Building Needs – Frequently Asked Questions

What does the new enrollment study tell us? Hopkinton can expect at least 546 new students in grades K-12 in the next 10 years. The school department believes an additional 55 to 65 pre-kindergarten pupils will be added in the same time frame.

Didn’t we do an earlier study? Yes. In 2000 and 2001, the school committee hired outside professionals to evaluate enrollment projections and their conclusions were very similar. Hence, the decision to build new buildings has been deferred 4 years.

What does increased enrollment mean? It means that the High School and Middle School will approach their capacities and elementary grades will be 25% overcapacity in 10 years if new classrooms are not built (See chart below.) The effects are already felt today in the elementary schools.

Planned Projected Projected
Operating Current Enrollment Enrollment
Capacity Enrollment in 5 Years in 10 Years

High School 1,100 895 1,047 1,158

Middle School 972 792 945 951

Elementary Schools 1,555 1,735 1,837 1,912
(Note: Includes pre-school enrollments in elementary; Includes 2 modular classrooms at Elmwood)

Do we need to add on to every school? No. The High School just reaches its design capacity in 10 years. Experts will tell you that no high school can operate at 100% capacity due to need for flexibility, electives, uneven class sizes, etc so that building may feel constraints sooner, but it was built with expansion capacity for 6 rooms. The Middle School will remain within its design capacity over this timeframe, but underscores the need to return to educational use the existing classrooms used for central administration (4) and the pre-school (4). Hence, both central administration and pre-K will require new facilities. A new elementary school warranted.

What about Elmwood? The Elementary Party Task Force issued a report several years ago that when a new elementary school is built, some consideration must be given to updating and improving the facilities available at Elmwood School.

So what projects are being considered?

New Elementary School
New or Renovated Pre-K and K Facilities
Improvements to Elmwood School
Space for Central Administration

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Issue Update - January 2005

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Student Enrollment Study Increase Projections

That Hopkinton is a destination town for families with children is evident in the recent population projections presented by the New England School Development Council.
Hopkinton strives for prudent use of available resources, and one means of achieving this is through thoughtful data based planning. To help assess the continued growth in the town's school age population, the School Committee hired the New England School Development Council (NESDEC) to develop demographic projections and assess their impacts on school enrollments over the next 10 years. NESDEC's study results were presented to the School Committee on January 6, 2005 and confirmed that this growth is expected to continue in the future. NESDEC examined current and projected student populations and legal mandates that impact space needs, such as state and federal guidelines for pre-school and special education programs.
Projected Student Populations. A decade ago there were 1,889 students in Hopkinton. Since 1994, Hopkinton student enrollments have grown by 1,500 students, an 81% increase to where the school district now totals over 3,400 students. NESDEC conservatively estimates that over the next 10 years enrollments may grow by 546 students, to a total of 3,968 students in the 2014-2015 school year. These conservative estimates do not take into account the potential new growth of any new, large developments. Town Planner Elaine Lazarus has noted that 164 new units have been approved but not constructed. In addition, plans for future developments (not yet approved) may include hundreds of single-family and multi-family units. NESDEC cautioned that their estimates do not take into consideration the sale of any new large tracts of land in Hopkinton for housing; if most or all of the anticipated future developments come to fruition, projected student enrollments would significantly exceed estimates.
For this study, the NESDEC power point presentation is available on the school district's web site - www.hopkinton.k12.ma.us - Click on Demographics and Enrollment/NESDEC in the upper part of the screen.
Based on the NESDEC estimates of future student enrollments, Hopkinton will need 23 additional classrooms between now and 2015. It was recommended the District plan for 15 classrooms per elementary grade. If Hopkinton should move to full day kindergarten, that shortage becomes 30 rooms for elementary classes.
Legal mandates that impact school space. One of the priorities driving the need for space is special education programs. The School Committee believes that it is both educationally sound and cost effective to keep Hopkinton special education students in the district, rather than providing them with services outside of the district. In-district servicing of these students requires space for individual student needs, additional staff, therapies, and assistive equipment. In this current school year Hopkinton has added a third (unplanned) Preschool classroom to support the growing population of young children with intense special needs. This trend is occurring statewide and is expected to continue. Space planning in Hopkinton, as in other districts, must address this reality.

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“Did You Know” --- Local Government 101

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The Warrant

The “Warrant” is the meeting agenda and consists of “Articles” that give general notice of topics to be addressed at the Annual Town Meeting. Articles, which may be submitted by Town Boards and by citizens of the Town, are approved and compiled by the Board of Selectmen.

The Warrant is posted at least 8 days prior to Town Meeting at key sites around town.

Among other things, the Annual Town Meeting addresses budget items for the upcoming fiscal year, Fiscal Year 2006 (July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2006).

The funding of all articles, including those for schools, is decided by voters at Town Meeting.

At the Town Meeting, the Appropriation Committee makes a “motion” with respect to each financial article and the Town Board or citizens that sponsor each other Article makes the motion on each such article. The motions are much more detailed than the Articles; among other things, motions under financial articles provide exact levels of dollar expenditures for Town Meeting to approve.
The Moderator, who conducts the Town Meeting, encourages citizens attending the meeting to debate the motions and informs the voters of the votes required to pass each motion.

The voting

Different votes are required to approve various types of motions. A vote of 2/3 of attendees at Town Meeting is required for the following types of votes:

Financial articles to be funded by using the Town “Stabilization Fund”, its rainy day fund, require a 2/3 vote.

Financial articles that require a general override of the Proposition 2-1/2 limitation on increasing taxes require a 2/3 vote.

Articles to be funded by a “debt exclusion,” or a vote for incurring debt from future operating budgets, require a 2/3 vote.

Any zoning article requires a 2/3 vote.

These other motions require a simple majority

“Raise and appropriate….” Articles, that is financial articles that will be funded by taxes raised in the upcoming year, require the approval of a majority of the Town Meeting participants voting on the article.

· Most other motions at Town Meeting require a simple majority.

Special Town Meeting: May 3, 2005, 7:00 PM, MS Auditorium

The Special Town Meeting begins at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, May 3 before the Annual Town Meeting is continued.

Among other things, the Special Town Meeting address budget items for the current fiscal year, Fiscal Year 2005 (July 1, 2004 – June 30, 2005).

There is also a “Warrant” for the Special Town Meeting that gives general notice of topics to be addressed at the Annual Town Meeting.

May 16, 2005 Ballot, MS Gym, 7:00AM – 8:00 PM

Some votes at Town Meeting require a second step – approval at the ballot on May 16th.

All votes on ballot items to approve a general override or a debt exclusion require a simple majority to pass.

There will be other votes on the May 16 ballot, such as the election of 1 Selectman, two new School Committee members and other town officials.

Definitions

Overrides

Proposition 2 1/2 is a Massachusetts voter approved law that defines how much tax can be levied within a community. The ceiling is set at 2 ½ percent of the full cash value of all taxable property in the town. Tax increases are limited each year to 2 ½ percent from the previous year. If a community requires more tax money than the levy limit to balance its Operating Budget, voter approval of an override is required.

For Fiscal Year ’06 Town Operating Budget voters are being asked to approve a $600,000 override. This has been approved by the Board of Selectmen and the Appropriation Committee. The cost for the override to the average homeowner ($530k house) would be $111. This is a permanent increase to the tax base.

Debt Exclusions

These votes also “exempt” Hopkinton from the provisions of Proposition 2 ½ but only on a temporary basis – until the loan or bonds issued for the specific project are paid.

Article 19 - Design money for school facilities including the new elementary school on Fruit Street is an example of this type of “debt exclusion” revenue request.

Stabilization Fund

The stabilization fund is the town’s rainy day fund. In order to move money in or out of the stabilization fund, a vote at Town Meeting is required. Right now the stabilization fund has approximately $2 million. The Appropriation Committee is recommending that $1 million be taken from the stabilization fund to help fund the FY 06 Operating Budget.

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