The two-hour forum discussion covered five questions. Each question was addressed to a different candidate, with followup responses by each of the others and then open discussion guided by the moderators. At the end, each candidate made a closing statement. Each segment below is about 20 minutes long, covering the discussion of one of the five questions. You can also view the moderators’ introduction and moderators’ closing and acknowledgements.

The audio quality is not what we had hoped, but due to the importance of this event, we have decided to post the video that we have. (Please turn the volume way up on your speakers.)

QUESTION 1. School Services and Costs

Approximately 60% of Newton’s operating budget (or about $160 million annually) goes to fund Newton’s schools. Over the past 10 years, the average annual growth rate of School spending has been 6.5%, while City revenues have only grown by 4.6%. Most of this spending growth goes to salaries and benefits, with benefits projected to grow at a 9% rate. Given the projected growth rate in City revenues of only 3.4% through Fiscal Year 2014, this relationship between costs and revenues is clearly unsustainable. How do you suggest bringing the growth in School costs in line with the growth in City revenues?

Newton Mayoral Candidate Forum on CAG Reports: Question 1 from Newton 20/20 on Vimeo.

QUESTION 2. Municipal Services and Costs

In contrast to the School Department, municipal expenses have been rising less than the rate of growth in overall City revenues, primarily due to a 10% staff reduction since Fiscal Year 2001. As a result, both the range and quality of municipal services have been under great pressure for almost a decade. If total employee compensation (80% of the City and School operating budgets) continues to grow faster than the current and predicted growth in City revenues, then either decreases in the range and quality of service, significant increases in productivity, or multiple tax overrides/debt exclusions will be required to balance the budget. What is your plan for maintaining the range and quality of municipal services in the future?

Newton Mayoral Candidate Forum on CAG Reports: Question 2 from Newton 20/20 on Vimeo.

QUESTION 3. Capital Infrastructure

The Citizen Advisory Group conservatively estimated that Newton is underfunding the maintenance and repair of buildings, roads and infrastructure by $30million/year. How high a priority is it for Newton to address this persistent underfunding? In your administration’s first budget, will you increase funding for capital maintenance, and by how much?

Newton Mayoral Candidate Forum on CAG Reports: Question 3 from Newton 20/20 on Vimeo.

QUESTION 4. Retirement Benefits

The Citizen Advisory Group estimated that retiree benefits are another $22 million/year short of responsible funding. How high a priority is it for Newton to address this persistent underfunding? In other words, in your administration’s first budget, will you increase funding retirement benefits, and by how much? Will you seek to curtail the benefits paid to retirees, and, if so, how?

Newton Mayoral Candidate Forum on CAG Reports: Question 4 from Newton 20/20 on Vimeo.

QUESTION 5. Public Confidence

The Citizen Advisory Group report noted the lack of a sense of urgency among many Newton residents, elected officials, and City employees about the City’s financial condition and the big trade-offs that need to be made in the coming years.  The report put it starkly: Newton residents will either pay increased taxes and/or user fees for services, or see those services decrease in both range and quality. The only realistic way to cushion the blows from such drastic measures is to reduce the cost structure of both school and municipal services.  The CAG also noted that improved communications would increase citizen participation in City and School affairs, improve the public’s perceptions of City and School services, and “build trust along with a willingness to change in the community.” How would you, as Mayor, involve Newton residents in discussing and debating the big trade-offs that need to be made in the coming years? What specific measures would you take as mayor to increase and improve communications around these issues with the public?

Newton Mayoral Candidate Forum on CAG Reports: Question 5 from Newton 20/20 on Vimeo.

CANDIDATES’ CLOSING STATEMENTS

Newton Mayoral Candidate Forum on CAG Reports: Candidates’ closing statements from Newton 20/20 on Vimeo.

PART 1

PART 2

 Under the Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time (ELT) Initiative, participating schools are expanding school time to improve student outcomes in core academic subjects, broaden enrichment opportunities, and improve instruction by adding more planning and professional development time for teachers.

The vision behind the ELT Initiative is to reshape the American school calendar to provide all students with a well-rounded education that prepares them for full engagement and participation in the economic and civic life of our 21st century global society.  Founded on the basic premise that the century-old school schedule is out of date, ELT seeks to free public schools from the shackles of a calendar designed to accommodate farm and factory schedules.

The event is open to the public.  Check our events page for more details.

  Who: Chris Gabrieli, former candidate for Governor, founder of Mass 2020
               (no relation to Newton 20/20)
  What: Expanded Learning Time:  Redesigning Schools for New Learning and Enrichment with an
                 Expanded School Schdule
  Where: Nordic Hall @ Scandinavian Living Center, 206 Waltham Street, Newton click here for map
  When: 7/22 – 7-9 PM

 Under the Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time (ELT) Initiative, participating schools are expanding school time to improve student outcomes in core academic subjects, broaden enrichment opportunities, and improve instruction by adding more planning and professional development time for teachers.

The vision behind the ELT Initiative is to reshape the American school calendar to provide all students with a well-rounded education that prepares them for full engagement and participation in the economic and civic life of our 21st century global society.  Founded on the basic premise that the century-old school schedule is out of date, ELT seeks to free public schools from the shackles of a calendar designed to accommodate farm and factory schedules.

The event is open to the public.

“I am particularly taken by your collective ability to hang tough and put forth positions not likely to please many in our current leadership, and yet to do so in a way that softened any inherent criticism that can readily be inferred.

“History has shown that similar commissions have had difficulty getting beyond the report stage and into actionable steps. As Mal [Salter] and Ruthanne [Fuller] know, I was initially quite skeptical of the CAG, in part because I felt the work, however well done, would not get heard. I believe that both what you’ve come up with and how you’ve said it increases the odds that won’t be true in this instance.

“That said, it will still require an enlightened new leadership this fall to embrace your work, and I do believe that must be supplemented by some additional effort on your parts individually to help keep a focus on the issues and the needed actions. For my part, I will both individually and through the new group Newton 20/20 be pushing for “better practices” to be brought into the city so it can regain its place as one of the best in the state and country.

“As a citizen of Newton, I am proud to say ‘Thanks again for your service.’”

Already, one of the CAG members, vice chairman Ruthanne Fuller, has decided to step into the political arena, in part one supposes to assist in keeping the CAG mission and results alive. For those who might not know, Ruthanne has thrown her hat into the Ward 7 aldermanic race, seeking one of the two at-large positions.

Some have called for the CAG to, in some form, take on a permanent role within the city. I’m opposed to that inasmuch as, for all the value this group may have brought to the table, the time comes for commissions to go away and the real work to begin. One historic downside to commissions and outside consultancies is the tendency for managements, and in this case elected leaders, to stand around and wait for results. Little important gets done during that extended period.

But Ruthanne is perhaps showing the way for how the CAG membership can carry on its mission in tangible ways: by choosing to take the in-depth knowledge of the city’s inner workings and applying it to the real world of municipal management. This is in some ways similar to what can happen in the private sector, where a consultant hired to help a client develop a new strategic approach to their business gets hired later by that client to implement the consultant’s recommendations. Or perhaps that consultant is later invited to join the company’s Board of Directors, where his/her strategic vision can be tapped on a regular basis.

In an election year where “change” is the buzzword (and is desperately needed)], we have a built-in cadre of well-informed Newtonites, at least some of which might be dynamic new leaders. Of course, just being possessed of the facts and figures and nuances of the city isn’t enough; the other CAG members would necessarily need to see themselves as both interested in going through the requisite campaigning, and in taking on the rigors associated with actually serving as an alderman or school committee member.

For those who may only be aware of the chairmen of the CAG (Mal Salter and Ruthanne Fuller), here are the other members who contributed so mightily to the CAG’s body of work: John D’Auria, Kevin C. Dutt, George Foord, David Humphrey, Tony Logalbo, Bill MacKenzie, Scott Oran, Selina Pandolfi, Kent Portney, Daniel Richards, Neil Silverston and Laura Thompson.

It is to this group that I am directing my encouraging hope that some will follow Ruthanne’s lead and take their passion that drove them to join the CAG and keep it alive (and their work alive) by stepping into the political fray this year.

This hope of mine is in keeping with one of the goals of the new group Newton 20/20, of which I am co-chairman, whereby we truly want to see every aldermanic and school committee seat contested this fall. — Dan Fahey

The plan followed two directives that are likely in conflict — “Maintain neighborhood schools” and “Cap elementary school size at 500 students maximum.” Nowhere does the plan define “neighborhood school.” I’d define it as one where the entire student body lives on the surrounding streets and most kids can walk to school. It is a place small enough for the principal to know every kid’s personality, every family, and every staff member’s teaching style and ability. It’s a center of the community, a place for kids to study and play with their close friends, and for teachers to know and collaborate with every parent. It’s a place where a good onsite after-school program takes over at the end of the school day. My kid’s school, Zervas, feels this way now with 330 students.

Last year, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Young conducted an informal survey of principals and available research and reported that a school population of 360 to 400 students was ideal. This size estimate was based on six grades, three classes per grade and 20-22 students per class. Yet the School Committee settled on 500, the size of the most populated school presently in the system, Countryside.

HMFH surveyed the size and condition of each school building, along with student population enrollment projections. Then, using the 500-student maximum and allowing for some redistricting, they made recommendations regarding whether each school should be replaced, renovated or left untouched. But are 500-student schools what our community wants? If not, then HMFH’s recommendations are founded on the wrong premise.

The plan calls for four replacements: Angier, Cabot, Ward and Zervas. Angier, Cabot and Zervas would each serve 440 children, while Ward’s student population would grow to 380, increasing 50 percent in size. Other high-enrollment schools would include Countryside (500), Mason-Rice and Franklin (420), and Pierce and Memorial Spaulding (400). These numbers all reach or exceed the optimal population size identified by Jeff Young. In some cases, at the Zervas and Ward schools, school enrollments would grow by more than 100 students. Is there community buy-in for these numbers? We must get this right, before we advance the planning process.

Newton North taught our community this critical lesson: in planning, sequence matters. Determine a budget and financing plan, produce the right design, achieve community support, and then build. We are already off that lesson plan. Last week, the School Committee budgeted $215,000 to conduct feasibility studies for the replacements of Angier and Cabot, and for the renovation of Carr (swing space).

In the entire plan, there is only one short paragraph about cost. It gives a ballpark guestimate of $26 million in 2007 dollars for these new schools. Can our community afford to spent this much? It might be helpful to create and explore more than one scenario, by posing additional questions to our school designers. Building construction is similar to many other endeavors in this respect: Different questions produce different valid answers. Look at a new Angier, for example, with a $26 million price tag. What would happen if we then asked the designers: What can we build with the same programming wishlist and only $16 million?

Perhaps they would recommend a very good renovation with a modest addition. And this might be an affordable — no, the only affordable — way to proceed. We no longer have the luxury of building everything we want, and we must look at alternate scenario studies to examine a range of reasonable options.

What can we do to put our capital planning process back in the right order?

· Establish a timeline for school capacity expansion based on updated enrollment numbers.

· Develop a budget and financing strategy for payment of our school construction work. A debt exclusion override is the smart way to pay for new capital projects. Our mayor, aldermen and community must be sold on DEOs before we move forward.

· Engage the community in an exploration of desired elementary school size. Smaller schools will require more of them, so this process must balance the “right” school population with building cost, staffing and administrative expenses, available locations, traffic impacts, and it must consider both school and non-school taxpayers.

· Update the long-range plan with these new inputs, so we can see what array of new schools will meet our needs.

· Finally, conduct the feasibility studies for Angier, Cabot and Carr.

Our long-range facilities plan can be salvaged, but only if our city leaders stop, consider the hard-learned lessons from our NNHS mistakes, and resequence our capital planning process. We must have a budget, an honest and rigorous solicitation of community input, and an open-minded consideration of options to reach a building strategy that our voters will buy. Here’s hoping our leaders have the courage to do this right. — Steve Siegel

–Thomas Jefferson