While the Town Council approves the overall Franklin budget including the school district top dollar amount, the oversight of the school district is the sole responsibility of the School Committee. They hire the Superintendent, who in turn is ultimately responsible (1) for the hiring of all the other school personnel and (2) the day-to-day management of the district.
Under MA law, each school principal is granted responsibility for all that happens in their building.
Under MA law, each school principal is granted responsibility for all that happens in their building.
All seven (7) positions of the school committee are up for election on November 2, 2021.
The School Committee faces a number of challenges. There is a structural deficiency in the funding model for schools. A 'normal' home owning household of 4; two parents, two kids contributes approx. $5-6,000 in annual taxes to the Town coffers while it costs the Town $16,000 to educate one child. Hence, the household benefits from the extra $26,000 (in education) while the Town has to fund that $26,000 from somewhere.
The School Committee has recently determined to close the Davis Thayer Elementary School. They still need to figure out what the district should look like, what other schools (if any) should close, and if redistricting is necessary. Before getting into the Davis Thayer decision, the School Committee had put aside the schools start time discussion to deal with the pandemic. The details of the start time proposal were initially worked by a special advisory committee and should still be addressed some time.
More information about the School Committee can be found on the Town of Franklin page: https://www.franklinps.net/district/school-committee
The School Committee has recently determined to close the Davis Thayer Elementary School. They still need to figure out what the district should look like, what other schools (if any) should close, and if redistricting is necessary. Before getting into the Davis Thayer decision, the School Committee had put aside the schools start time discussion to deal with the pandemic. The details of the start time proposal were initially worked by a special advisory committee and should still be addressed some time.
More information about the School Committee can be found on the Town of Franklin page: https://www.franklinps.net/district/school-committee
My notes from the School Committee (and several of the subcommittees) can be found in the Meeting Notes page (scroll down to find the group and either notes or audio, in many cases both. https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/meeting-notes.html
The School Committee section of the Franklin Annual Report for 2020
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| Franklin Election 2021: What does the School Committee do? |
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