Dear Friends and Colleagues, 

The School Committee meetings always start with the Consent Agenda wherein the five of us approve the many millions spent every two weeks. So, what does ‘Supervise the Budget’ mean?

Think of it as two large areas of responsibilities:

  1. Approving the biweekly warrants (about $5.05 million for payroll, $1.6 million for expenses, $80,000 for expenses by credit card recently)
  2. Setting the budget guidelines in mid Fall and then approving the budget (about $145 million from taxes +$15 million from govt. funds etc). 

Both felt quite intimidating for a novice School Committee member in my first term. I am grateful that Kate Colburn (TMM precinct 4, and then School Committee member) showed me some basics in 2018. 

Every 2nd Friday a set of 6-8 inch thick binders with every imaginable paper invoice would be set before me, kinda-sorta organized by inserts of archaic looking dot-matrix type printouts. Needless to say I was fascinated by the minutiae of OfficeMax, Whitsons, and the many transportation vendors etc., as well as the metadata. It was the financial pulse of the district! The ugly looking printouts I ignored.

In 2024, post Covid everything is electronic. I am stuck reviewing …. the ugly printouts. 

However, sometimes the reduction of information can be clarifying. Seeing only numbers forces one to really look at them – the same invoice entered twice (we didn’t get two new pianos, only one!), the increase in legal expenses, certain cost centers always in the red, or doing well. 

Approving these expenses is a big responsibility. The rest of the School Committee does not see the minutiae. Sometimes the expenses are an expensive Nice-To-Have vs. a Must-Have. Should I refuse to approve, then bring it up in a public meeting, to the embarrassment of the administration? Will I be supported by my colleagues? Fiscal accountability vs. employee discipline vs. political considerations, these choices feel untenable. 

The quarterly reports of LPS expenditures inform the School Committee how much money has been spent per cost center (individual schools, departments, the School Committee, the Superintendent etc). However, these rarely excite any attention either in the community or comment in the School Committee. 

The financial pulse as long as it ticks is taken for granted. We are fortunate to live in a town which is fiscally sound. 

I will not miss those ugly printouts!

Best

Deepika Sawhney

(Vice Chair of School Committee till March 2025, Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member)

Resources:

Explanation of the ugly printouts: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dt81djYXLQC2sGfo_w4xVCFxuGKfVED7/view?usp=sharing

2026 School Committee Budget guidelines: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1735J4O-do9_MbjWgR1cE7o46gDt-z8eO/view?usp=sharing

All LPS Budget Documents since 2013: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15TrJcjx21CYoG6IZ42FPJogGxEQRhNPVtno3PosVKd8/edit?tab=t.0

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