A Long, Hot Political Summer Begins

Any expectation that last Tuesday’s narrow `no’ vote, in an election to determine if Franklin would choose to override its statutory limit on tax increases, would bring an end to divisiveness within the town, has been firmly dashed by facts.

For example, a social media posting (pictured above) has emerged encouraging students and others to stage a “Sit In” on the Common Thursday in broad support of educators and students and in an implicit protest of budget cuts.

And, at least two surveys have been posted aiming to reveal the motivations and mindsets of voters, especially the “no” voters and, perhaps place or apportion blame for the election results on various officials.

The pro-override One Franklin group, led by Ruthann O’Sullivan and supported by State Rep. Jeff Roy, is also redoubling its efforts. O’Sullivan, according to a report in Franklin Matters, has written an open letter to the Town Council, the opening salvo of which is reproduced here:

Dear Town Council,

I'm writing to request the following, and have summarized my reasons below.

• Town Administrator, Jamie Hellen, present four options to reduce the municipal side of the town budget ($1 million, $2 million, $3 million, $4 million) to allocate to FPS and help stabilize the district, and be presented at your next public meeting.
• The Town Council vote to put another override on the November ballot for the upcoming presidential election.
• The Town's Charter be amended to define an objective percentage of around 65% of the town's total revenue for annual allocations to the School Operating budget in perpetuity (budget line 300).

I'm writing to request that the Town Administrator, Jamie Hellen, present four options to reduce the municipal side of the town budget ($1 million, $2 million, $3 million, $4 million) to allocate to FPS and help stabilize the district, and be presented at your next public meeting. Similar to how our Superintendent presented 'The Tale of Four Budgets". These must be permanent reductions, not one time reductions in salary increases, 'rainy day' or stabilization funds. Assisting the school's operating budget with one time funding would be detrimental to our goal of stability for the district going forward.

The long missive goes on to accuse Hellen of being obfuscatory and demands immediate transparency and deep cuts to the municipal budget to feed the needs of the school department. The full letter can be found here.

There is as yet no posted agenda for the next Town Council on June 26, though a couple of hearings and bylaw changes are already lined up to be included. But with or without O'Sullivan's challenging being formally accepted by the administration, there will no doubt be public comment in spades.

And, of course,  in the meantime the “pink slips” have been issued by the school department.

Expect as much excitement as the Celtics playoffs in the coming weeks, but probably much less fun.