The article on this topic in the Billerica Minuteman proclaims that Billerica will soon send out a Letter of Notice to the Massachusetts School Board Association (MSBA) asking for a grant for capital improvements at seven of the town’s nine schools. Paul Szymanski is looking to fund major improvements and preventive maintenance on existing buildings. He is looking for $30 – $40 million dollars!

Are you kidding me? We have documentation that the School Department has routinely budgeted preventive maintenance funds only to end up using those funds for general purpose needs, allowing school buildings and infrastructure to rot right underneath them. See the patches in the old Parker Elementary School used to shore up weak floors and the hole at least one person made as she fell through the floor.

The short answer from the MSBA should be a resounding NO! No additional taxpayer funds should be given to the school department until it has undergone a thorough and exacting forensic audit going back at least 10 years. That is my recommendation here on the blog, and it is the recommendation I just finished finalizing for the MSBA. To those of you who feel the school department should undergo a forensic audit, here is your chance to make an appeal that the school department/corporate town may not be able to avoid by writing for such a requirement as a prerequisite for any future MSBA funding. Act now or forever shut the hell up about your tax bill. The school department eats up at least 50% of the total town budget and they are well past the point where they should be held accountable.

I applaud Mr. Szymanski for his diligence and efforts to get reduced energy pricing under contract. Thank you on behalf of a family of 5 taxpayers.

Good job on the bus contract as well.