Massachusetts district eliminates athletics after voters reject property tax increase
A Massachusetts school district has eliminated athletics after voters rejected a property tax override. Voters in Stoneham, Massachusetts rejected a $3 million property tax increase, which resulted in the Stoneham School Committee (SSC) eliminating all 54 coaching positions, the athletic director's job, and the elementary and middle school arts and music programs. SSC also plans to shut down the sixth-grade wing of the middle school and send those students back to elementary school. Stoneham selectmen are planning to consider continuing a trash fee, which could raise about $1 million and avoid a portion of the recommended cuts. The trash fee has been unpopular, and officials pledged to eliminate it if voters passed the $3 million override. If the town votes for a trash fee, or finds other money, the cuts would be restored according to priorities set by the school committee, with sports eighth on the list. The first restoration priority would be to reverse the plan to shut down the sixth-grade wing of the middle school. Elementary and middle school fine arts classes and a high school assistant principal, among other cuts, also would be restored before sports. The Stoneham sports program represented about $600,000 of the school system's budget. Statewide, an estimated 33 communities have rejected overrides in the spring. According to Paul Wetzel, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, this is believed to be the second time a school board has scrapped its high school athletics program after an override failed.
Boston Globe
By Eric Moskowitz
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