HAVERHILL - Going into last night's budget meeting, Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School officials and municipal leaders alike were voicing the sentiment Rodney King made famous: "Can't we all just get along?"
The meeting itself, however, was better characterized by the words of the prison captain in "Cool Hand Luke": "What we have here is a failure to communicate."
Relations between the school and the cities and towns it serves have frayed in recent years as the Whittier budget has continued to grow significantly even as municipalities slashed their local school services.
When the budget increased again last year, member communities balked and eventually compelled the School Committee to submit lower spending plan.
This year, city councilors and selectmen vowed to make their influence felt earlier in the budget process, while Whittier officials pledged to combat any perception that they are unresponsive to the concerns of the communities.
Michael Gilbert, chairman of the Whittier School Committee, invited selectmen and city councilors to attend the first real budget planning session of the year. Nearly 20 local officials took him up on the offer last night.
But their frustration mounted as the first hour of the meeting was spent discussing potential equipment investments like a new pickup truck and kitchen counters. The audience began to grumble and some officials walked out.
"This is extremely discouraging," said Newburyport City Councilor Bruce Vogel as he left the meeting, still in progress. "I don't know how we're going to get through to them."
Those who stayed longer got their chance and made the most of it.
"Our budgets have been slashed and our children have been asked to go without," Haverhill City Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien told the Whittier officials when they paused for public comment. "It's been horrible in our communities. And yet your budget has just grown exponentially."
Amesbury Municipal Councilor Donna McClure tried to show the Whittier board how bad things are for local schools.
"Last year our mayor cut the school budget $1 million," McClure said. "This isn't optional: We need to see a level budget or less from Whittier. Period."
The meeting itself, however, was better characterized by the words of the prison captain in "Cool Hand Luke": "What we have here is a failure to communicate."
Relations between the school and the cities and towns it serves have frayed in recent years as the Whittier budget has continued to grow significantly even as municipalities slashed their local school services.
When the budget increased again last year, member communities balked and eventually compelled the School Committee to submit lower spending plan.
This year, city councilors and selectmen vowed to make their influence felt earlier in the budget process, while Whittier officials pledged to combat any perception that they are unresponsive to the concerns of the communities.
Michael Gilbert, chairman of the Whittier School Committee, invited selectmen and city councilors to attend the first real budget planning session of the year. Nearly 20 local officials took him up on the offer last night.
But their frustration mounted as the first hour of the meeting was spent discussing potential equipment investments like a new pickup truck and kitchen counters. The audience began to grumble and some officials walked out.
"This is extremely discouraging," said Newburyport City Councilor Bruce Vogel as he left the meeting, still in progress. "I don't know how we're going to get through to them."
Those who stayed longer got their chance and made the most of it.
"Our budgets have been slashed and our children have been asked to go without," Haverhill City Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien told the Whittier officials when they paused for public comment. "It's been horrible in our communities. And yet your budget has just grown exponentially."
Amesbury Municipal Councilor Donna McClure tried to show the Whittier board how bad things are for local schools.
"Last year our mayor cut the school budget $1 million," McClure said. "This isn't optional: We need to see a level budget or less from Whittier. Period."
The communities' position was best articulated by Newburyport City Councilor Barry Connell.
"If you send us a budget that continues to grow, we will not be able to sustain our participation in the Whittier system," Connell said. "That's just the very sad and in some cases, tragic truth of where we are. We cannot sustain additional increases in cost for vocational education. We can't afford it."
The intermunicipal agreement under which Whittier was founded makes it extremely difficult for member communities to withdraw, but Connell urged school officials not to consider the cities and towns as captive feepayers, bound by the legal authority of the Whittier charter.
"The legal authority you have isn't worth the paper it's written on if it doesn't reflect the policy realities and the economic realities of the communities," Connell said. "Don't lay back under the misapprehension that that legal authority is going to get you another year of increases as it has in the past."
Gilbert and other members of the Whittier School Committee insisted they have been restrained in previous budgets and that many considerations outside their control make it difficult to keep the community assessments down.
The two sides' long-standing difference in perspective wasn't resolved at last night's meeting. Whether they can reach an acceptable compromise as budget planing progresses remains to be seen.
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