Tough but timely decisions at Region One

The Region One Board of Education isn’t the only organizational entity to have its health care insurance increase this year. Things have changed with the inception of the Affordable Care Act, of course, but part of the equation is also the high cost of payments for some expensive care within the group last year. That part of what affects health insurance premiums has not changed, fair or not. Between those costs, mandatory salary increases and some other additional expenses, next year’s budget that will be presented to voters on May 6 has increased over this year’s by almost 5 percent. One of the new Region One increases includes about $75,000 for new laptops and Chromebooks for Housy students to use in classes. It may seem extravagant to some to replace around 100 obsolete computers in a year when other costs have unavoidably increased as well. But when will the year come where there are not some unavoidable operating increases? They can’t be used as an excuse to shortchange the students. Rather, they should be planned for and then dealt with as they arise. The right point for turning over computers and all technology can be generally defined by those in leadership at the school from the moment of purchase; that is when a timeline for replacement should be created. But standards need to be set and adhered to in order to keep up with technological change and development.In order to keep the high school viable, it’s important to keep the facilities up-to-date, and the educational usefulness of the aging computers at the school could not be compensated for by individually less costly mini devices, as proposed last year. Once these computers are replaced with the laptops now, there can then be a careful evaluation of the need for student iPad minis or other devices, but with an eye toward the ongoing replacement costs for those going forward as well, after such a program is put in place. Each student should have every opportunity to take advantage of their years of learning in high school, including having access to technology that will prepare them to be comfortable and capable of working at college or a job. Cutting out the replacement computers or other student support costs would only delay the inevitable to the detriment of those trying to get an education at HVRHS right now.The current budget is a good compromise between balancing costs that cannot be avoided and those that will maintain a high level of education for HVRHS students. That is to the credit of the new board, which has been open and thoughtful in its consideration of expenses for the 2014-15 school year. This Region One budget should pass on the first try.