Leadership Forum: KP Committee Member Discusses Budget, Service Sharing

The King Philip School Committee was among the organizations that gave a presentation at last weekend's leadership forum.

Matthew Gray, a member of the committee, spoke about the committee's mission and goals. He said the district's budget is a continuing problem.

"It's very fluid," he said. "We've been in fire-drill mode for at least the past two years."

He said the issue had led the district to consider measures to keep costs low.

"There's been a lot of talk about sharing the services that vary from town to town," he said, mentioning information technology as a possibility. "It doesn't necessarily have to involve all four districts."

Gray said he would like to see more public participation in committee meetings.

"There were a lot of people at the meetings during negotiations," he said. "At the last two, we did not have a single parent."

Town Moderator Keith Billian suggested that the current King Philip board was too large.

"The agreement was made 50 years ago," he said. "I think it's a total waste of space to have a nine-member board — it's too big to have any movement."