Magoon Fails Math

Richard Girard
Eagle Times Publisher
As our Bella Osgood reported in the July 6 edition of the Eagle Times, the Newport School Board has terminated its tuition contract with the town of Croydon. The confusion surrounding this unexpected turn of events aside, Newport Superintendent Donna Magoon advocated for the termination, saying:

“I just need to make sure that if I’m getting a child [from an outside school], and say the tuition is 13k that I am not spending 20k, because then the additional money would be coming from Newport residents.”

While that sounds reasonable, it begs the question as to whether or not Magoon knows budgeting or math. The question isn’t whether or not the tuition charged for Croydon’s students is too little. It’s what savings would be had if they didn’t attend Newport’s schools

In recent years, Newport has seen its student enrollment shrink noticeably while spending has risen noticeably; meaning there’s plenty of room in Newport’s schools for the 19 students from Croydon. If none of the 19 showed up, would Newport eliminate any teaching or other staff positions? Would it close any schools? In short, would it do anything to offset the loss of Croydon’s $361,000 in tuition?

The short answer is “no,” which means the very taxpayers Magoon claims to be concerned with will be left to pay higher taxes to cover that lost revenue. Every student lost because of this termination will result in a net loss of revenue to Newport and lead to budget cuts or tax hikes or both.

If Magoon is really concerned about covering costs, she ought to specifically identify those caused by educating Croydon’s kids and, more importantly, what cuts she’ll make to offset the loss of that $361,000 in tuition revenue, if they fail to come to terms on a new agreement.