School Committee Gives Maylor Props, But His Budget... Not So Much

The School Committee voted unanimously Thursday night to support and praise Town Manager Maylor for his work on the town's budget but did not vote to support his numbers.

Maylor is proposing a $38.2 million school budget for FY13, which is almost $100,000 less than the budget the School Committee approved earlier this year.

But that didn't stop them from giving Maylor kudos for his hard work.

The vote came after almost an hour of debate. Chair Chris Allen had recommended the committee vote to support Maylor's budget with contingencies and express support for Maylor's work. Member Laurie Burzlaff had reservations about opening up a budget-related vote if they weren't voting on the actual budget, and she didn't want the vote to signify that the committee was voting to approve Maylor's proposed numbers.

And member Andrew McDevitt agreed, saying he didn't feel it was smart to vote to support a budget when there is still a huge gap between theirs and Maylors.

So in the end, the committee did not vote to approve Maylor's budget but did vote to express approval for Maylor's budget preparation.

Voters will get to decide which budget is best at Town Meeting, and the budget can be amended then as well.