Germain

"there was an attitude..or a paradigm from older Council members that have gone through the budget process numerous times...'we give the schools enough money'...one of those deals..it become entrenched in our heads...at same time, School Committee would be saying 'You're not giving enough; we need more.' Not trying to spot any department or any person on this...having an independent person come in..if we are giving enough money, why do we keep hearing from teachers in the classrooms that there isn't enough money?  I'm for children, I'm for schools, I'm for teachers...going forward, we need to set a base, a benchmark, that says we need to give more or we don't need to give more...are we doing the right thing with the money we're giving them?..we're talking about trying to take care of the kids and the teachers in the classroom...all about the teachers and all about the kids...a new base and a new benchmark...

...personal wish to have it referred to the Manager...there are companies that do it...also if the Mayor would like, maybe set up a committee that sets up that looks at this audit and audit firm...maybe a Councilor, a School Committee member, a member of each administrator...setting a new benchmark..