This opinion piece is written in response to The Enterprise of Brockton article by Chris Helms, “Proposal: Brockton CFO would gain power to approve school department contracts.” As a candidate for the Brockton School Committee in Ward 1, I believe the question at hand is bigger than who holds the pen on contracts—it’s about whether Brockton families can trust their government to act with accountability, efficiency, and respect for taxpayers. These are my views, grounded in a belief in limited government, transparency, and putting kids before bureaucracy. The Article can be read in full here
Why giving the CFO a veto over school contracts is the wrong fix
Brockton is about to debate whether the city’s Chief Financial Officer should have the final say over school contracts longer than a year. I get the impulse: we’ve had deficits, finger-pointing, and a lot of “not my fault” from the usual suspects. But handing an unelected administrator a standing veto over agreements negotiated by the elected School Committee isn’t fiscal discipline—it’s bureaucracy dressed up as reform.
We don’t need another choke point. We need clarity, speed, and accountability.
The limited-government case (and the common-sense one)
1) Decisions should be made by the people you can fire.
Limited government means keeping power closest to voters. The School Committee negotiates education policy and contracts; the City Council and Mayor control appropriations; the CFO’s job is to analyze and warn—not to govern. If the CFO gets a hard veto, you’ve just outsourced elected responsibility to a spreadsheet. When everyone shares power, no one is accountable. Keep the line of sight clear so voters know exactly who to hold responsible.
2) A new veto doesn’t fix waste—it slows solutions.
Adding one more “Mother, may I?” step guarantees delays, missed grant windows, and cost escalations when vendors and unions wait out City Hall. The costs don’t go away; they just get more expensive while the paperwork piles up. That’s not prudence. That’s paralysis.
3) It undermines good-faith bargaining.
If the School Committee negotiates a contract (say, for school police, paras, or teachers) and the CFO can torpedo it at the end, you’ve just blown up good-faith talks. Recruitment and retention get harder. Morale takes a hit. And Brockton falls further behind while neighboring districts poach the talent we need.
4) It distracts from the real issue—transparency.
The recurring fight in Brockton isn’t just “who has the gavel”—it’s who shows their math. Residents don’t get timely, useful visibility into where the money goes, how multi-year obligations stack up, and what tradeoffs they force. You don’t fix that with a gatekeeper. You fix it with sunlight.
What to do instead (serious guardrails, zero red tape)
If you want fiscal discipline without handcuffing elected leadership, here’s the playbook:
A. Require a public “Affordability Note” for every multi-year deal.
Make the CFO issue a public, plain-English fiscal impact statement within a fixed window (e.g., 10 business days). It must show the total cost over the term, funding sources, projected revenue growth, and risks to other services. No pocket veto; miss the deadline and the deal moves forward for an up-or-down vote by the electeds.
B. Set smart thresholds, not blanket vetoes.
Trigger the Affordability Note only for contracts over a dollar amount (e.g., $250k in total obligation) or longer than 3 years. Don’t bog down routine operations; focus on the big-ticket items that actually move the needle.
C. Publish before you vote.
Post the full contract summary and the CFO’s Affordability Note online at least 7 days before any vote. Let taxpayers and staff see it, not just insiders.
D. Tie growth to reality.
Adopt a policy target that recurring compensation growth aligns with recurring revenue growth and inflation over the term—unless overridden by a supermajority in a public vote. That’s discipline you can explain at a kitchen table.
E. Protect the classroom.
Hard-code a rule that no multi-year agreement can be approved if it crowds out core instructional staffing or student safety. Say it. Measure it. Enforce it.
F. Independent annual audit of multi-year obligations.
Bring in a third-party auditor each year to publish a simple roll-forward of Brockton’s total multi-year commitments—what we added, what we paid down, and what’s unfunded. Put it on one page residents can actually read.
G. Build the Real-Time Financial Dashboard.
This is the backbone. Taxpayers should be able to see every active contract, its term, total cost, funding source, and year-over-year impact. If we can track a package on our phones, we can track public dollars. That’s how you earn trust without adding a single ounce of red tape.
H. Sunset any new rule.
If the Council insists on changing process, add a 3-year sunset. Force a public re-vote based on actual results, not wishful thinking. If it works, renew it. If it jams the gears, kill it.
About that “too generous” school police contract…
Some argue the recent school police raises were “too high.” Here’s the reality: safety is non-negotiable, and Brockton has struggled to staff and retain officers. If you want competent people protecting our kids, you have to be competitive—or you’ll pay another way when incidents spike, talent leaves, and the district bleeds enrollment. Fiscal prudence matters; so does mission success. The right check is public affordability analysis, not an administrative veto that blows up negotiations after the fact.
What voters deserve (and what limited government looks like)
- One throat to choke. You should know who approved what, and why.
- Fast, public information. Costs, terms, risks—posted before votes, not after.
- Lean process. Few steps, hard deadlines, no bottlenecks.
- Elected accountability. If a deal is bad, you throw the bums out. You can’t do that to an appointed CFO.
Limited government isn’t “do nothing.” It’s do the right things, clearly and quickly, with the power kept in the hands of people you can replace at the ballot box.
The bottom line
Brockton doesn’t need another layer of bureaucracy to feel “responsible.” We need transparent math, hard timelines, smart thresholds, and elected officials who will own their votes. Give residents the facts up front. Let the CFO advise in public, not veto in private. Then make the School Committee, City Council, and Mayor stand and be counted.
That’s how you protect taxpayers and keep the wheels of progress moving.
Show up, speak up, and demand a process that is tough on numbers, light on red tape, and heavy on accountability—the way limited government is supposed to work.
0 Comments