Barbarisi proposes more School Dept. cuts
Published on May 6th, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - School administration has been targeted as an area which the School Committee and School Department should look at closely when considering $1.4 million in budget cuts for the 1998-99 school year.
At last week's School Committee meeting, acting Superintendent Robert Barbarisi detailed how the committee might cut an additional $215,000 from its budget in order to conform with the Town Meeting appropriation of $16.7 million for the School Department budget. In that list, assistant principal positions at the Central, Middle and High schools were all cited as areas which may have to be cut as a result of the significant increase in state mandates and step and track increases.
This information was widely opposed by committee members and parents who were in attendance at the meeting.
"I came here tonight ready to speak out against approximately $170,000 of these cuts," committee member Jeanne Craigie said. "I really find it unpalatable to look at dropping an assistant principal at the Central School and the Middle School and .6 at the High School."
Craigie explained that to make such cuts would likely make those schools "less than safe"
"I think that's a dangerous situation," she told Barbarisi. "I would ask that when you're looking at these, you keep that in mind."
Parents felt just as strongly about the proposed cuts.
"That just doesn't make any sense," one resident said. "I agree with what (Craigie) said. There has to be something else (that could be cut)."
According to Barbarisi and School Committee members, the areas where programs are over funded simply don't exist.
One area which will be given serious consideration is the Middle School where a team approach to education may have to be abandoned. The school, explained Craigie, could revert back to a junior high school approach to education instead of the more costly middle school approach.
"I don't like that, but I think looking at the teaching models might be the way to go," she said.
Another cut which was proposed at last week's meeting was all busing for students which are not mandated by the state. This would likely cut the busing population down to less than 12 students, Barbarisi explained, and would save the School Department $75,000.
The $215,000 in cuts proposed by Barbarisi comes in addition to the $496,774 which was proposed on April 14.
The committee's original budget proposal for Fiscal Year 1999 was $18,095,000. That figure was reduced to $16,700,000 by the Finance & Advisory Board and the Board of Selectmen after two tri-sessions of budget discussion and was approved by Town Meeting voters on Monday.
Barbarisi said it is of the utmost importance that the School Department conform with the budget number.
"The cuts need to come from some place," he told the committee. "We need to come in on budget."
Committee Chairman Stephen Gucciardi agreed, saying, "Once the Town Meeting has gone by, we have to sharpen our pencils to find out where we're going to make up this money."
Craigie said that the problems the School Department has been encountering is a result of legislation which was recently passed by the state in the form of education reform bills and special education responsibilities.
"The citizens have to decide (what will be done) at some point," she told the crowd. "We need to call the legislators... Do we want to be in the minimum funding level, in the middle or to be above the funding level?"
Craigie also questioned the way in which Massachusetts decides upon town funding. The real estate tax base, she explained, hurts Stoneham because there is a lack of big business.
Barbarisi told the committee that, over the next two weeks, he would meet with administrators from all the town's schools and try to arrive at a more exact estimate at where the cuts should be made.
He will present his findings at the May 14 meeting. The committee may decide on the final cuts that same night.
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