Town working together to pay for school budget
Published on February 21st, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - Town officials are struggling together to pay for a good education for the children of Stoneham.
The struggle is what is most visible as citizens argue over what to keep and cut and how to pay. But the cooperation among local boards is the key to finding a solution beneficial to all, according to Town Administrator Jeff Nutting and Superintendent of Schools Joe Connelly.
Looking at what has been done so far may help citizens understand the process and develop ideas of their own. Working together as a community may be the only way out of the fiscal 2002 budget crunch.
Fixed costs in insurance, utilities, mandated state education requirements and contracted salaries have put the schools in a tough position this year. Over the past four years clever strategies, such as diverting a special education surplus and renting the North School, have kept the budget growing steadily between five and six percent a year.
But last week Connelly told townspeople that the School Department has emptied its bag of tricks.
“The rabbits are all gone,” he said, defending the 9.1 percent increase in his 2002 budget.
Draft one of the fiscal year 2002 School Department budget, prepared in January, was $20,683,454 — $1,793,143 short before accounting for the annual share of additional town revenue going to the schools.
Town Administrator Jeff Nutting originally decided to split the revenue 50-50 between the municipal departments and the schools because the budgets are about equal, each around $20 million. Each side would get $800,000 (this was 4.2 percent of the fiscal 2001 school budget). The school budget gap stood at $1,193,143.
Then in the second draft of the school budget, prepared in February, the School Department proposed to cut $290,584, to bring the budget to $20,392,870 and the gap to $892,870.
The following things made the budget reduction possible:
1. Twelve teachers have decided to retire; they will be replaced with teachers at lower salaries. This saves $200,000.
2. Health insurance costs estimated to rise 22 percent only rose 18.3 percent, saving the schools $44,947.
3. By shifting some occupational and physical therapy services from outside contracts to in-house employees, the schools saved $10,000.
4. An extra special education teacher originally budgeted will not be hired; two small classes will be combined, at a savings of $35,647.
(5. Considered but not done yet.) Hours may not be added as had been planned for fine arts and guidance program directors, at a savings of around $48,000.
Then at the Feb. 13 Selectmen’s meeting, Nutting announced that he had reevaluated his split of town revenue. For the past four years the school has received a share of town revenue equal to an average of 5.9 percent of the school budget. So instead of the 4.2 percent originally budgeted, Nutting said that the schools will again get a share equal to 5.9 percent of the previous year’s budget. This amount is around $300,000 more than what the schools were expecting when calculating the draft two budget.
“On top of everything else, I decided it wouldn’t be fair to reduce the percent [of the school budget funded by town revenue],” Nutting said.
So the municipal side will get a few hundred thousand less, but the school budget gap closes to $592,870.
At the Feb. 13 meeting of the Selectmen, Finance Board and School Committee Chair-woman Jeanne Craigie said that the schools could not afford any more cuts.
“We look to your leadership with our leadership and hope the citizens stand behind us,” Craigie said.
Further potential cuts would affect fine arts programs, MCAS student preparation, use of the East School and the future of the Colonial Park School.
Connelly said that the Stoneham schools will need 58 teachers in 2003 when all four new schools in the elementary school building project are operating. If Stoneham cuts seven teachers this year, the system will be down to 48 teachers next year.
“We will have a shortfall of 10 teachers and a school in Colonial Park with 12 classrooms,” Connelly said. “That school would be in jeopardy.”
No formal plans have been announced about the East School, but it’s beginning to look like a rabbit (see paragraph 6).
The final budget will be approved by the voters at the May Town Meeting, but a lot of thought and discussion will be necessary to get to that point. Citizens can join the debate at upcoming meetings and read a three-part series on the school budget prepared by the Finance Committee, beginning inside this week’s Independent.
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