School Committee mull over final FY05 cut list
Published on June 23rd, 2004
STONEHAM, MA - With all votes now counted, the School Committee made official the cuts it has been predicting all spring would necessitate a balanced budget without an additional $2.9 million from taxpayers.
Last week, 52 percent of the town's registered voters turned out to respond to a proposition 2 1/2 override question with nearly 70 percent of those rejecting the proposal.
Town Meeting passed an unbalanced FY05 budget last month totaling $22,391,284 or 1.8 percent increase over the current year, with the balancing act contingent on the outcome of the override question.
On Thursday, School Committee member Marc Grimaldi read the long list of reductions which totals $1,450,000, bringing the FY05 school budget to $20,941,284, a 4.72 percent decrease from this year.
By unanimous vote, the School Committee slashed 9 elementary teaching positions, 8 elementary specialist positions, 4 elementary technology aid positions, 4 elementary paraprofessional positions, 9.1 Middle School and 7 high school teaching positions, one program supervisor, 2 school custodians, and a Middle School Assistant Principal. Thirteen high school extracurricular and 23 high school coaching stipends were also cut.
Other costs and savings were also reviewed including one $15,000 tuition payment for a Stoneham student to attend Minuteman Vocational School next year. Stoneham fought and lost a battle to require the student to attend Northeast Vocational School, the vocational school in which Stoneham is a member district.
In addition, the School Committee discussed the viability of continuing to offer a student transportation fee program. New, higher rates for commuting to and from school by bus next year have been sent to parents, and thus far only a small number of riders have enrolled in the program. But budget woes or not, Stoneham is still required by law to provide bus transportation to students living over two miles from school, and this may be accomplished with the use of an existing school vehicle and the hiring of a retired community member as driver.
According to School Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly, another cost to consider for next year's budget is legal fees. Connelly said that due to the large number of layoffs being made, it is likely that challenges to contracts and other legal issues will necessitate litigation. He recommended that the School Committee build in $7,000 to the budget to cover such.
One unexpected plus is the $175,000 prepayment Stoneham will make to the Seem Collaborative for special education in FY05 out of FY04 funds. This is made possible by unanticipated state circuit breaker funds to Stoneham which the town received regularly at one time, but was expected to have dried up along with other state revenue more recently.
While the business of making the cuts was grim, Dean Street resident Wendy Warren questioned the committee as to why it had not remarked on the devastating effects these cuts would have on the school system next year.
"To have to cut $1.45 million and not say how stunningly devastating (this is) for us as parents and (for) what's happening to your entire system, I couldn't just sit here and not make some comment about it."
"We're as devastated as everybody else," replied Grimaldi. "I'm not sure it was even necessary to say it. We've probably said it so many times, people are sick of hearing it. The people spoke and we have an obligation to present a balanced budget. It's not that it's business as usual; these are the least harmful cuts that we have painstakingly gone through. To say that we think it's devastating is an understatement."
In response to another audience member's question regarding whether the cuts voted on were the same as those presented to the public previously, Connelly explained that the positions were in fact the same but because of moving staff around due to seniority and other contractual obligations, in some cases the actual salaries cut were two times removed from the eliminated position.
Connelly also stressed that the cuts approved were considered the least harmful of very harmful reductions.
"The School Committee's credibility was really at stake here. We didn't want to go meetings and public forums and tell the community what would happen if the budget was not supported, and then do something else...We have programs that we're very proud of, staff that were very, very proud of that won't be here next year, but we do have an obligation to respect the town's vote and to balance the budget and that's what the School Committee is trying to do tonight."
If nothing else, said Committee Chairman Cheryl Walsh, the School Committee will work with the community and get through these tough times.
"We'll get through this and we'll do the best for our children."
"We'll work hard...to ensure that education remains at its highest quality despite these cuts and we'll work tirelessly to make sure the children of Stoneham get the best education possible and go on to become excellent citizens and highly educated adults," said Grimaldi.
"You can be sure of that...That's what our job is and we'll continue to do it," Grimaldi added.
While audience members wanted more -- without crucial programs such as art, music and gym what will my child's school day look like? Is there a chance that the state could come through with additional funds during the summer? what about the redistricting plan the committee proposed previously? -- Walsh stressed that the committee needs to continue working on these issues with the superintendent and principals before it can comment further and will post meeting agendas on the school cable channel for its summer schedule.
"We all want to know. We need to discuss this at another meeting. We're not ready yet. We have to restructure the schools first."
"We are very understanding that all these issues are very urgent," said committee member David Sheils. But the committee must first figure things out before making further comments and decisions. "It's very complicated."
Connelly reminded the pubic that his office is open during the summer and parents are welcome to direct their questions there.
"Many school employees' lives have been affected by the cuts and it will take more than a few days to resolve all this", he said. "We're all going to do the best we can...We certainly want to give you direction in fairness to the children as quickly as we can."
One action taken to be fair to students was a reallocation of funds to support a third section of grade 3 in Central School for next year.
This class was originally on the chopping block until Central School Principal Kathleen Windisch advised of a change in expected enrollment, up from a total of 65 students to 74.
That third section will now not be cut, since with the higher enrollments would have yielded two classes of 37 each, a figure Connelly called unacceptable.
Maintaining this third section of Grade 3 will be done in lieu of hiring a master teacher to help coordinate the elementary curriculum (a full time job since 2001 when Marie Funk was hired as Director of Elementary Curriculum but has since been cut).
The School Committee's next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 1 at 7 p.m.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!