School Department releases enrollment figures for FY2006
Published on October 12th, 2005
Step one in the fiscal year 2006 budget process has officially begun as the School Department released enrollment figures on October 1.
The information will be passed on to budget holders who will assess their needs for staff and materials for FY2006 based on those numbers.
School Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly advised the School Committee on Thursday that enrollment is off only slightly from what was projected based on historical data that the Stoneham system typically relies on.
"It's not a community that has dramatic changes," Connelly advised. "You assume what has happened in the past will continue to happen in the future."
Based on the Cohort Survival method, elementary enrollment stands at 1,279, down 23 students from last year. A significant increase in the number of students moving into grade 1 from Kindergarten is a trend that the system expects each year due to students entering grade 1 from both private and public Kindergarten programs. Yet that did not happen this year, and Connelly believes that with a full day Kindergarten program in place, along with the half time program, the system is meeting the needs of more families which has helped to stabilize that jump.
"We now believe enrollment in our full day program has moderated that large increase in grade 1."
At the Middle School level, enrollment is down about 4 percent largely due to the migration of about 15 sixth and seventh graders. Staffing levels and class sizes are expected to remain as is for next year.
The numbers are up Stoneham High School this year compared to last and next year the school will be assessed for reaccreditation. Additional staff will be needed, Connelly said, to meet these needs as well as to remain in compliance with state and federal time-on-learning mandates.
"We feel to adequately staff the high school, we will need at least three full time teachers."
According to SHS principal Tom Ryan, 53 sections currently have class sizes in excess of 30 students. Both the state education department and the Accreditation Board are expected to look closely at class size in the reaccreditation process.
How to handle this and other budget difficulties is expected to test once again the creativity and patience of budget holders, as significant budget deficits are expected to continue town-wide for FY2006, according to Stoneham Town Administrator Ron Florino. The school system has endured staff cuts for the past three years and where to go next to bridge the next potential budget gap is anyone's guess.
"As we get into these difficult times with the budget, we don't have staffing areas that would help us absorb budget difficulties.We're as low as we can afford to be," Connelly said. And as bad as the past couple of years have been fiscally in Stoneham, he added "we may in fact be in a worse position this time next year."
Coolidge Avenue resident and Chapter 70 co-chair Marisa Raczkowski argued that where the high school has reaccredictation issues to address and the elementary schools consider class size a crucial element in elementary education, it the Middle School that seems to assume disproportionately large staff and program cuts.
"We're at the point where we've had standing room only now in some classes.The Middle School continues to lose annually."
School Committee member Marc Grimaldi sympathized with a fiscal situation that has the educational system here in Stoneham teetering.
"I know how hard people are working. I know how expensive it is to live in this town.and I know why people come here and stay here.For what you pay and how hard you work, not only do you deserve the best possible education, you deserve better." He added that the School Committee recognizes this is and committed to working toward giving the town an education system that it deserves.
"The real solution is more revenue. We've certainly all done a fine job balancing our budgets and stretching our resources as far as they can go," Connelly said. "We need more revenue to meet the growing demands of today's society."
The immediate future was on the minds of some administrators as year-end budget projections are colored red due to recent price increases, particularly in heating fuel. Prices have skyrocketed all over town due to Hurricane Katrina and, unless Stoneham is blessed with a balmy winter, the school system expects it will have to allocate more money to this line item than it can bear without significant cuts elsewhere.
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