School Comm. Presents draft II of ‘09 budget
Published on April 16th, 2008
STONEHAM, MA - The School Committee has a new look. On the heels of the town election on April 1, two new faces grace the committee along with a newly appointed Chairman.
Long time School Committee member Marie Christie has graciously accepted to once again act as chair of the Stoneham School Committee. Marc Grimaldi has made a return appearance as a School Committee member after taking a few years off, and Forest Street resident Dave Maurer began his new tenure on the committee last Thursday, and just in time to sink their teeth into the fiscal 2009 school budget.
School Superintendent Dr. Les Olson presented draft II of next year's budget to the public last week calling for a total of $24,869742 to level fund the schools. The 5.2 percent increases over the current year reflects increases in enrollment driven needs as well as other unavoidable increased expenses such as utilities and special education.
“When you look at projected actual to budgeted comparisons, it is a relatively smooth and even budget without a whole lot going on,” Olson said.
One difference over the current year is that utilities and special education in draft II of the FY09 budget are fully funded based on the understanding of what is required at this time. In previous years, this was not the case, as those areas tended to underfunded in order to allocate the money in other needy areas.
“We knew we were at risk to be underfunded in those areas and indeed we were underfunded in those areas this year.”
Olson pointed out that the FY09 budget faces dual restraints in the form of a loss of a trash fee and lack of the salary surplus that funded a portion of the FY08 budget due to the resignations of about 50 veteran staff members.
“Without that (surplus) money, we would have faced the reductions in last year's budget that we're now facing in next year's budget.”
This draft II budget is down $840,000 from Olson's original draft I budget as directed by the town. The budget decrease includes cuts of another 5.3 staff members, elimination of all capital projects next year, a 10 percent cut in school supplies budget, and cut backs in professional development, instructional software, and building maintenance.
As bad as that is, Olson advised that the cuts may go deeper as the Selectmen adopted a town budget on Tuesday that calls for an additional $488,000 in school department reductions. That translates to 2 to 14 additional staff cuts and/or slashes to the athletic program.
“I'm not recommending we try to resolve this issue tonight,” Olson said, clarifying that the $24.8 million budget presented as draft II does not include the $488,000 reduction.
Stoneham has applied for, but has not heard back about, additional circuit breaker funds that the state has provided to qualifying districts. Traditionally, such funds are to be used in the current year to offset overruns, but Olson pointed out that it looks as though the current budget should yield have a zero balance at year end and any circuit breaker money could then be applied to FY09 to help offset the $488,000 reduction that the Selectmen called for.
“We know we qualify for something,” Olson said regarding the additional circuit breaker money. “How much and when, the state has not said yet.”
The draft II figure breaks down to $17,434,198 in salaries and $7,435,544 in expenses, totaling $24,869,742.
Business Manager Anthony DeColagero detailed FY2008 year end year projections for the committee which look good. Despite a projected deficit in expenses of $290,000, in part due to the $1 more per gallon price of oil this year over last year, the salary surplus from last summers staff resignations looks as though it can cover the deficit.
“In total, it looks as though we're on track to stay within budget through the rest of the year.”
In other news, the School Committee voted unanimously to opt out of the School Choice program this year, as it has in past years. Also a revision in the sexual harassment policy is to be researched in order to come up with one that more accurately addresses the issue in an academic setting. The School Committee unanimously voted in favor of a program that seeks to install automatic external defibrilators in school buildings, a project spearheaded by Stoneham Eagle Scout candidate Chris Gardner with the help of the School Building Committee.
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