Updated – 01.28.10: 08.44 – The administration has released the following documents:

• Superintendent Gormely’s letter to the School Committee re: FY11 budget
• FY10 to FY11 Budget History
• FY11 Budget Reductions

While hopeful of receiving a service level budget, the school administration is operating on the assumption that they would likely receive level funding for FY11. Level funding will require cuts. In anticipation of that, Superintendent Gormley along with Matt Gilles, School Business Administrator, reviewed for the School Committee the staff cuts that would be required to meet that budget number, $32, 976,000.

To preserve service levels, the administration has requested an FY11 Budget proposal of $35,533,107. As Gormley notes in her letter:

The FY11 Budget reflects moving all of our current staff forward into the next school year and adding four classroom teachers based on the following priorities:

• NESDEC and in-house enrollment projections that reflect increased student enrollment
• 2009 Adequate Yearly Progress Status of Schools and Sub Groups:

o Milton High School – African American/Black Subgroup in English and Math
o Pierce Middle School – Special Education Subgroup in English and Math
o Tucker – Aggregate in Math and Low Income and African American/Black Subgroups in Math
o Glover – Aggregate in English and Special Education Subgroup in English and Math
o Collicot – Aggregate in English and Special Education Subgroup in English and Math
o Cunningham – Aggregate and Subgroups all Achieved AYP in English and Math

However, it is unlikely that this request will be granted. Assuming the more conservative figure, Ms. Gormley prefaced her review by stating that the goal was to keep teachers in the classroom. The cuts reflect this. The vast majority of positions eliminated are system wide positions and / or administrative.  The high school will lose a director of guidance and 1 teacher in the family and consumer studies department. Pierce will lose 1 classroom teacher and 1 assistant principal. The elementary schools will lose 1 language based teacher, 2 French immersion teachers, and 1 kindergarten teacher. Gormley noted that some of these cuts made due to projected enrollments decreasing.

System wide cuts include 1 custodian and 5 classroom aides, which they believe can be done without violating any IEPs. 4.5 lunch aides will be rolled over to revolving account. They will not be cut but financed differently.

Note, this is not a complete list of all reductions. The list will be posted on the school web site at some point later today (1/27) according to Superintendent Gormley. Gormley also emphasized that despite goal of keeping teachers in front of students, cutting a total of 24.4 FTE heads from the system would “have a profound negative impact.”

The level of cuts was not quite as severe as it might have been due to rolling forward stimulus funds. However, it was noted that these were one time funds and the impact of losing those funds will likely be felt in FY12.

Committee member Mary Kelly, also a member of the finance subcommittee, noted that the process was made all the challenging due to the impact of last year’s budget which also had required a reduction in head count and the lack of AYP progress at 4 schools.

The financial picture going forward remains less than clear, particularly with regard to the level of state aid. The school committee will be submitting these cuts and background documentation to the Warrant Committee shortly. There will be a public hearing held on March 16th during which residents can provide input and feedback on the budget proposal.

Mr. Pavlicek noted, “None of this is written in stone but it is a good approximation of what we are going to have. It will all become real sometime in May (ie at Town Meeting).

Other highlights from the meeting included but were not limited to:

• A presentation from the Milton High School Site Council regarding their improvement plans. Dr. Drottar, principal of Milton High was joined by parent Rachel Shanor and student, Jay Rosenberg. Notable among the steps to be taken was Rosenberg’s description of expanding the student aide program. Currently juniors and seniors can assist in science labs assuming they qualify. This enables teachers to spend more time in front of the class rather than running to pick up handouts etc. It also helps in attending to students who need assistance or support. The intent is to expand the program to have qualified students assist teachers in classes other than science and math. These students would work under the direction of a specific teacher. Science assistants work under the direction of the department chairs.
• Ms. Gormley flagged a couple of important upcoming dates. These include Kindergarten information night to be held at the Winchester auditorium at MHS at 7:00 on January 28th and a Grade 1 information night to be held at the same place on February 4th also at 7:00. This session is very important for families to attend as it will assist in determining whether or not French Immersion might be a good fit for their child. Lastly, the Milton Boosters will be hosting a comedy night at the Hoosic Club on February 12th.