by Frank Schroth

On December 11th the School Committee voted unanimously to approve a $41,094,500 budget for FY16. The budget was reviewed and discussed at length at a previous session (see related story here.). The budget is large and complicated but essentially there are 3 key factors.

First, the committee approved a ~$500K amount to continue their advancement initiative to focus attention of closing the proficiency gap between white and African-American students, early literacy, and STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and math program). Second, there are mandated costs such as transportation, special education, and utilities etc, and third, there are salaries. SPED and instruction are ~$31 million of budget.

During discussion prior of vote, it was noted that one additional head count was added to the budget that had been presented on 12/3. A part-time director of pre-school was added at $30K. The position will be located at Cunningham but service all schools. The need for the position had been flagged by Committee member Becky Padera at the 12/3 session.

The Warrant Committee has been asking town departments for a level service budget, a level dollar budget, and a budget with a 2% cut. The school budget is one that the school committee beleives meets current needs and “will move the district forward.” Chair Leroy Walker said that the school committee would be meeting with the Warrant Committee on December 18th. There may be a gap between what the Warrant Committee sets as a funding level and what school committee has requested. Should cuts be necessary, the cuts required to meet reset funding will be discussed by the school committee at a meeting on January 7th.

 

 

The FY16 budget is not yet online. Past budget can be found here. Separately presentations made by school leadership teams and departments can be found here.