Belmont Education Under Threat by Sequester

Is a potential cut in federal spending to local education of a mere six percent really going to effect the education of Belmont students?

Belmont Superintendent Dr. Thomas Kingston will tell those who ask, that, "Indeed, it does."

As the deadlock between President Obama and Republicans in the House of Representatives appears likely to continue pass the Friday, March 1, deadline for the federal budget to make the automatic spending cuts under sequestration both sides eagerly agreed to in 2011, officials in school districts across the country are being told that annual federal grants will be hit by the coming sequester which could last until summer if not longer.

"The political logjam in Washington has direct, local consequences," wrote Kingston in his Superintendent's blog available on the school district's web site.

"Approximately $6 million of the school department’s budget comes from sources other than the general fund. Most of those sources are the various “entitlement” grants. A cut in real dollars of an additional $350,000 is certainly meaningful," said 

And while the reduction in grants won't happen until the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1, the Office of the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education are advising districts to take a conservative approach in estimating federal grant revenues while creating their 2014 budgets.

For Kingston, who last month called the current outlook for Belmont education in fiscal '14 as "dire" under an available revenue budget plan, the though of an additional six percent cut in funding is all to easy to comprehend. 

"To cut an additional 6 percent or 7 percent from federal grants in a budget that already represents essentially a $500,000 cut in services is painful and difficult, especially for the various populations served by federal grants: students of special needs, students on free or reduced lunch, students whose primary language is other than English, and – in truth – all students because all benefit from the federal lunch program and the array of district-wide services supported by the federal entitlement programs."

While the school district is a direct partner with the federal government in grants, Belmont town government does receive some monies from Washington with the state serving as a conduit to the funds.

"The federal government funds programs through the state so I don't want to speculate what could be effected because we really don't know," said Belmont Town Administrator David Kale. 

Hypothetically, Kale said a reducing or cut in spending could effect the future number of public safety hires. 

"We are waiting for word on a SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant that would fund the hiring of two additional (firefighters). Now I don't know that if the sequester does happen what will happen to that federal grant, if it's as large as it could be or if it will be there at all," said Kale.

If the town does miss out on this current SAFER funding cycle, it could likely result in the Belmont Fire Department missing a deadline to send new hires to the state's fire academy, delaying even further when the new personnel could begin working in Belmont. 

In addition, if the state receives less transportation funding, there could be less fund that will filter down to cities and towns, said Kale.