Town Meeting Approved $111 Million Operating Budget

Town Meeting members voted Monday night to approve a $111,150,019 FY14 operating budget after some debate.

The budget represents a 4.39 percent tax levy increase over last year.

Most of the line items were approved without discussion, but the school department's proposed budget of $50,696,390 did come under some scrutiny. The proposed FY14 school department budget represented a 4.5 percent increase over FY13.

One town meeting member asked Superintendent Eric Conti to explain "unsettled salaries" in the back-up material.

Conti explained that was due to ongoing contract negotiations.

"The school district has seven unions and all contracts are up," he said. "Part of the budget process is that the school committee needs to create a budget and predict how contract settlements are going to go."

He said that the teacher's union, the largest salary group, had come to an agreement with the district for the following year.

"We still have to reach agreement with the six other union but historically once teachers settle the others fall in line," he said.

There were also questions on new positions in the school department. Conti said in total the district is looking to fill 7.6 new positions. Those include three tutors, one high school physical education teacher, a split music teacher position for elementary and the middle school and two special education teachers. There is also a proposed part time (.6 of a position) for a choral position at the high school.

Conti said the school adds staff to specific programs based on student enrollment.

"Our enrollment is generally steady," he said. "Program enrollment tends to drive staffing numbers."

Another topic of question was the High School's 1:1 iPad program, which had a line item of $300,000. One Town Meeting member asked what they did with the iPads left behind by graduating seniors. 

Conti said the seniors are given the option to buy out the iPad lease from the school department. This year he said about half the student opted to make that purchase and the devices returned will be used for educational purposes in other schools in the district.

Finally, Conti was asked about the school district's MCAS scores, which have been lower than some surrounding communities.

"I would argue that based on our current MCAS scores we are not meeting the goal of delivering a world class operation," Town Meeting member Paul Valleli, Precinct 3.

Another member asked if the schools "taught to the test" as other districts have reportedly done.

Conti said that he would like to see the MCAS scores improve, but argued they are not a good way to compare schools to each other. He said the test is meant to compare student achievements on the test to state standards and in the future he argued the way test scores will be evaluated will be based on student growth rather than just the final scores. He also said Burlington schools don't teach to the test.

"MCAS scores are an interesting and long conversation," he said. "Our goal is to always have them approve. If ask me if I’m satisfied with our scores I’d say ‘no.’ We as a school don’t spend a lot of time and test preparation. If we teach well the scores will follow."

The next stage of the annual May Town Meeting will begin tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Burlington High School auditorium.