10% Budget Increase Proposed for Framingham Schools

Originally Posted on December 2. Updated with information on budget forum.

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Forum will be Monday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. at Fuller Middle School.

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The current budget of the Framingham Public Schools is $115.731 million.

Next year, Framingham Superintendent of Schools Stacy Scott said he wants $128.293 million, a 10.8 percent increase.

Scott made his first presentation of a proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget before the School Committee Tuesday night.

The Town’s CFO has been suggesting a 4 percent increase to the Framingham Schools the past couple of years.

If a 4 percent increase is suggested for FY2017, that would be an estimated $120 million budget.

Scott wants an additional $3.7 million in salaries for the 2016-17 school year.

Salaries fall under the school budget but health insurance for those new salaries would fall under the Town’s budget so the cost of adding any new position to the School District would be even higher than $3.7 million for taxpayers.

The Superintendent has divided the additional staffing into three categories:

• Level 1: Those positions that are so critical we could not open a classroom, etc.
• Level 2: Staff members who are actively involved inside classrooms and have direct interaction with students and teachers
• Level 3: All other positions that have been deemed as vital to either providing a first-class academic program or a safe and nurturing environment (social workers, guidance counselors, etc.) for our students and teachers

• Level 1 requests for Fiscal Year 2017 by Scott total $1.12 million
• Level 2 request total $2.25 million
• Level 3 request total $1.5 million

In addition to adding new position, Scott and Framingham Public Schools Chief Operating Officer Ed Gotgart said the district could be looking an spending an addition $500,000 to $1 million for bus transportation.

The Transportation Department has indicated that the “market rate” for increases in bus contracts that have been bid recently, ranges from a 15 to 35 percent increase for a five-year bus contract, said Scott.

Clearly, even at the low end of this range, our budget would be severely impacted, and at the high end would be virtually unfund-able, said Scott.

The current cost of in-district transportation is about $4.2 million.

A 15 percent increase would be $630,000 while a 35 percent increase would be $1,470,000.

Gotgart is also seeking an alternate bid for used buses in the hopes to keep the increase between 3 percent ($126,000) and 7 percent ($294,000).

The contract will be put out for bid this month.

The district hopes to sign a new 5-year bus contract in January 2016.

The Buildings and Grounds Department is seeking a $450,000 increase which is $330,000 higher than the 3 percent budget guideline for Fiscal Year 2017.

The major factor contributing to this increase is the need to replace two playgrounds in the district; one at the King Elementary and potentially one at the Barbieri Elementary at an average cost of $100,000 and repairs to other playgrounds ($50,000).

Scott said one of his concerns is 32 new out-of-district placements that have been made since the start of the school year at a cost of $1.466 million.

Of these 32 new placements, 20 students were recommended last year between February and June; however, placements were not secured until the start of the 2015-2016 school year.

He said thee were 9 new out-of-district placements for students who are new to Framingham.

Scott said school departments were told to keep FY17 budget request to 3 percent, except for special education (8 percent) and transportation.

However, there were some departments and schools that could not present a reasonable expense budget given enrollment or other pressures within their schools or department, said Scott.

“As a result, the FY17 expense budget request for these departments and schools was $300,000 over guidelines. Included in these requests are funds for new classrooms (King, Hemenway, Barbieri), social and emotional support services and general curriculum and academic supports. There is also a request on the part of Community Resource and Development to expand the out-of-school time programs for the district, particularly at the middle schools,” wrote Scott in a budget memo.

REQUESTS TO ADD NEW SCHOOL STAFF

In meetings with Directors and Principals, 95.98 additional positions were requested for the 2016-17 school year totaling $4.85 million said Scott.

Of those, Scott said 21.5 positions ($1,120,000) are considered Level 1 because they are due to enrollment only issues.

Many of those are partial positions that are needed to support classroom teachers such as interventionists, coaches, counselors, specialists, assistant teachers, department heads, said Scott.

Scott said $86,000 is needed for 3 Mandarin Chinese teachers as we continue to support the Mandarin program at King Elementary, Walsh Middle and Framingham High School.

The remaining just over $1,000,000 in staffing requests is for positions that are directly impacted by increased enrollment primarily at King and Barbieri where there have been significant enrollment increases as well as Brophy, Walsh, Wilson and the High School, said the Framingham Superintendent in a budget memo.

• Grade 5 teacher Brophy $56,000
• Academic Teacher for a Framingham High Newcomers Academy $56,000
• Program Directorfor a Framingham High Newcomers Academy $56,000
• 4 Second Grade teachers at King Elementary at $56,000 each
• Nurse at King Elementary $56,000
• .2 PE Teacher at King Elementary $10,000
• .2 Art teacher at King Elementary $10,000
• .2 Music teacher at King Elementary $10,000
• .5 Social Worker at King Elementary $25,000

• .2 Library/media specialist at King Elementary $10,000
• Registration specialist at the Parent Information Center $45,000
• .2 McKinney-Vento staffer for Parent Information Center $10,000
• 8th Grade ELA Teacher at Walsh Middle $56,000
• 8th Grade Math teacher Walsh $56,000
• 8th Grade Science teacher Walsh $56,000
• Art/Health Walsh $56,000
• .5 Music teacher Walsh $25,000
• Bilingual Social Worker at Wilson Elementary $56,000
• Portuguese Language teacher at Wilson Elementary $56,000
• half-time Assistant Director Health for the district $40,000
• Assistant Director CRD District $65,000
• 3 Mandarin Chinese teachers District $86,000

At Level 2, Scott said $2.2 million in positions have been identified.

“Many of which are enrollment driven but program specific. These include positions at Barbieri, Brophy, Dunning, Fuller, Hemenway, Potter Road, Stapleton, Cameron and the High School. Some of these positions may move from Level 2 to Level 1 as we begin the process of making difficult choices for our schools since the vast majority of these positions are linked to program needs that our students have, i.e., Special Education, ELL teachers, Bilingual teachers, etc,” said Scott in the budget memo.

Level 2 positions include:

• Grade 4 two-way teacher Barbieri $55,000
• Bilingual/Special Ed teacher Barbieri $56,000
• .2 Team Evaluator Coordinator Barbieri $15,000
• .2 Interventionists Barbieri $10,000
• .5 ELL Coach Barbieri $25,000
• .5 Math Interventionists Brophy $20,000
• Reading Interventionist Brophy $56,000
• .5 ELD Coach Brophy $25,000
• .5 Math Interventionist Brophy $20,000
• .5 Behaviorial Interventionist Brophy $25,000
• .5 Math Coach Dunning $25,000
• ELL teacher Dunning $56,000
• ELL teacher Dunning $56,000
• Special Education teacher Dunning & SPED $56,000
• Special Education teacher Dunning $56,000
• Bilingual/Special Ed teacher FHS & SPED $56,000
• .4 Bilingual Social Studies teacher FHS $18,000
• .4 Bilingual Math teacher FHS $20,000
• .4 Bilingual Science Teacher FHS $20,000
• Science Teacher FHS $56,000
• Special Education Science teacher FHS $56,000
• .2 Photo Teacher FHS $10,000
• Social Science Teacher FHS $56,000
• Dance Instructor FHS $50,000
• Computer science teacher FHS $56,000
• Special Education teacher SPED & Fuller $56,000
• Special Education asst teacher SPED & Fuller $30,000
• Special Education aide SPED & Fuller $25,000
• Special Ed reading specialist SPED & Fuller $56,000
• .4 Math Coach Hemenway $20,000
• .6 Math Interventionists Hemenway $30,000
• .6 Reading Interventionist Hemenway $30,000
• .6 Special Education teacher King $45,000
• .5 ESL teacher King $25,000
• .6 Literacy interventionist King $25,000
• .6 Academic coach King $30,000
• .5 Asst Special Education teacher Potter Road$25,000
• .5 Asst Special Education teacher Potter Road $25,000
• Math Coach Potter Road $56,000
• ELD teacher Potter Road $56,000
• Special Ed behaviorist SPED & Potter $56,000
• Math Interventionist Potter Road $56,000
• SPED Teacher Stapleton $56,000
• .5 Technology Education teacher Walsh $25,000
• Bilingual Behavior Specialist Wilson $56,000
• Secretarial position for Bus Transportation $56,000
• ESL Teacher McCarthy $56,000
• ESL Teacher Cameron $56,000
• ESL Teacher High School $56,000
• TBE Elementary Teacher District $56,000
• Sage Teacher Wilson & King $56,000
• 5th Grade Band Instructor Drama $5,000
• half-time Dance Instructor for FHS Drama $20,000
• 1 ELD Teacher Fuller $56,000
• .5 Reading Interventionist Fuller $25,000
• 1 STEAM Coach Fuller $56,000

Framingham Public School District has a handful of Level 3, or low-performing schools as categorized by the Commonwealth. They are Brophy Elementary, Barbieri Elementary, McCarthy Elementary, Wilson Elementary and Fuller Middle School.

Of the level 1 & 2 requests, there is only one new position for McCarthy Elementary - an English Language Learner (ELL) position and Fuller only has 2.5 positions to be possibly added, including a STEAM (Science Technology Engineering, Arts and Math Coach.

The high school which is a level 1 school is looking to add several positions, including 2 positions for a Newcomers Academy, a science teacher, a social studies teacher, 3 part-time bilingual teachers, a computer science teacher and a full time and part-time dance instructors.

The Framingham School Committee will hold a joint meeting with Framingham Selectmen later this month to discuss budget, a possibility of purchasing land for a new school, and other priorities.

The Framingham School Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed FY17 budget in 2016.

Town Meeting will have the final say on the budget in May 2016.