Hearing on Framingham Schools Proposed $125 Million Budget Tonight

In December, Framingham Superintendent of Schools proposed a 10 percent increase in his current $115.7 million budget for the 2016-17 school year. He said the district needs $128 million.

Since then, Scott has lowered his budget request to $125.3 million for the next school year.

Tonight, the Framingham School Committee will hold a budget hearing at 7:15 in the basement of King Elementary on the proposed request. The public is invited.

The Town of Framingham, including the CFO, is proposing a $120.5 million school budget for next year. Town Meeting will have the final vote this spring.

Last year, Scott proposed a $6.6 million increase from the 2014-15 school budget of $109 million to $116 million in the 2015-16 school year. The Town and the CFO proposed a $114.9 budget, but eventually the two compromised on a $115.7 million budget.

The cost for current salaries in the district rise from $83.2 million to $86.5 million, due to cost of living increases, and union steps and lanes upgrades.

Scott said the district has identified $4.4 million of needs for the district and prioritized them as level 1, level 2, and level 3 priorities.

• Level 1: Positions so critical the District says it could not open a classroom, etc.
• Level 2: Requests for staff members who are actively involved inside classrooms and have direct interaction with students and teachers
• Level 3: Requests for positions 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

Scott says the level 1 request total $1.458 million. In December 2015, the level 1 requests totalled $1.12 million.

The current level 2 requests proposed by Scott total $1.743 million. In December, that number was $2.25 million.

The current level 3 requests proposed by Scott total $1.22 million, down from $1.5 million in December.

Editor's Note: The updated budget details are not on the Framingham.k12.ma.us website as of March 7. The numbers and facts below are based on the last budget presentation by Scott in December 2015.

REQUESTS TO ADD NEW SCHOOL STAFF

In meetings with Directors (special education, bilingual, etc) and Principals, more than 90 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.