Superintendent to Host Budget Forum on Monday

FRAMINGHAM, MA - Framingham Superintendent of Schools Stacy Scott will hold a budget forum for parents on Monday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. at Fuller Middle School.

The current 2015-16 school year budget for the Framingham Public Schools is $115.731 million.

Scott said he wants $128.293 million, a 10.8 percent increase, for the next school year to School Committee members last week.

Like kids make a wish list for Santa, Scott was presenting his wish list for the schools.

Town Meeting will have the final say and will approve a 2016-17 school budget figure in May 2016.

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.

For more details on the proposed 2016-17 budget, click here.