School Budget Shortfall Reduced

The budget shortfall for the FY 13 school budget has been reduced to $205,000, according to a presentation made tonight by Superintendent of Schools Jay Cummings at the School Committee meeting.

This reduces the difference between available funds and requested budget from $522,000, which was the previous budget shortfall.

The reduction in the amount was attributed to 3 factors:

An increase of appropriation from Town Administrator Timothy McInerney of $111,000

Increased commitment to pre-purchasing items, which reduces their cost, to $109,000

Further reductions of non-personnel line items of $108,000.

Cummings said he will discuss further budget reductions at the March 12 School Committee meeting.

Committee member Teri Turgeon questioned whether a decision should be made about accepting school choice students from other districts into the Grafton schools as part of the budget discussion.

At a previous meeting, Cummings encouraged committee members to consider school choice as a potential revenue source.

The issue is scheduled to be discussed at the March 12 School Committee meeting.

Accepting school choice would allow students from outside school districts to attend Grafton schools. The district would receive $5,000 per student from the student’s home school district, according to current funding formulas.

Cummings said he is revisiting the school choice discussion because one previous deterrent _ the lack of space _ will be removed when the new l opens in September.

Cummings said that because of timing concerns and outstanding questions about how many students may opt into the Grafton schools, further budget cuts would have to be made before the system would know how much revenue school choice could provide.

He said that, in theory, if school choice was accepted and the number of students was significant enough, some previously reduced positions might be returned to the budget.