Sequester May Cost Seekonk Schools, Short Term and Long

Seekonk public schools could be looking at a higher budget this year because of the sequester in Congress right now.

Interim superintendent Arlene Bosco said if the sequester is not dealt with before the deadline, federal programs could be cut from Seekonk schools’ budget.

“From what I’m hearing they’re looking at a five percent reduction from the numbers I’m looking at right now,” she said. “Right now, the total monies we get from any of the federal grants is 693,326.”

Bosco said $34,000 would be lost and have to built into the town budget if the sequester is not resolved, due to the loss of funding for Title I, Title IIa and special education grants.

Title I grant is also known as the Education for the Disadvantaged grant and the Title IIa grant is also called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The state of Massachusetts would itself see $91 million in cuts if congress fails to avoid the sequester, according to a report released by the President Sunday.

Bosco said  when this hits the state and congress puts together its budget in the summer, a trickle down effect might occur.

“It’s been my experience over the years that they cut fro the federal and pass it down to the state,” she said. “The state passes it down to the towns. It just keeps getting passed down the line. What’s going to happen this year I don’t know. I’ve heard both sides; some people say it’s going to be more [state funding] than we thought it would be, but then other people say that’s it’s not going to be. Unfortunately, we don’t know until the 11th hour.”

Bosco said even though $34,000 might not seem like a lot of money for a school or town budget, every little bit counts.

“We still have a lean budget as we do every year,” she said. “Any dollar amount is going to be hard to manage.”

Bosco added the mental health cuts Massachusetts will face if the sequester is not dealt with by congress will, most likely, have to be absorbed by the local school systems.

“Even though this is not school related monies, when they cut mental health funding for families, they come to school without any kind of support,” she said. “It impacts what we have to add to our program. It’s multifaceted actually.”

Here are some examples of what's on the chopping block for us here in Massachusetts, according to the report:

• Military: Some 7,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing pay by around $43.4 million. Army base operation funding in the state would be cut by about $8 million, Air Force operations by about $5 million.
• Teachers and schools: Some $13.9 million in primary and secondary education funding would be cut, putting around 190 teacher and aide jobs at risk; about 20,000 fewer students would be served and some 60 fewer schools would get funding, according to the administration. Also, Massachusetts would lose some $13.4 million to pay for about 160 teachers, aides and staff who help children with disabilities.
• Protections for clean air and clean water: About $4 million in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality, and to prevent pollution from pesticides and hazardous waste. The Bay State could also lose another $472,000 in grants for fish and wildlife protection.
• Public health: About $625,000 in funds to respond to infectious diseases, natural disasters and biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological event threats. Also, $1.7 million for preventing and treating substance abuse, resulting in around 5,200 fewer admissions to program and about $367,000 in cuts that will lead to 9,200 fewer HIV tests.
• Job search help: About $787,000 in funding, meaning 27,000 fewer people would get help finding work, according to the administration.
• Nutrition assistance for seniors: About $535,000 for senior meal programs.
• Vaccines for children: Almost 3,000 fewer children would get measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza and Hepatitis B vaccinations to save about $201,000.
• STOP violence against women program: Up to $140,000 for services to victims of domestic violence, resulting in up to 500 fewer victims being served.
• Child care: Up to 500 disadvantaged and vulnerable children could lose access to child care, which is also essential for working parents to hold down a job. No estimate of funding cut size was available.
• Head Start: Services would be eliminated for about 1,100 Massachusetts children. No estimate of funding cut size was noted.