O'Connor to Make Initial Budget Presentation to School Committee Tonight

Tewksbury Superintendent of Schools Dr. John O'Connor will make his initial budget presentation to the School Committee tonight, beginning the public portion of what could well be the most critical budget process in the history of the school district.

The school district has operated on a tight budget the last few years but have been helped considerably by a decision each year by the state to ignore sharp declines in student population in Tewksbury when determining Ch. 70 aid figures.

With the state operating with $2B stuctural deficit, there are concerns that Gov. Deval Patrick will not extend the "Hold Harmless" clause, causing Tewksbury to receive aid based on actual enrollment figures and costing the district somewhere between $1.5 million and $2.2 million. The district received $14.8 million from the state in Fiscal Year 2011.

O'Connor said said he doesn't expect a decision on "Hold Harmless" to come until January. In the meantime, the budget being crafted for Fiscal Year 2012 is based on an expectation of level-funded state aid. O'Connor said he has not crafted a "Plan B" budget in case the aid is slashed.

"It's too early for that," he said.

O'Connor said the budget he present to the school committee will be level funded, with no increases. However, there are likely to be cuts, in order to offset fixed cost increases in areas such as health insurance and energy.

"there's no question that a level-funded budget means a decrease for the school district," O'Connor said.

The Fiscal Year 2011 Budget was $47.3 million.

The FY '12 Budget will have a new look, as the committee requested that O'Connor create a document that broke down spending into a more detailed format.

"We're creating a line-item budget, which is not something that's been done in the past," he said. It is, however, something O'Connor is familiar with. "In Dover (NH), I presented a detailed budget that accounted for every penny."

O'Connor said a schedule of public hearings on the budget has not yet been established but that he expects feedback to start immediately.

"I think we'll get feedback (from the committee) right way, maybe not in regard to numbers but in regard to the format," he said. "We want to get the budget into the hands of the committee as quickly as possible for them to react and look at and comment on."

O'Connor's approach is in line with the philosophy of Town Manager Richard Montuori, who required his department heads to submit budgets a month earlier than in past budget cycles, with a goal of providing plenty of time for public input and evaluation by the Finance Committee.

Tonight's school committee meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Media Room at the Wynn School. As always, it is open to the public.