School Committee Continues to Bump Heads With Appropriations Board

The Committee on Appropriations bumped heads with the School Committee over the proposed school budget for next year one last time on Thursday night.

It was a session that ended with frowns on all faces. 

The boards could not reach common ground on a proposed budget increase to take before the Financial Town Meeting in about three weeks.

The COA has proposed a $900,000 boost – much less than the $1.675 the School Committee proposed before a new teachers’ contract was approved a few days ago. That contract will now shave about a half million dollars from the original School Committee request.

But that still leaves about a $300,000 gap.

The COA actually upped its proposed boost in spending to $1.1 million during the meeting -- but contingent upon the school board agreeing not to support any amendments at the Financial Town Meeting to boost the school budget for any program. That would have cut the gap to about $100,000.

It was no go. The School Committee seemed prepared to accept a $1.1 million boost, but it turned a deaf ear to not supporting any proposed boost to spending with an amendment at the FTM.

At that point, Cadigan basically stood up, said thank you for your time and the meeting broke up. COA members packed their bags and left the room quietly. There appeared little left to say to each other.

"It was both the first and last opportunity we have been afforded to come to common ground with the School Committee," Cadigan said.

It is now up to the taxpayers through the ammendment process, she said, to make any change to what COA recommends for school spending at the hearing.

The COA is expected, therefore, to propose at next Wednesday evening’s annual budget hearing that the schools live with a $900,000 spending boost – or a 2 percent budget hike. That leaves a $300,000 gap.

The COA believes the School Committee can close that gap by reducing FTEs – translation, teachers and staff -- in line with declining enrollment. 

“You are about 11 FTEs behind keeping a constant ratio of teachers to students,” said Cadigan.

She said the class size at the high school, for instance, has dropped by more than a student from 18.9 to 17.6 without a comparable reduction in staff.

Vice-Chair Kate Brody said the School Committee simply doesn’t have the data at this time to support cuts in FTEs. 

“Your overall trend line is down,” said Tim Sweetser, vice-chair of the COA. “And your biggest expense is wages and benefits. I beg you to find a substantial decrease in labor costs.” 

"There is really nothing left to cut besides labor," he said. “Money must come out of the labor and benefit pool."

FTEs are tied directly to programs, said School Committee Chair Robert Shea Jr.

“Then how about cutting sections,” said Cadigan. “We don’t expect you to cut core programs.”

School Committee member Scott Fuller, who has been pushing for a maximum $1 million increase and who is at odds with his colleagues on the school board, said: “We have not done our job on program evaluation. We put the contract first, and we’re backing into everything else.”

“We should have done all-day kindergarten and technology first,” he said. “I understand your frustration. I’m frustrated, too.” 

Brody disagreed with any comments that implied the school board’s top priority is not students.

“We do have the best interests of the students in mind,” she said.

Brody did agree, however, that “we do need a rigorous program analysis” that pinpoints programs that could possibly be cut because of low enrollments or inefficiencies.