Schools

Board of Education Approves Flat Funded Budget

A total of $923,928 in reductions leads to staff transfers but no layoffs

The Board of Education’s Finance Committee made a single change to a proposed reduction of $923,928 for the 2011-2012 school budget, and the full board approved the decrease on Thursday.

The were charged with making the reductions after the city to budget from $38,817,405 to $40,741,333. The cuts remove $499,911 from proposed building funds, $205,688 from the budgets of the districts four elementary schools, $156,088 from the and , and $138,135 from the . The remaining reductions come from a number of different areas such as custodial services, a rearrangement of special services, and retirement incentives.

“No employee will lose a job,” said Assistant Superintendent Christine Carver.

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The budget does remove a long-term substitute position at the high school which is set to expire at the end of this year, and brings several staffers to new areas. The main change will have the district assume the operation of the from LEARN at a projected savings of $74,777. The positions to be transferred to this budget are four elementary school educational assistants and one school psychologist. Some courses will be consolidated due to the departure of teachers, such as a retiring math teacher in the middle school and a resigning science teacher in the high school. Health classes at the middle school will be integrated with the physical education courses.

In other changes, partial funding for a foreign language teacher and guidance teacher at the Science and Technology Magnet School will be funded by grant funds rather than the school budgets. Funding for substitute custodians was reduced by $77,000, while custodian overtime was reduced by $16,100.

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Much of the Finance Committee’s discussion focused on the custodial budget as well as an $85,000 line item for a human resources specialist. Superintendent Nicholas Fischer said between one-third and one-half of Carver’s duties currently involve human resources work and that it takes away from her time in curriculum development. He said the specialist would assume these duties and contribute to such activities as professional development and recruiting more minority teachers. Fischer said the position was budgeted for the last fiscal year, but not filled.

“The human resource function is a very demanding role in any school, and people aren’t lining up for that position,” he said.

Jason Catala, secretary of the Board of Education, said he had no recollection of the item’s inclusion in either budget and characterized it as “sneaky.” Fischer said the funds for the position had gone toward human resources positions such as hearings, recruiting, and candidate screenings.

Board and Finance Committee member Bill Morse at first motioned to transfer all of the funds from the human resources position into the custodial budget, leading to discussion on various other parts of the budget. Al Kinsall, president of the board and chairman of the committee, said earlier in the meeting that he wanted the custodial services to keep pace with the construction of new school facilities, but that he considered the human resources position “vital to our very existence as a school district.” Catala said he would consider proposing the transfer of the funds again to support an additional school psychologist.

Fischer said he would prefer that the district have flexibility in using available overtime to best delegate custodial duties. He said the custodial staff would ideally be bolstered by three to four additional hires, and that the current custodians each clean about 60,000 square feet during their regular duties.

“The quality of cleanliness in the schools will suffer,” he said. “I’ll tell you that right now.”

Morse withdrew his motion and proposed taking $40,000 from the human resources position and putting it toward substitute custodians in the middle school and high school. The committee vote was 2-1, with Kinsall opposed and Morse and board member Ronna Stuller in favor. The transfer lowered the reduction in the custodial substitute funds from $53,000 to $35,000 in the middle school and $64,000 to $42,000 in the high school.

During the public comment section of the Board of Education meeting, educational aide Bettina Tritch expressed concern over the method of replacement. She said the aides have often been trained in certain areas to better assist the school’s needs, and that these would change with a transfer to the Clinical Day Program. Cheryl Lawrence said also said she was concerned with the proposed transfer and that there were few if any reductions to the central office operations.

“They are needed in every school,” Lawrence said of the educational aides. “Most of them have been there for years.”

When the reductions were amended to consider the Finance Committee’s recommendation, the Board of Education voted 4-3 to accept them and the amended reductions. Catala, Morse, Stuller, and Barbara Major were in favor while Kinsall, Vice President Susan Connolly and board member Louise Hanrahan were opposed.


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