Wayland eNews

The meeting went for four hours, from 7:30pm - 11:30pm. 3 1/2 hours were dedicated to budget discussions. Eight parents spoke at the beginning of the session in support of keeping the swim and ski teams. No formal votes were taken, however there were consensus votes to see where members were on certain issues. The final votes will be taken at next week's meeting for what to include, what to take out and what fees will be assessed in the recommended budget. For consideration on 1/23, the committee asked the administration to reconfigure the budget with the following changes to the one presented by Dr. Burton on the 9th:

Add in Elementary Math/Science coordinator
Leave out the reading specialist (readdress this next year as there are two specialists currently for the three elementary schools)
Add back High School swim and ski teams, but spread an increase in fees across all High School sports
spread elementary fees across all actives such as chorus, after-school sports and clubs, and instrumental music (as opposed to just instrumental music in the 1/9 budget)
increase lunch fee another $0.25 to cover all direct and indirect fees (a total increase of $0.85 over current prices)
increase co-curricular fees at the Middle School and High School. Dr. Burton will get information on whether the number of children participating in co-curricular activities at the Middle School and High School have decreased from prior years with the fees implemented last year.

In 05/06 budget there are 65 classrooms in the elementary schools; this would drop to 63 due to less than anticipated enrollment. The budget proposed on 1/9 includes 60 classrooms. Discussion centered on whether voluntary redistricting would allow for further reduction to 59 classrooms. Dr. Burton will also ask the principals if there is anecdotal evidence of an increase in applications to private schools to help with enrollment projections.

Bus fee implementation for grades 7-12 was discussed but the final discussion was deferred.

There was considerable discussion as to whether the final budget number should be at or near the 4% increase over this year's budget that the finance committee guidelines originally stipulated (this was actually stated as level services - which came to about a 4% increase) or if the School Committee should try to come in below this to demonstrate a good faith effort to cut costs in light of the town's financial problems. Dr. Burton's proposed budget from 1/9 was 3.72% over this year's budget. The goal of Dr. Burton reconfiguring the numbers is to see if the combination of adding things back and increasing fees will keep the budget close to the 3.72% increase.

Non-budget items discussed:

Acton invited Wayland to join an initiative to advocate for the state to put a floor of $2000/pupil in state education aid for all students. This would potentially increase Wayland's state education aid by $3M.
Heather Pineault, Barbara Fletcher and Gary Burton will be at the State house tomorrow for a meeting and then will attend the rally - joining other Wayland residents. Lea Anderson and Lori Frieling will meet at the back parking lot of the Town Building Wednesday morning at 9:30 am. They can provide rides to several residents or an opportunity to caravan into town. Anyone with questions about logistics for the morning, can contact Lori Frieling at rfrieling@aol.com. Parents and community members from across the Commonwealth will lobby to increase Chapter 70 education funding, which has been stagnant for the past five or so years.
The School Committee is submitting a letter to the Board of Selectmen, Planning Board and FinCom supporting pursuing a Town Center development over a 40B development due to increased revenue implications and lesser demand on the schools.

Submitted by Lisa Valone

© 2008 WaylandeNews. All rights reserved. Last updated: Saturday May 03, 2008 12:38 PM.
Please be aware that many links on our site will take you from WaylandeNews. We are not responsible for content on other websites.