School Committee Meeting, 1/30/06

The Finance Committee has met with all departments in the last few weeks to review the budgets that were submitted and the implications on services to residents. The meeting with the School Committee is the last in the process. [Note: these summary notes have focused on the School Committee meetings, as the Schools represent the largest share of the town's budget.  All of the other dept are going through similar processes and without an override will be facing dramatic cuts. We will report on these as numbers are firmed up]

• The Finance Committee will deliberate its recommended budget and possible override on 2/2 and 2/6. The draft budget should be available shortly after.
• The Finance Committee will hold a public hearing on the 13th - this is the last chance for the public to provide input before the Finance Committee's presentation to the Board of Selectmen.
• The Finance Committee will present its recommendation to the Board of Selectmen on February 14th. The Board of Selectmen will deliberate and vote on whether to put an override on the ballot by mid-March.
• The Finance Committee is also preparing a long term plan for FY08-FY10, which should be ready in mid-February.

Dr. Burton gave an overview of the budget the School Committee is recommending.  This budget is only possible, however, if:

1. the Finance Committee recommends an override of a sufficient magnitude to finance it,
2. the Board of Selectmen votes to put that override on the ballot and
3. voters approve the override at the polls in April.

For a summary of this budget, go to: http://www.waylandschoolcommittee.org/details/2006-01-25_fy07-budget.htm.   For comparison, the "-8% budget" and other documents are available are available at http://www.waylandschoolcommittee.org/ (scroll to the bottom of the screen).  The Finance Committee asked many questions of clarification - much of which has already been detailed in past reports. There was discussion of the decrease in enrollment at the elementary schools, Special Education and state reimbursement through the Circuit Breaker (only if spending on single child goes over 4 times the state per pupil average does state money become available and only at about 60-70% reimbursement of the amount over the 4 times number), clarification of METCO grant money available to the town, utilities costs and much more.

The Finance Committee explained that the goal for the town's capital expenditures was $500,000 and this is included in the budget process. Anything above and beyond the $500,000 will require a debt exclusion. A debt exclusion requires a 4-1 vote from the Board of Selectmen, a vote at the polls, and approval at Town Meeting.  These debt and interest payments do not count against the Proposition 2 1/2 cap.   The payments on the loans would come from increases in property taxes, but the increases do not become part of the revenue basis of the town;  the increases would not be permanent and would be taken out when the debt is retired. For example, if the town borrowed $1 million over 20 years, the impact on a household might be on the magnitude of $10 per year (this is very rough). The School Committee alone has shown a need for $1.1 million in capital expenditures ($700k to fix the second half of the leaking roof at Happy Hollow; $200k for technology; $200k for general maintenance which includes $50k for the High School's most immediate needs). Other needs in the town are a roof on the library and a new fire truck - these, combined with just the Happy Hollow roof, total over $1M. The School Committee will provide a prioritization for its capital expenditures requests.

The School Committee questioned if in the case that the Finance Committee were to ask all departments to make further cuts of X%, would the Finance Committee give the School Committee "credit" for already making cuts (the School Committee is the only department that submitted a budget below the guideline of level service). The Finance Committee will discuss this in their next meetings. The School Committee will provide an add list showing how it would get from the current recommended budget up to the level services budget.  After the Finance Committee left, the School Committee estimated that of the $240k they have cut from the original guideline, $150k is due to elementary school enrollment declines and the remaining $90k to making cuts (including adding fees).

The School Committee strongly stated that any further cuts in the budget will begin the dismantling of the system.

Chris Riley, the Finance Committee chair, pointed out that in all his tenure on the Finance Committee, this is the most difficult budget year he has seen, even more difficult than last year.

Note: clarification to notes from last week - the elementary Math/Science coordinator was not budgeted for this year. It was budgeted for FY 05 and previous years. The position was put on hold for this fiscal year pending the outcome of the math audit that was recently completed (and funded by the Wayland Public Schools Foundation). The School Committee fully intended that it be put back in the budget with the results of the audit guiding the mandate of the position.

Session summary prepared by Lisa Valone.

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