School Committee Meeting - November 28

The main topic was deciding what to submit to the finance committee by the end of the week in response to the request for budgets from all departments. Departments were instructed to start with a budget number that reflects level service next fiscal year and then reduce that amount by 8%. This is theoretically the amount that would be needed to avoid an override. Dr. Burton provided a handout with details on the two scenarios presented two weeks ago and a third scenario that was requested by the school committee last week. The committee made their opinion clear that none of the options were acceptable and that they see all as a dismantling of the schools. The school committee debated submitting all three scenarios vs. picking one. After much debate, they decided to submit what they determined to be the least unpalatable of the three unacceptable options - option B ("Preservation of Neighborhood Schools").

Here are the areas that would be cut:

• all schools remain open; cuts to teacher full time equivalents (FTEs) effect Middle School and High School more than the elementary schools. This means that Grades 6-12 will feel the pain of increased class size to a greater extent than Grades 1-5; this could jeopardize the Middle School cluster system that is highly acclaimed.
• Kindergarten becomes back-to-back morning and afternoon sessions (doubling the load of each remaining teacher).  The Kindergarten day will lose at least 30 minutes from the already short kind day to accommodate the transition (lose 3.15 FTE teachers and 3.15 FTE teaching assistants).  
• Elementary level:  Lose 2.0 FTE from grades 1 - 5.
• Middle School - lose 5.0 FTE (impacts cluster size)
• High School - increase English teaching load from 4 to 5 classes per FTE 
• lose all 5 school librarians
• lose elementary instrumental music
• Lose all Athletics for grades 6 - 12 (this may be partially reinstated with fees - but they would have to be very high to bring it all back - committee members were guesstimating $600 and up per student) - reduction of 73 coaching positions, athletic director 1 FTE and office .61 FTE
• Lose all Extracurricular activities for K-12 - (may be partially reinstated with fees - but again, fees would be very high to bring it all back) - lose 95 advisor positions
• Reduction of Curriculum and Staff development - summer work, professional development and school-based conferences (these are all geared at enabling our teachers to stay current and are key to recruiting good teachers to our schools).
• lose some administrative support - bus office, technology, special education (.4 FTE clerical), sub caller, special projects.

Jeff Dieffenbach, chair of the committee, pointed out that while this option keeps Happy Hollow open, it still is a devastating blow to our school system and all committee members agreed that it is unacceptable. It should also be noted that one of the concerns about closing Happy Hollow  (in addition to the obvious benefit of having neighborhood schools) is that there are huge unknowns about enrollment, especially with the potential 40B housing that could be built on the Raytheon site. Committee members mentioned they had heard that as many as 200 units with 3 bedrooms each could be ready for occupants in 5 years. The impact on the schools could be an influx of 150 - 200 children.

The school committee spent the remainder of the meeting discussing the narrative that would accompany the cuts. The goal of the narrative is to describe to the Finance Committee the impact of these cuts on our educational system.

Next Steps

• end of this week - all departments submit requested budgets to the Finance Committee with narrative of impact on service. FinCom will review them during December and January and will meet with each entity to discuss the impact.
• December - Ad Hoc Budget Committee makes recommendations to Board of Selectmen and various committees on cost savings - potential to lessen the town's budget shortfall by $500,000. This could lessen the need for cuts to some extent.
• Now through January -  School Committee works with Administration to come up with recommended budget taking into account the needs of the town's children and the fiscal realities
• January 9 (approx) - Dr. Burton will present a recommended budget to the School Committee based on student #s, goals, etc.
• January - School Committee debates recommended budget
• February 6 - School Committee holds a public hearing to present the recommended budget along with the 8% cut budget in the case there is no override or an override fails.
• February - FinCom compiles and creates the town's budget and then makes a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen (BoS) for a budget for the next fiscal year
• February/March - BoS reviews Fincom recommendation
• March 16 - deadline for the Board of Selectmen to vote to have an override on the ballot in April. If expenditures exceed revenues and Fincom's recommendation includes an override to bridge the gap, the BoS is the sole entity authorized to place an override on the ballot. A majority vote (3 out of 5 members) of the BoS is required to have an override on the ballot for the April election (BoS vote takes place around mid-March)
• Election day - Tues April 25, 2006
• Town Meeting - Thurs April 27, 2006 - approval of budget

Submitted to Wayland eNews by Lisa Valone

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