The School Committee is not considering a Proposition 2 ½ operational override request, given the struggling economy and recent overrides for the schools. As a result, Superintendent Dan Gutekanst has requested a 1% budget increase for FY 11 and has proposed cuts of slightly more than $800,000. Cuts in elementary media, physical education, and foreign language made in previous years will not be restored for FY 11. As of January 5, the Town Manager believes that even this 1% increase may not be possible and further cuts may need to be made.

Please read on to learn what specific cuts Superintendent Gutekanst is recommending to the School Committee. Please also attend the School Committee Public Budget Hearing on Wednesday, January 20 at 7 p.m. in the Broadmeadow Performance Center. The public hearing is your chance to gain a thorough understanding of the proposed FY 11 budget and to voice your suggestions, concerns or support to the School Committee. On January 26, the School Committee will vote on their FY 11 school budget request.

What will be cut?

After consulting with principals and department heads, Superintendent Gutekanst presented at the December 8 School Committee meeting his proposed FY 11 School Department budget, including cuts of 12.95 full-time equivalents (FTEs), slightly more than $800,000. The Town Manager has cautioned that even the small increase in revenue needed to keep cuts to this level may not be available.

Teachers: $430,000

7.87 teaching positions

• 3 elementary teaching positions will be cut: Eliot, Mitchell, and Newman will each lose one fourth-grade section. Class sizes will increase to 23-26 students, in line with the fourth-grade class sizes at Hillside and Broadmeadow.
• 2 Pollard teaching positions will be cut, either by eliminating the half-cluster (resulting in larger class sizes) or by creating five-teacher clusters, with World Language part of the cluster (keeping class size down but possibly reducing elective options).
• 2 high school teaching positions will be cut, resulting in reduced offerings or larger class sizes.
• .2 FTE will be cut at the preschool.
• .67 FTE Special Ed liaison will be cut at the middle school.

Administrative and instructional support: $248,000

Administrative/leadership positions

• Pollard will lose one administrator, necessitating a reorganization of the school's administrative model. This loss will be particularly challenging with increasing middle school enrollment next year and with Newman students and staff moving to Pollard during the renovation.
• The district's literacy director will pick up some classroom responsibilities, thereby having less time to provide administrative services.

Clerical Support Staff

• 3 clerical and support staff positions will be cut.

Instructional Support Staff

• 2.75 FTE will be cut from pre-school staff and teaching assistants.

Supplies, services, and stipends: $140,000

Why are cuts necessary?

To fund the base budget in FY 11, the Schools need a 5% increase over FY 10, approximately $2.1 million. However, Town revenues and state aid are down from FY 10. The requested 1%, or $455,000, of Town revenue, supplemented by $837,000 of one-time American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus funds, will cover $1.3 million of the $2.1 million. The result is slightly more than $800,000 in cuts:

Why does the base budget require a 5% increase?

Four components drive the 5%, or $2.1 million, increase in the FY 11 School base budget:

Did the recent school overrides cause this budget problem?

Neither this year's Newman debt-exclusion override nor last year's High Rock operational override contributed to this budget gap.

Newman: The Town budgets separately for operational costs (such as School salaries and supplies) and capital costs (such as building repairs). The funds provided by the override are exclusively for the Newman project and are not considered when determining the funds available for School operating costs.

High Rock: The operational override that passed last year to fund High Rock's operating costs helps the School FY 11 budget: if voters had not approved that $1.9 million override, the Schools' FY 11 budget gap would be even greater.

What happens next year?

Many believe that FY 12 will be even more difficult than FY 11. Tax revenues lag behind the general economy in a recovery, and the recovery itself is expected to be slow, so state funding is currently not projected to increase again until perhaps FY 13. Moreover, one-time ARRA stimulus funds used to reduce the FY 11 budget gap will not be available in FY 12. This situation will only exacerbate the budget challenge as presented in the School Department's latest five-year forecast. The forecast projects that, even under revenue growth, simply maintaining existing services for a growing population results in a budget deficit of $1 million each year. School Department models suggest that the most effective approach to a more sustainable budget is to moderate the cost-of-living salary adjustments for teachers (also known as COLA). The School Department is currently negotiating three-year contracts with the teachers and hopes for a creative agreement that both keeps costs down and retains excellent teachers.

The Town Manager will include these School capital requests in her budget recommendation:

• two modular classrooms to accommodate overcrowding and increasing enrollment at Mitchell
• an infrastructure study at Hillside, Mitchell, and Pollard to determine which systems (boilers, roofs, etc.) will need to be replaced in the near future
• $297,000 in computer replacements, some deferred from FY 10

In November, Town Meeting approved a .75% tax on meals and 2% tax on hotel occupancy. These taxes are a new source of revenue for Needham, a small step towards reducing our reliance on the property tax for funding. These new taxes are expected to raise approximately $500,000 each year; that amount won't close our budget gaps in these very difficult years, but it will help a bit.

Nomination papers are now available for anyone interested in running for Town Meeting. Town Meeting Members are elected by voters in their precincts in the April 13 town election. Town Meeting Members serve for three years and represent their precincts by voting at the Annual and Special Town Meetings. Town Meeting usually meets no more than seven evenings per year. Town Meeting Members play a crucial role in town government because most decisions, including all spending decisions, must be approved by Town Meeting. Parents of school-aged children who serve as Town Meeting Members can ensure that the schools' concerns are voiced at Town Meeting; they will also gain a greater sense of the entire town budget.

If you would like to run for Town Meeting, you must pick up nomination papers in the Town Clerk's office in Town Hall and get 10 signatures of support from registered voters in your precinct. Nomination papers with signatures must be returned to the Town Clerk by February 23.