(previous)
Gormley, along with Assistant Superintendents Paul Hilton and John Phelan, presented a budget overview to the School Committee that they say showed additional funding will be needed next year.
Among the funds requested to maintain current services are: $1.3 million to cover salary rollovers, $160,000 to cover increased utility costs, $43,000 for a projected loss in state special education tuition reimbursement, and $135,000 for a projected loss in Medicaid reimbursement due to changes in eligibility standards.
The proposed FY 10 budget calls for about $100,000 for two new teachers to handle a projected bump in student enrollment. According to Gormley’s presentation, the district is projected to have about 90 new students next year.
Another $100,000 would go to hiring two teachers to target specific student groups for MCAS improvement at the Pierce and Tucker schools. The School Department was appropriated a similar amount by Town Meeting in October to hire three teachers.
Special education and low income groups at both Pierce and Tucker are scoring below the state’s mandated target scores.
Jeff Rubin, special education coordinator, who attended the meeting to talk about his MCAS initiatives for special needs students, said it is important to continue to expand early childhood programs to reach students early in their development.
One example of a possible expansion, he said, is the co-taught elementary program, which school officials hope to expand into fifth grade next year.
It would require about $160,000 in the new budget, according to Gormley. Part of the cost would be to hire three additional teachers for the program.
The co-taught model, which is designed to meet special needs of students, currently involves seven classes at Glover and Tucker. There are currently 56 special needs students in these classrooms. Each classroom has two teachers – one a general education provider and the other a special educator.
“It can be vital to MCAS scores,” said Rubin of the co-taught program. “This is a tremendous model for students to be exposed to early on.”
School Committee member Mary Kelly, who heads the committee’s financial subgroup, said her group has been meeting often to discuss the budgeting process, which she said is ongoing. She said a final report with detailed breakdowns of next year’s costs is still being put together.
“We’re working hard on it,” she said. “The Warrant Committee needs this information as soon as we can provide it.”
Glenn Pavlicek said things can change before Town Meeting but that the committee’s responsibility should be to present a “reasonable scenario as to the dollars we think we’re going to need.”