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On the other hand, he said, the School Committee already has given to the public a detailed budget document showing how and where cuts will be made. The document, presented by Superintendent Mary Gormley at a special meeting Jan. 14, described a school system that would have over 40 fewer employees and one less elementary school next year without budget relief.
“I’m not trying to be adversarial,” said Lovely. “But if we’re going to be in this [override request] together, we’re going to have to know on their side what they know on ours.”
The School Committee agreed, voting Jan. 20 to put a contingent override budget before Annual Town Meeting in May.
“I certainly think as a town we need an override,” member Mary Kelly said.
But Chris Huban said things could change if the Warrant Committee comes back with a budget that doesn’t represent the schools’ needs.
“If we’re offered a budget that gives us less than we’re looking for, I’d have to change my mind,” he said.
Lovely agreed. He said the School Committee can’t “pick and choose” where it makes its cuts.
If some schools have to take heavier cuts than other, “it won’t garner the necessary school community support that has traditionally been needed to pass an override,” he said.
School officials have said they need a $1.8 million override to roll-over current staffing and services. Lovely said the “hypothetical number” town officials gave him is somewhere near $900,000 to maintain services on the town side.
Midyear Budget Crisis
If the ominous budget forecast for next year weren’t enough, school officials are still scrambling to make sense of “devastating” cuts still possible in the current fiscal year.
At Special Town Meeting Feb. 23, the schools will be faced with losing $204,000 if a vote to reduce departmental budgets passes. If necessary, Superintendent Mary Gormley said, a plan for midyear cuts would include eliminating a $20,000 clerical position and trimming $50,000 from professional development. It also could include laying off up to three teachers or eliminating six non-teaching positions, though Gormley said “keeping teachers in front of students” would take priority.
The article proposing midyear departmental cuts was introduced by the Warrant Committee as a cost-saving measure against expected state-aid cuts, which are expected as high as 10 percent.
But Pavlicek said he now hears that a second round of midyear cuts to be announced by Gov. Deval Patrick may not be that deep.
He suggested that a separate article should consider expending the town’s free-cash reserves first before budgets are reopened.
“It would be my intention that the money first come from free cash before we start dipping into our services,” he said.
Pavlicek added that 2003 Town Meeting faced similar state budget fears and provided two options: “one to cut the budgets and one to take the free cash to balance the town’s budget.”
But he said the article proposing budget cuts “needs to be on the warrant” so that all the possibilities can be brought before the public.