School board urges funding for more leadership posts

Canton School Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Fischer-Mueller is recommending a 5.45 percent increase in operational spending for the 2020 fiscal year, although that figure could climb higher amid concerns that Canton is lagging behind other districts in administrative and instructional leadership support.

In a presentation before the School Committee on December 20, Fischer-Mueller outlined her preliminary budget recommendations for FY20, which included $2.3 million in proposed new spending for a total budget of $44.705 million.

Of the new expenditures, $1.41 million is earmarked for contractually obligated salary increases with another $562,000 going to staff additions and $332,000 to non-staff requests, such as curriculum materials and translation services.

Regarding the staffing, the superintendent informed the committee on December 20 that teacher-student ratios had stabilized and there was not an urgent need to hire substantially more teachers. While she had received requests from department heads and administrators to add more than 20 new full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, Fischer-Mueller settled on a net gain of 8.7 positions, including 10.01 new FTE positions and a recommended reduction of 1.31 positions.

Of the new positions, the majority fall under the umbrella of student services/social-emotional learning, including a vocational teacher, educational assistant and nurse at CHS; a guidance counselor, special education teacher and wellness teacher at GMS; and a district-wide speech language pathologist, out-of-district coordinator, certified nursing assistant, and mental health consultant.

As part of her presentation, Fischer-Mueller provided data on where Canton ranked among 12 comparable communities in different spending categories, including per pupil expenditures (9th) and average teacher salaries (8th). Of greatest concern to the committee was Canton’s last-place ranking in administration and instructional leadership per pupil, which came in at $1,270 in FY17 — substantially behind 11th place Walpole ($1,431) and well off the state average ($1,617).

Reuki Schutt, the committee’s longest serving member, said the lack of spending in this area was the result of past budget crunches where the committee “cut, cut and cut.”

“But to me we are short on administrators now and I would like to see key people you need so that we can move forward and remain competitive,” she said. Schutt asked Fischer-Mueller to identify her top three administrative priorities for the next fiscal year and she responded with a K-5 content specialist covering social studies, English, science, technology and math in addition to a district-wide data administrator and a human resource director.

As for next steps, the committee agreed to continue discussions at its January 3 meeting with a plan to vote on a preliminary operating budget on January 17. The town’s Revenue Forecast Committee, which includes both Fischer-Mueller and School Business Administrator Barry Nectow, is scheduled to meet in early February to discuss the latest projections for state aid and other town revenue sources. Once a revenue target is approved, Finance Director Jim Murgia will then forward the figures on to the Finance Committee, which will deliberate on the proposed budgets before issuing final recommendations to the town meeting voters.

Last year, Fischer-Mueller had to dramatically alter her budget plans in January due to unanticipated increases in special education costs — eventually trimming $960,000 from her original proposal while the FinCom and town meeting voters appropriated $1.8 million to help offset special education deficits in both FY18 and 19.

Fisher-Mueller said after the December 20 meeting that she does not expect any surprises this time but noted that she also did not anticipate the problem would surface at this time last year. According to Nectow, the special education budget has stabilized and appears to be in good shape for this fiscal year and next, but additional stabilization funds will likely be needed by FY21 …

See this week’s Canton Citizen for more on this topic as well as other highlights from the December 20 School Committee meeting. Click here to order your subscription today. 

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Posted by Mike Berger on Dec 28 2018. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.