To help solve school deficit,TM taps free cash — again

For this year at least, town meeting had a solution to the $1.37 million school deficit for the coming fiscal year, with 89 percent of that attributed to mandated special education costs.

A vast majority of town meeting voters in the last session on Wednesday, April 28, authorized $440,000 in reserve funds to be put in the school operating budget and allowed the School Committee to transfer $250,000 from cash capital to the school’s operating account.

Before town meeting convened, the School Committee had already reduced its budget by more than $640,000 through a combination of modest staff cuts, projected savings, a hike in athletic user fees, and the reinstatement of parking and transportation fees.

Budget cuts included the elimination of one custodial position, an elementary math teacher position, and substitute teachers at the high school as well as a $37,000 cut in educational supplies.

Both the bus fee — for students in grades 7-12 — and the CHS student parking fee will be $180 for the 2010-2011 school year. The CHS athletic user fee will be $125 per student per sport, up from $100 this year.

The budget reduction also included nearly $35,000 in projected energy savings.

Had voters rejected the reserve fund transfer, the School Committee was prepared to cut additional staff, including three classroom teachers at the elementary level and a computer teacher at CHS, as well as make several part-time reductions affecting more than a dozen teachers and staff across the district.

Instead, voters agreed to tap further into the town’s free cash reserves, which dwindled from a starting balance of $1.7 million to less than $400,000 by town meeting’s end. In Monday’s first session, voters used free cash to address a pair of budget shortfalls in the current fiscal year, including $400,000 for snow and ice removal and $363,000 for unanticipated special education costs. A third transfer, also approved Monday night, simply shifted $200,000 to a safer reserve account, the town’s stabilization fund.

Nevertheless, according to the Finance Committee, the heavy use of free cash at town meeting not only puts the town’s AAA bond rating at risk; it also leaves the town ill-equipped to handle any future emergencies, should they arise. The emergencies the town endured this year will not be solved through additional transfers next year, said several FinCom members, including Chairman Dave Emhardt.

“I just don’t know about next year,” said FinCom member Pat Johnson. “It jeopardizes the ability to handle unforeseen situations.”

Despite the concerns of the Finance Committee, school officials had a number of key supporters Wednesday night, including former longtime FinCom member Len Barnett, who drew a loud applause with his surprise endorsement of the transfer.

Barnett said he changed his position after hearing a full explanation by the School Committee and learning of their efforts to produce cost-saving in-house special education programs.

“We truly have an unforeseen situation and surprise,” he said. “I support the School Committee.”

The only measure of criticism lodged against the School Committee was the point made by Emhardt of “generous raises” given to teachers in the most recent contract. In response, School Committee Chairman Reuki Schutt said teachers’ salaries in Canton fall within the lower range of neighboring towns.

The general consensus of town meeting was that the School Committee had been put in a precarious position by the state, which let down the town by not funding state-mandated programs and reducing state aid.

After the vote was taken, Selectman Bob Burr, a candidate for state senate, said it was incumbent on town officials to join with neighboring towns in a lobbying effort and let Beacon Hill know it is an unfair burden for communities to finance unfunded state mandates.

As for Canton’s willingness to provide additional funding to the schools, Schutt said she was impressed although not necessarily surprised.

“I’m always very pleased at how our town pulls together for the sake of our kids’ educations,” she wrote in an e-mail to the Citizen. “The guidance, cooperation and help we’ve received from both our elected and appointed officials has been truly heartening. Even when there was disagreement over the best approach to handle the unexpected rise in, for example, special education costs, even the fiscally conservative Finance Committee worked with the School Committee to try and find a way to mitigate the inevitable cuts to teachers and programs.

“For months we’ve explained that this fiscal crisis was not of the town or the School Committee’s making, and that the cuts our schools would have to endure would greatly diminish the quality of unmandated regular education. Our town leaders understood that and rolled up their sleeves with us. While we are not at all happy with the very painful cuts we’ve had to make, which undo the progress we made after the passage of the Proposition 2 ½ override, if not for the entire town’s support, these cuts would have been far worse.

“Finally, the School Committee has announced its desire to form a joint task force to examine town-wide labor costs. This task force will be made up of seven people, consisting of the School Committee, the BOS, FinCom, and the Capital Planning Committee, to drill down into our payroll expenses, the same way we once did to better control health care spending. I expect that this group will start working immediately, so that we’re fully prepared for the next round of contract negotiations,” said Schutt.

In other town meeting news, Blue Hills Vocational Technical School was unsuccessful in its bid to add another $72,725 to its budget to handle an increase of four students from Canton.

Last year, Canton’s Blue Hills assessment was $1,253,270. The original request for FY11 was $1,321,631 and FinCom allowed $1,387,713. The general consensus was that Blue Hills needed to live within its budget and had not shown enough justification for an emergency situation.

Selectmen had not been informed of the request prior to town meeting and therefore could not form an opinion.

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Posted by Mike Berger on May 6 2010. Filed under News, Schools, Town Government. Both comments and pings are currently closed.