FinCom offers solutions for school budget crunch

The Canton Finance Committee, along with Finance Director Jim Murgia, appear poised to help the School Department alleviate a serious budget deficit impacting this year and next through a combination of reserve fund transfers, use of the town’s special education stabilization account, and a recommended increase in the school budget cap. The solution as discussed would also require the schools to cut $800,000 in operating expenses in FY19.

The two committees met last Wednesday at Town Hall for an informal budget discussion, and while no official vote was taken, FinCom Chairman Rob Barker said they understand the situation facing the schools. “The proposals on the table make sense,” Barker said.

According to school officials, the current budget crunch surfaced only weeks ago following a sudden and unexpected uptick in special education spending. Prior to mid February, the talk around next year’s budget was focused primarily on “enhancements,” including several anticipated new staff hires. But the outlook changed quickly due to a number of new out-of-district placements in January and February, resulting in a significant increase in tuition and transportation costs.

Massachusetts provides “circuit breaker” funding to supplement communities’ special education budgets and this has allowed the Canton Public Schools to manage its costs through normal peaks. However, the circuit breaker money for this latest emergency is not expected to arrive until FY20.

While the current year’s deficit ($778,555) is expected to be eliminated through use of special education stabilization funds ($110,000) and cash reserves, the larger problem is next year’s projected deficit of $2.238 million.

The consensus among FinCom members is to increase the FY19 school budget by $500,000 and use $700,000 in cash reserves and more money added to the special education stabilization account.

Members of both committees agreed that all students should be treated equally and not be penalized because of unforeseen budget circumstances. Thus the only casualty would be the proposed enhancements in the next budget cycle.

With the latest budget actions, the schools would be looking at a 4.16 percent operating increase for next year compared to the 5.51 percent increase that the budget was built around in January. Salaries, transportation costs, and utilities account for approximately 95 percent of the budget and the School Committee is currently negotiating with all labor unions on new contracts.

School Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Fischer-Mueller said the $800,000 reduction could wipe out all additional programs and course offerings and added staff for those programs and the cuts could potentially impact class sizes.

Despite the anticipated cuts, School Committee Chairman Mike Loughran said after last week’s meeting that he appreciates the support of FinCom and is pleased that the town is helping out the School Department.

Regarding another matter discussed at the March 14 meeting, the FinCom and School Committee appear to differ on whether five additional classrooms at the Kennedy School should be temporary or permanent. As part of its capital plan for next year, the School Committee is seeking $2.1 million to construct five temporary modular classrooms to be placed at the rear of the building. The cost for five “brick and mortar” classrooms is pegged at $2.9 million.

According to Fischer-Mueller, the permanent classrooms would not be ready until the fall of 2020 or 2021 whereas the temporary modulars would be ready by the fall of 2019.

As part of the recently approved School Facilities Master Plan, down the road, the Kennedy School would be renovated to house elementary grades with new classroom configurations. The new temporary modulars would ease overcrowding at the Kennedy until further steps in the master plan are completed.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Mar 24 2018. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.