By Alice Waugh
The School Committee on Thursday will continue to discuss a list of possible cuts to the 2015-16 Lincoln School preliminary budget that aim to bring next year’s budget into line with the Finance Committee’s 2.5 percent guideline for this year’s increase.
In a November 8 letter to Lincoln parents, Superintendent of Schools Rebecca McFall noted that her $10.78 million preliminary budget for the Lincoln School exceeded the FinCom target by $260,490. McFall presented that preliminary budget to the School Committee on November 6, along with a preliminary allocation for the Hanscom campus that exceeded its $12.01 million anticipated federal contract payment by $947,845.
“For FY16, the Lincoln Finance Committee’s budget guideline of 2.5 percent growth does not allow us to provide a level service budget with projected enrollment and population (i.e., ELL [English language learners], Special Education) driven increases,” McFall wrote in the Superintendent’s Introduction to the preliminary budget. “In addition, we have included improvement initiatives to address identified needs aligned with the District Strategic Plan and Core Values. These improvement initiatives widen the gap between the Finance Committee guidance and the funds needed to develop a budget that meets the guidelines established by the School Committee.”
On November 20, McFall presented lists of budget cuts for the School Committee to consider that would reduce the budget gap for the Lincoln School to zero and trim the Hanscom gap to $571,899. Each list was divided into three categories according to the level of impact on programs (lowest, low and moderate).
For the Lincoln School, the largest “lowest impact” items include eliminating the school’s Virtual High School social studies participation ($18,600) and new science tables ($16,800).
Major items on the low-impact list for the Lincoln School were two rounds of technology replacements totaling $106,100 and site-based management (SBM) funding reductions for all grades including preschool totaling $18,500. SBM funds are provided to the principals on a per-pupil basis, and the principals decide how to allocate these funds across disciplines, programs and grade levels, McFall explained.
For Hanscom, McFall also proposed eliminating two planned technology upgrades for a total of $141,500 and cutting one preschool section for a net savings of $89,260 in teacher and assistant salaries and benefits, as well as an SMB funding reduction of $21,000.
Computers and tablets in the district are replaced on a five-year cycle, “and the bulk of the equipment scheduled for replacement next year are seven- to eight-year-old desktop models and some six- to seven-year-old laptops,” McFall said.
District-wide, if the first set of proposed technology budget cuts goes through, “we would replace 50 fewer computers. With the second budget cut, we would eliminate all the planned replacement,” McFall said. “These cuts will have two effects. It will become more difficult for teachers and students to effectively use computers that are seven to eight years old and are no longer reliable or capable of running current software. The cuts will also defer the replacement cost to the future, creating a larger future budget burden that will accumulate every year that replacement of existing equipment is not adequately funded.”
In his budget analysis, Buck Creel, the school district’s administrator for business and finance, indicated that the administration would ask the School Committee for a transfer from the Hanscom Reserve Fund to close the remaining gap for that campus.
Based on the November 20 presentation, the School Committee asked the administration to consider ways to restore $7,500 for substitute teachers so regular teachers can participate in “peer observation” (observing their colleagues in action and providing feedback) and to create a “preferred budget” requesting additional funds to keep some of the items on McFall’s lists, as well as reviewing the Hanscom contract requirements.
On Thursday, Dec. 4, McFall will present that proposed preferred budget to the School Committee, which must in turn approve a budget request that meets the 2.5 percent guideline for presentation to the FinCom on December 10.