- By Dan Veaner
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The cuts included two elementary school classroom teaching positions and one special education teaching position, several staff positions and 2 modified sports teams among them. A fourth teaching position, being vacated by a retiring teacher, will not be filled. School Board President says, "There was a lot of discussion on the budget but few final decisions." The BOE sent them back to the drawing board to redraft the budget so it will not impact classroom teaching as directly. "In preparation for the next meeting we asked Mark and Larry to develop a list of actual items that contribute to the budget to budget increase from '05 to '06," Lindbergh says.
The original draft would have produced an 11.2% rise in the budget. In order to cut that down to 6% the administrative team must cut $922,771. Lewis and Driscoll are working with Curriculum Director Deb Pichette, Athletic Director Ed Redmond, and the three building Principals to identify cuts that can be made.
Driscoll says that everything is in flux, but the three teaching positions are back in. "What the Board said is 'We don't like some of these cuts, especially the classroom cuts," he explains. "Go back and come up with some additional cuts that don't impact the classroom. We're still doing that."
A lot of factors contribute to the budget woes. "Everybody knows what's happened to fuel this year," says Driscoll. "It's up 30%. So that hurt us. Health insurance is up 10.5%. Debt service is up 18%. We finished our Phase 1 construction last summer, and now we have to pay for it. It will start hitting us next year. Retirement and Social Security is up 7.9%. Salaries are up 3.6%."
Even if the budget is cut to a 6% rise over this year the tax rate will go up by 84 cents per thousand. That will be a tax rate of $19.22 per thousand, up from $18.38, or a 4.48% increase in the tax rate. Driscoll noted that even if the budget remains at zero taxes will go up for most people, because assessments have continued to go up. This will be a hit to taxpayers, because it about twice the amount of the rise of the cost of living. The administrative team is also looking at an 8% rise in budget, in case the Board doesn't want to approve all the cuts necessary for a 6% rise.
But Driscoll adds that there may be some relief in sight. "The State's supposed to have a budget in by April 1," he says. "They've agreed on the dollar amount, so I'm waiting for the numbers to show up. That may make it easier to get to a more reasonable tax increase."
Meanwhile the administrative team is looking for more items to cut. But Driscoll says the three teaching positions are probably safe. "The sense I get is that the Board doesn't want to go there," he says. "That was their message. 'We don't like those teacher cuts. Go back and figure out a way to get it down without cutting those positions.'" Lindberg says the Board will consider the newest draft budget on Monday. "We'll continue the budget work at the meeting on April 3rd and adopt it on April 10th."
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