The FY17 budget cycle began on Monday, January 11th with presentations from the principals and program managers that allowed for the School Committee to hear requests directly from district administrators. For each school, these requests were presented alongside the School Improvement Plans which outline the goals and objectives for the upcoming year. In addition, all district administrators presented their budget requests to the committee. Meetings were held on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, January 11th – 13th from 6:00 to 8/8:30 PM each night.
Documents from these presentations are available at the links at the right, or on the tab titled ‘FY17 Requests’.
The remaining budget schedule is as follows: (All meetings are at 7:00 PM in the High School Library unless otherwise noted.)
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Saturday, January 23rd — 8:00 AM in CO Conference Room — School Committee Budget Workshop
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Wednesday, February 3rd — Initial Budget Presentation to Committee
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Wednesday, February 10th — Continued Deliberation and Forma Vote on a Tentative Budget
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Wednesday, February 24th — Public Hearing on the FY15 Proposed Budget
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Wednesday, March 2nd — Final Budget Deliberation
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Wednesday, March 11th — Final Budget Approval
March 30, 2016 Update: Final Budget Approved
At its meeting on March 30th, the School Committee reviewed a Final Budget that reflects the culmination of the past 6 weeks of discussions since the Tentative Budget was approved mid February. At the conclusion the committee adopted a budget that includes an increase in Operating Expenditures of $647,924, or a 1.71% increase over the current fiscal year. This results in a net assessment to the towns of 2.25% after offsetting the costs with changes in revenue.
The final budget does assume a slight increase in both Chapter 70 and Regional Transportation reimbursement from the state. These are not final figures, but reflect the latest actions of the Legislature, as well as general intelligence on where the process will take the figures by June 30th.
As was outlined below in the Tentative Budget, the state funding formula, combined with disproportionate rates of decreasing student population, has again this year provided a very unbalanced assessment to member towns. While providing an increase of only 2.25% in the total assessment, that resulted in a final assessment to Rowley and Salisbury of 5.57% and 4.08% respectively, while Newbury’s assessment will decrease by 3.03% from this current FY16 year.
The Final Budget contains the following reductions from this current year:
- A REDUCTION in the total cost of health insurance of approximately $238,000, or 3.98%, over current year spending. This is a result of plan design changes and competitive quotes from other providers.
- A REDUCTION of Elementary Math Specialists from a full time at each school, to a half time at each school for the 2016/2017 School Year.
- A REDUCTION of Elementary Instructional Technology Specialists at each Elementary School. Starting in 2016/2017, there will be a single Library Media Specialist at each school, incorporating the use of the Library and Computer Labs at each school.
- A REDUCTION of four (4) elementary teachers, including 3 classroom and 1 Special Educator.
- A REDUCTION of one (1) Middle School Foreign Language Teacher. Due to lower enrollments, Foreign Language will remain a core subject for all students, taught by the remaining three (3) teachers.
- A REDUCTION of one (1) Middle School Special Education Teacher due to reconfiguration of case loads and programming for students.
February 11, 2016 Update:Tentative Budget Approved
At its meeting yesterday evening the School Committee reviewed a proposed Tentative Budget that reflects the culmination of the past 5 weeks of discussions. At the conclusion the committee adopted a budget that includes an increase in Operating Expenditures of $846,678, or a 2.24% increase over the current fiscal year. This results in a net assessment to the towns of 3.18% after offsetting the costs with changes in revenue.
The state funding formula, combined with disproportionate rates of decreasing student population, has again this year provided a very unbalanced assessment to member towns. That same 3.18% aggregate increase to towns mentioned above calculates out to a 2.16% reduction to Newbury, along with a 6.54% and 5.02% increase to Rowley and Salisbury respectively. We again find ourselves needing to make cuts to level services in order to provide an assessment that can be supported by member towns.
The table below shows the reductions in services/staff that are assumed in this Tentative Budget.
The next step in the budget process will be a public hearing, scheduled for **Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.**in the High School Library. All are welcome and encouraged to attend to provide feedback on the budget as proposed.