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05/02/08
District leaders eye possible reductions to 2009 school
budget
Following the Town Council Finance Committee's recommendation to increase
school spending next year by 4.6 percent, Superintendent Alan Hawkins has
prepared a list of proposed budget reductions to be used if the recommendation
wins Town Council approval and subsequent citizen validation.
At the School Board's workshop April 29, Hawkins presented a list of adjustments
that would reduce the board's proposed $19.9 million spending plan for 2008-09
by $263,083, bringing the proposal for a 6-percent increase to 4.6 percent.
The Town Council voted 4-3 on April 14 to accept the report of the Finance
Committee, a committee of the whole council, and set for public hearing a
school budget of $19.7 million, $263,083 less than the budget proposed by
the School Board.
The hearing is scheduled for Monday, May 12, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. in the Town
Hall chamber. The council will also take public comment on proposed Town,
county and Community Services budgets for 2008-09. The total budget proposal
is $30.8 million, a 4.49-percent increase over this year's, with a tax-rate
proposal of $17.34 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, up 5.5 percent.
(Click here for previous story.)
The School Board's proposed budget increase remains at 6 percent, Hawkins
said. However, the council's vote to set a 4.6-percent increase to public
hearing prompted school administrators to present a revised budget. "With
that expectation in mind, the building and Instructional Support administrators
met, reviewed and revised the 4.6% increase to the budget over a two-day
period," Hawkins says in a memo the board dated April 24.
Most of the proposed adjustments are reductions in staff, with the largest
item being a $82,610 cut for the full-time curriculum coordinator. The
coordinator position was created in 2001-02.
In his memo, Hawkins said school administrators eyed eliminating the curriculum
coordinator's position in favor of other positions that provide instructional
support. If the cut needs to be made, the curriculum director's work would
be assumed by the superintendent, administrators, and the technology department,
and stipend work from staff members who have been active in the district's
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment committee.
The second largest proposed reduction is a 6/10-time systemwide psychologist's
position, $43,307.
With the resignation of one English Language Arts teacher and the elimination
of an English/Language Arts position, the realignment of funds under the
plan would also result in a $25,000, half-time English/Language Arts
teacher reduction in the High School's Achievement Center. The reduction
would leave one and a half full-time-equivalent teachers plus the center's
coordinator to support students who need help with academics. Other proposed
staff cuts include a 4/10-time science teacher at the High School, one
educational technician at each of the three schools, and four coaching positions
at the High School.
At the same time, an additional $25,000 was budgeted for energy costs
districtwide.
(Click here
for full list of proposed adjustments).
"The loss of any staff member means that we have to review and revise
programming," Hawkins said in an e-mail interview. Administrators are currently
preparing explanations of the effects of individual proposed losses.
This, the administration's most recent proposed budget revision, is built
upon hours, days and weeks of work by the District Leadership Team of school
administrators, the School Department business manager, and Hawkins. Back
in February, administrators presented, at the request of the School Board,
a $21 million budget proposal "that truly reflected the needs of the schools
to meet the educational expectation for all students." That initial proposal
was an increase of 13.28 percent over the present school budget. However,
by a 4-3 vote in March, the School Board approved a budget with an increase
of 6 percent to present to the Town Council Finance Committee.
"This (School Board) action resulted in some additions to meet specific
educational, nursing, and technology needs and decreased specific teaching
positions," Hawkins said. (Click
here for links to details of the 13.28-percent and 6-percent budget
proposals)
Along with his plan to reach a 4.6-percent increase, Hawkins submitted a
summary of the effect the plan would have on current staffing. The summary
shows a net reduction of 6.45 full-time-equivalent staff members: 1.7 fewer
teachers; 5.3 fewer educational technicians, .75 fewer administrators; .8
more instructional support personnel; and, .5 more nursing staff.
"The reductions in this budget have been difficult," Hawkins said in his
memo. "We are now at the point of constantly reviewing and considering reducing
staffing to meet the financial needs of the system," the memo says.
The council is scheduled to approve the 2008-09 budget at a special meeting
May 27. For the first time, Cape Elizabeth voters will approve the school
budget in a validation vote June 10, part of the state's new school consolidation
legislation.
While the final school budget will not be decided for more than a month,
Hawkins said the proposals were made so that staff would have an idea of
what the future of their profession offers in Cape Elizabeth. "These decisions
need to be made so that staff can at least have the opportunity to seek other
positions in other communities," Hawkins said in an e-mail.
More information, including links to full budget spreadsheets and summaries,
are available in the special budget section
of this Web site.
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