On Monday, the School Committee unanimously approved its final omnibus budget request for fiscal year 2014 of $11,894,488, an increase of 3.56 percent over fiscal 2013. This third and final draft of the budget will go next to the Finance Committee, which also saw earlier versions and has already approved increased spending in several areas.
The committee’s first draft budget, done in December, was based on preserving the existing level of service in all school departments. That budget showed a 2.85 percent increase, to cover step-and-grade salary increases and other rising costs. But along with that budget draft, the School Committee also included a wish list of items for FinCom to consider.
FinCom subsequently approved a number of those wish list items, including $5,600 to add one day per week of nurse coverage for the district; $55,671 for hiring a K-12 school adjustment counselor; $7,000 to make one secretarial position a full-year job; and $10,000 to add two departmental coordinator stipends, one for K-12 guidance and one for arts, physical education, and technology.
The latest budget draft also incorporates several decreases, such as the elimination of $7000 for the Minnow Cup (the after-school program for middle schoolers) and a $7,200 reduction in the estimated amount for the school bus contract.
Another reduction was a decrease of $10,000 in expected salary costs for the school superintendent. The earlier budget draft had allotted $175,000 for a newly hired permanent superintendent. But, with the failure to fill that position last month, the School Committee will again be relying on an interim superintendent at an estimated $165,000. Current interim Superintendent Joe Connelly said at Monday’s meeting that the committee might consider using the $10,000 difference toward hiring a consulting firm in the renewed search for a permanent superintendent.
Connelly pointed out that there are still some unknowns that will affect the 2014 budget. For example, preschool enrollments are still unsettled, so it is not yet clear whether Harvard will need one preschool teacher or two. And changes demanded by the recent NEASC report will require substantial summer work time for Bromfield faculty, which would necessitate increases in the professional development costs for the schools.
