After a series of public workshop meetings, the Board of Education (BOE) on Jan. 30 approved the 2017-’18 fiscal year budget of $58,770,136, a 1.49 percent increase compared to current spending. The final number that will now be presented to the Board of Finance (BOF) comes after the board shaved $289,000 off of the superintendent’s proposed budget.

Superintendent of Schools Paul Freeman presented an initial proposed budget of $59,059,136 for the coming year, an increase of $1,152,345 or 1.99 percent. After reviewing the proposal, the board made cuts anticipating retirements, pension costs, and small reductions in administrative and custodial positions.

The single largest reduction of $200,000 was made anticipating retirements. The superintendent’s budget did not assume any retirements and, while board members agreed making such assumptions is a bit of a risk, the BOE decided that assuming five retirements is not unreasonable.

Over the years the district has experience anywhere from 4 to 37 retirements in a given year. When a teacher retires out from the top of the pay scale, the district aims to hire in a teacher on the lower end of the scale, thus generating a savings.

BOE Chair Bill Bloss said he knows the assumption of five retirements is a bit of a gamble, but feels assuming five retirements is a reasonable number. Freeman said doing so makes him a bit nervous and he acknowledges it as a potential liability, but he says he will keep an eye on staffing numbers.

“The worst case scenario is we make this reduction and we don’t get the retirements or we get them in the wrong places and then we have enrollments in kindergarten that force me to come back and say, ‘We are adding an unbudgeted kindergarten position,’” he said.

The other reductions fall in pensions for $50,000, custodial for $35,000, and $24,000 in the administration line. The $24,000 relates to a request to move one 10-month administrative position to a 12-month position. Freeman said doing so would allow for more management time and help with the administering of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program due to come online next year; the $24,000 request was denied.

The IB program itself is roughly $30,000—encompassing cost of registration, fees, etc. Teaching positions for the program have been absorbed by current staff who will help get the program off the ground next year with a small selection of course offerings. Freeman said he wants to see the program grow over time, but if too many students sign up for IB in the first year, the district might have to set a cap.

“In the first years if there is a large interest there may be students who are capped out from being able to enter in,” he said. “We want to be able to feed this and grow it and do it right.”

The extension of the administrative position would have devoted more time to the IB program. While the extension was cut, Bloss said the board would reconsider if it were deemed necessary.

“If it turns out that you don’t have enough resources then come back and talk to us and we will try to figure something out,” he said. “We are not going to leave the IB program hanging—we put too much time into it.”

While certain reductions were made, Bloss said public input at the budget workshop meetings showed high levels of interest in adding certain programs and positions. The math coach position, which is essentially embedded professional development, was kept in the budget. Freeman said the math coach position is an important investment to bolster mathematics performance across the district.

“Instructionally this is our single highest priority and when I say ‘we’ I am speaking for the entire leadership team,” he said. “This position, which would allow us to roll out that support, is the single most important investment in this budget and we very much appreciate the support.”

Additionally, listening to input from the public, the proposal to add a swim team and a cheerleading team next year are still in the budget. Freeman had proposed forming a boys and girls swim team and a cheerleading team if a minimum of 10 athletes participate on each. To cover costs, the team would be formed under a pay-for-play arrangement, similar to hockey and rowing, with the BOE covering the cost of coaching ($6,000) and families of athletes picking up the rest of the tab.

“Assuming the budget passes there will be a swim team and a cheerleading team in the fall,” said Bloss.

The BOE-approved budget now moves to the BOF for their consideration on Thursday, Feb. 16. Bloss said it is important people stay involved in the budget process and vote in the budget referendum on Tuesday, April 18.

“The vote on this budget arguably has the single largest impact of any vote on your daily life between fire, police, schools, parks, roads, and snowplowing,” he said. “…I am hopeful that maybe some of the events of the last couple of weeks will encourage people to think that maybe we need to take some more ownership of our relationship with our government and encourage people to come out and vote.”