School Committee Recommends 6.36 Percent Budget Increase

by William F. Galvin

            HARWICH – The school committee has put forth a $15.5 million budget for FY 2011, a 6.36 percent increase over the present year. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carolyn Cragin called the request a “bare bones budget” during a public hearing last week.

            School Committee Chair Polly Hemstock said the administration and staff did a yeoman’s job given the financial realities facing the community, but she added the reality is “we’re not moving forward, we’re losing ground.”

            Hemstock drew attention to three initiatives contained in the budget. One is the reconfiguring of school populations through the relocation of the fifth grade from the elementary school to the middle school (see related story).

            The second is providing a fully integrated foreign language program with the addition of a full-time middle school language teacher, which will add an additional year of language learning at the high school.

            The third is the addition of a new autism program at the elementary school with the hiring of a full-time autism specialist and instructional assistant. The program is designed to educate students in district and save on the cost of out-of-district placement.

            The proposed budget is $15,519,173 and seeks $927,882 more than this year.  Salaries make up more than two-thirds of the budget, $11,376,764, a 4.44 percent increase over this year.

The superintendent said the request does not include any contractual adjustments because contract negotiations won’t begin until January. However, it does include step increases, and with a younger staff there are more than in the past, Cragin said.

The request for school expenses is up 12.02 percent, to $4,142,409. The superintendent attributed that rise to a new writing program and the need to infuse money into the “Make Way For Kids Program” operated out of the elementary school. Cragin said the program had been supported by state and federal grants for many years but those grants are declining. The increase is for materials used in that preschool program.

Cragin said over the past two years the term “progressive” has been used to define the budget, but she admitted that is a challenge this year because she had to look at requests from the perspective of financial realities. She called the budget close to level services, but it includes “improvements we couldn’t ignore.”

She said it will “provide the opportunities the children deserve and the parents expect. We’ll try to accomplish a significant amount of tasks with a little amount of money.”           

The superintendent said the administrative priorities are to sustain progress for students, the schools and the district, enhancing student achievement, maintaining programs and opportunities while keeping reasonable class sizes and supporting inclusion.

Special Education Director Tony Teso said there is a concerted effort to get special education students, fully included in general education classroom. They set a goal for this year of 68 percent of those students and they are at 67.4 percent. The effort includes bringing students back from outside placements.

Teso said inclusion is about addressing social and emotional needs and it is important these students feel accepted. He said the system is heading in the right direction with this program.

As for the plan to incorporate the autism program into the elementary school, Cragin said it is not mandated by the state, but it would meet the individual needs of some students who would otherwise require out-of-district placement under special education requirements.

“It’s likely this program will pay for itself,” Cragin said.  

The superintendent said she does not see a change in the warning status given to the high school by the New England Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges until facilities are conducive to learning. The conditions at the middle and high school make learning challenging, the superintendent said.

There are two articles planned that would assist to address concerns raised by NEASC. One seeks $125,251 to bring 21^st century technology into classrooms in each of three schools, including more laptops, desktops, SMART boards and LCD projectors.

The other seeks $75,000 to address critical maintenance issues.

“We need to have buildings where learning can be respected and our facilities are somewhat challenging,” Cragin said.

While pointing out School Choice coming into the district has increased by more than double since 2005 through efforts to publicize the attributes of the district, the district continues to lose more students than it brings in, Cragin said. While the district brings in almost $700,000 through School Choice, it loses more than $1 million.

Every year, Cragin said, the district loses ground in its five-year capital maintenance plan. It is important for the schools to have “curb appeal” so that when parents drive by with a three-year-old child they make the decision to send that child to Harwich schools.

This year the district received $240,357 through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Those funds were directed to recovery, reinstating positions that were cut, Cragin said. The act requires 50 percent go toward recovery and 50 percent to reinvestment.

The district will miss those recovery funds, but next year they must direct $240,000 toward reinvestment, and they are looking at professional development programs. There is not a whole lot that can be considered reinvestment, the superintendent said.   

“We believe the budget will do what we need to do for the schools,” Cragin said of the school committee’s recommendation. “It will meet the critical needs of the schools.”

The superintendent also said this budget is the beginning of a dialogue with town officials that will continue into town meeting in the spring.

11/5/09