Wellesley schools outline capital cost-cutting measures

WELLESLEY

Even as they are seeking ways to cut back their operating budget by as much as $3 million for next year, Wellesley school officials this week unveiled a plan to trim capital costs as well.

Among the cuts approved by the school committee were scrapping a $35,000 project to install energy-saving lighting improvements at Schofield and Upham elementary schools and putting off the purchse of $87,423 in new computers and classroom instructional equipment.

The cuts were prompted by a request from the town's Advisory Committee that the school department cut its budget for next year down to this year's level. To do that, Business Manager for School Administration Ruth Quinn Berdell said, the committee had to cut its $1.3 million capital budget request back by approximately $350,000.

Town officials have yet to decide whether to ask voters for a Proposition 2 1/2 override to help close the town's budget gap, which is currently estimated at about $5 million. But Hans Larsen, the town's executive director, this week called it "increasingly likely" that residents will go to the polls for an override vote later this Spring.

-- Lisa Keen