Schools holding out for $92.1m
Officials to pitch budget to residents Wednesday
Pay raises for teachers, increases in gas and heating oil prices, and a continued rise in special education costs have led Framingham's School Committee to ask for a budget of $92.1 million for the next fiscal year. That's 11 percent above this year's budget for the school system, and $9.2 million more than the town's fiscal officials recommended.
The budget will be the subject of an 8 p.m. public hearing Wednesday in the school district's King Administration Building, at 454 Water St.
"I want as much transparency about this budget as possible and I want input, too," said the district's interim superintendent, Eugene Thayer. "It's the public's chance to give us input, both from the point of view of things that should be in there and things that they don't agree should be in there."
School and town officials have been meeting regularly since last month to address increases in the district's spending on everything from transportation to special education. Thayer said the budget number could change before a final proposal is presented to Town Meeting voters on April 29, noting that the $92.1 million figure does not include the addition of new jobs.
The amount recommended for the school budget was $82.9 million, said Jennifer Pratt, Framingham's assistant chief financial officer.
In citing causes of the increase, Thayer noted that the contract settlement with teachers accounts for $3 million to $4 million, while the cost of heat and utilities is up $300,000, and busing and transportation is increasing by $250,000. And, he said, special education costs will go up by $963,000, with the number of students needing early-intervention help next year increasing by 51, to 84.
This year's budget had a $1.7 million deficit, which the town had to cover. But Thayer, who had not started his one-year interim stint when the spending plan was drafted last year, is trying to conservatively estimate revenues for the 2009 fiscal year, which starts July 1.
The school district has applied for a number of grants, including a $330,000, two-year grant for a dual language-immersion program, but Thayer is not including those monies in his spending request.
"He's building the budget assuming that the grants aren't going to come through," said School Committee chairman Philip Dinsky. "That's why some of the monies won't be there that were there last year."
The public hearing will allow feedback on the budget, and changes to it will likely be made until it goes before Town Meeting for approval, say school officials.
"My responsibility is to give the School Committee the things that we need to make the system run and the Finance Committee has to keep track of finances in town," Thayer said. "Town Meeting has the ultimate responsibility to vote, and it may or may not agree with the number I give." 