Schools strain to hit target for budget cuts

The task is complicated by the state’s requirement that Weymouth spend about $4 million more on its schools next year, said Superintendent Mary Jo Livingstone.

“This certainly isn’t the fun part of the job,’’ Livingstone said. “It’s frustrating, but really it’s sad because we’ve tried very hard to build up and make improvements in our school system, and we continually have to tear it apart.’’

Livingstone, who has been superintendent for three years but has worked in the Weymouth system for her entire 25-year career, said she expects layoffs and bigger class sizes next school year. “There are possibilities of buildings closing,’’ she said.

Livingstone and the School Committee had proposed a $55.5 million budget for the year starting July 1, which would have maintained the current level of services, she said.

The $55.5 million also would have satisfied the state’s minimum requirement for the schools, she said. The state warned the town earlier this year that it was below its mandated level.

If the state mandate isn’t met, there are three possible consequences, according to Livingstone: The state Department of Revenue could refuse to certify Weymouth’s tax rate; the state could take the required money out of Weymouth’s local aid; or the state attorney general could step in and require the town to restore the district’s budget.

“Essentially, the attorney general takes over,’’ Livingstone said of the last step. “I don’t believe that has ever happened before in Massachusetts.’’

Mayor Sue Kay’s $126.2 million budget proposal for the 2011 fiscal year cut spending for all departments, not just the schools. She said the cuts were necessary because of declining revenue and increased retirement and health-insurance costs.

“Generally speaking, this budget saddens me,’’ Kay said in a written report. “It does not reflect what I believe what a government should offer its citizens. This budget does, however, reflect the state of our economy. Cutbacks have become the ordinary course of doing business.

“For two years, this town has utilized all available resources to provide an acceptable level of service to our citizens. That level of service requires manpower. Last year, my goal was to keep as many of our employees working as possible. We can no longer accomplish this goal. We will eliminate positions. We will have layoffs.’’

Livingstone said she expected to be able to cut about $1 million from the non-personnel portions of the school budget, such things as buying textbooks or heating schools. She said if the remaining $3 million had to come from personnel expenses, it would mean about 75 layoffs.

Weymouth schools employ about 1,100 people; a little more than 500 are teachers, Livingstone said.

Another possible route to save about $1.5 million, she said, is for school employees to give up contracted pay raises. Teachers are in contract negotiations now, she said.

Livingstone said she hoped the budget problems didn’t turn into fighting among town departments for scarce dollars.

“The town is at a point where, as a whole, it has a revenue problem that has to be addressed,’’ she said. “Each of the town departments has received underfunded budgets.’’

She said one long-term solution is to raise property taxes through a Proposition 2 1/2 override. Weymouth hasn’t asked voters to approve an override since 1988, when two proposals failed by massive margins.

Financing municipal government “is not as complicated as people like to make it,’’ Livingstone said. “If you have a shortfall, either you decrease expenses or increase revenue.

“Unfortunately, the schools have been reducing expenses for the last two years, and there’s not a lot of places to go without having a dramatic impact on our ability to provide a quality education. I believe you would hear the same thing from the other town departments — the police, fire, and DPW.’’

She said some have been discussing an override of Proposition 2 1/2, the state law that limits the amount of additional property tax revenue that a community can raise each year — without the permission of voters — to 2.5 percent, plus any revenue from new real estate development.

“From a purely fiscal and mathematical viewpoint, it’s very apparent that is the long-term solution. How we get there, and when, is another issue,’’ she said.

Livingstone said she plans to give her proposed budget cuts to the School Committee before its May 6 meeting. She said the schools will present the final version to the Town Council on June 2.

Johanna Seltz can be reached at seelenfam@verizon.net.