Districts gird to make do in wake of cuts

Faced with dwindling state and local funds, public schools in numerous area communities have axed faculty and other staff members. Teachers, librarians, administrators, secretaries, and custodians have all lost their jobs in the latest round of cuts.

The list of area municipalities trimming their school costs include Arlington, Belmont, Framingham, and Franklin, as well as communities in regional school districts such as Groton, Dunstable, Upton, and Mendon.

Some of the communities had proposed property tax increases, hoping to replace lost state aid with local revenues, that were turned down by voters.

A transfusion of federal funds, including approximately $204 million expected to come to Massachusetts schools from the Education Jobs Fund announced last week, may help ease the pain.

Questions remain, however, as to how the money can be used and when it will arrive. Officials say that any changes, including possible rehires, might not start until as late as November.

“I would say this is the worst cycle I’ve seen in 30 years,’’ said Steven Hiersche, superintendent of Framingham’s school district. His town had not sought to override Proposition 2 1/2’s limits on tax increases this year.

Among other reductions, Framingham eliminated busing for students who live within 2 miles of school, leaving more than 1,000 students looking for other ways to and from school.

“This has been the end year of a number of years which have been difficult,’’ Hiersche said. “This is the most difficult. People are struggling.’’

Belmont’s superintendent, George Entwistle, said it’s too early to know what the federal funding will mean for his school district. Voters this year rejected a $2 million override request that would have provided about $1 million to the schools.

Among other measures, the district eliminated the librarian and library aides working in the town’s four elementary schools.

“Essentially, the elementary library program has been cut,’’ Entwistle said.

Voters in Franklin turned down a request for $3 million in additional taxes that would have given about $1.8 million to the schools. The district then cut 18 teachers — 10 from its elementary schools and eight from the middle school — and eliminated three bus routes.

“These are teachers who are not teaching in classrooms,’’ Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski said of the cuts in Franklin. “Bus routes are going to be longer, buses are going to be closer to capacity. I think we anticipate that it’s going to be a struggle, moving forward.’’

She said the district’s dire financial straits are driven, in part, by decreasing federal Chapter 70 funding — a primary source of state aid to schools, which legislators cut by more than 4 percent in March. Without the override, said Sabolinski, local revenue is insufficient to close the gap.

Such is the situation in the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District, according to Jerry Martin, its director of business and finance. The district’s request for a $1.2 million Proposition 2 1/2 override in May was turned down by voters.

Among other reductions, the district then cut five teachers and six other classroom staff members, in addition to an assistant principal, a curriculum director, two library assistants, and two custodians, Martin said.

No override was proposed this year in Arlington, where the district laid off its 34 crossing guards. Some may be rehired, but even if that happens, officials predicted that the fall session would start with fewer of the traffic supervisors watching over intersections near its schools.

Globe correspondent Megan McKee contributed to this report.