Published April 9, 2020
By JILLIAN STRING
NORTH READING — “It’s not an ideal situation,” Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Michael Connelly told School Committee members during their budget workshop on April 1.
Connelly stated that there is currently a $324,654 budget gap for a level services Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) budget, and a $585,000 gap for the recommended budget.
Due to the large gaps and limited potential for new growth in revenue, Connelly noted that the workshop would focus solely on the level services budget.
“I’m certainly less hopeful sitting here today than we have been in previous years with the revenue plan,” Connelly said.
Connelly stated that the plan to close the level services budget would include no new full time equivalent (FTE) positions, thereby reducing salary and benefit costs. By doing this, Connelly noted that the district will be taking a risk that enrollment numbers will not increase.
In order to move forward with STEM and foreign language initiatives at the Middle School, Connelly said that two academic teachers could be hired with 1.0 FTE positions left vacant by retiring staff.
“No one would be losing a job in this scenario,” Connelly said. “It could certainly impact, at the secondary level, some class sizes and some offerings, but I think we would be able to address it.”
Another area of potential savings noted by Connelly was technology expenses. He reported that instead of allocating $60,000 to the technology budget for FY21, the district could rely solely on grant funding awarded from the state’s FY20 budget.
School Committee members agreed that the plan presented would work to balance the level services budget, however there were noted concerns with the lack of new hires and potential impact on class sizes.
“It stinks when you have a budget that you want to meet and you can’t,” Committee Chairman Scott Buckley said. “Just to be clear, this is not level services…This is cutting positions from the schools.”
Buckley noted that the Financial Planning Team needed to understand that under the current proposed budget from the town there will be no way to establish level services. There will be fewer teachers in the classroom and larger class sizes.
“That’s fair. That would all be the case,” Connelly said.
Phone and pin numbers to “attend” meeting
The public hearing for the FY21 School Department budget is scheduled for next Monday, April 13 at 6:30 p.m. It will be held remotely, therefore those members of the public wishing to join the meeting must call the following number: 1-570-731-0195 and enter the following pin: 754 383 474#. Please do so a few minutes prior to the start of the meeting, if possible.