February 27, 2008
New information on Town Sources and Uses was made available late Tuesday which indicated a substantial increase in projected revenues. Joy at this welcome news
evaporated when the School Committee rushed to proceed with cuts to the school budget despite the enhanced revenue picture.
School Committee voted to make $1.2 million in reductions, which brings the overall town budget to a level which can be funded without an override to Proposition 2½. While some view this as a positive move, there should be no comfort taken without great pause. Significant cuts to the Wellesley Public Schools were made to achieve this. See below for further details.
Thank you for your continued interest in the issues which affect the Wellesley Public Schools. For further information on Committee for Education in the 21st Century (Committee 21), please go to our website.
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Cuts made despite revenue increase
On Tuesday night, School Committee announced that, based on new information, town revenues are projected to be higher than previously reported by over $2 million. The increased projection was driven by favorable health insurance rates and a revised estimate of Chapter 70 state funding.
Up to this point, the WPS Administration had prepared two budgets, one with $1.4 million in reductions and one with $3.1 million in reductions (the "no override" budget). School Committee was preparing to make the $1.4 million in cuts with the intent of keeping the total Town override number down to approximately $3 million.
Despite the announcement of the increased revenue projection, School Committee voted to reduce the budget by $1.2 million, which enables the town to bring a balanced budget to Town Meeting in March and eliminates the need for an override to Proposition 2½.
The specifics of the $1.2 million in budget reductions will be finalized in the coming weeks, though they are expected to be the majority of items previously noted:
Items budgeted to accommodate increasing enrollment:
- Eliminate incremental elementary teacher
- Eliminate incremental elementary library/o.t./support
- Eliminate incremental MS science/speech
- Eliminate incremental HS fitness/industrial tech/SpEd
- Eliminate incremental guidance professional
- Eliminate incremental athletic team funding
- Eliminate incremental orchestra staffing
Items budgeted to
provide support services which have not been funded in the past and which are increasingly needed as enrollment continues to grow:
- Eliminate building support personnel
- Eliminate HS Assistant Principal and secretary
- Eliminate SpEd out-of-district secretary
- Eliminate building technology/data administration specialist
- Eliminate custodian
- Eliminate preschool coordinator
- Eliminate incremental maintenance/custodial staffing
- Eliminate library books
The next step will be for School Committee to present the revised budget at the Annual Town Meeting. Upon Town Meeting approval, the budget will be final.
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No
Override
Comes
at a
Cost
Many who have been involved in the budget process in past years can attest to the difficulty in predicting revenues. Information is made available very late in our process and therefore many decisions are made using assumptions. However, when new information is available and those assumptions change, a thoughtful reassessment of priorities should occur.
The School Committee decision to cut $1.2 million from the school budget, despite the new information on revenues, was done hastily and without public comment.
The result of this action will be that an override vote will not be requested at Town Meeting and of town residents. This should not be confused with the idea that an override was not necessary to fund a level-service budget. In fact, an override of over $1.4 million was necessary to do so.
The residents of Wellesley have demonstrated strong support for town and school services through override votes. It is surprising that such a preemptive move was made despite such persistent public sentiment.
The failure to seek an override comes at a substantial cost. That cost is the continued degradation of the current educational program to an increasing enrollment in the Wellesley Public Schools in both the upcoming fiscal year and in years going forward. And as we have seen repeatedly in the past, once cuts are made, they are rarely, if ever restored.
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Important Dates
CANDIDATES NIGHT
Thu, Feb 28
7:00 pm, WHS cafeteria, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Wellesley.
TOWN ELECTION - VOTE!
Tue, Mar 4
Polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm.
MOVING FORWARD: High School Project Updates
Upper Town Hall, Constituents Meeting
Wellesley Police Station
Wed, Mar 19 at 7:30 pm
WHS Library
Tue, Mar 25 at 9:30 am
Wellesley Free Library, Wakelin Room
ANNUAL TOWN MEETING
Mon, Mar 31
7:30 pm, WMS auditorium
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Committee for Education in the 21st
Century
