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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-01-09 School Committee MinutesReading School Committee Reading, Massachusetts Regular Session January 9, 2003 CALL TO ORDER Chair Griset called the meeting to order at 7:45 p.m. in the Superintendent's Conference Room. Present were School Committee Members Cavicchi, Dahl, Griset, McFadden, Russo, Twomey and Student Representative Jake Hanin. Also present were Superintendent Harutunian, Associate Superintendent Richards, Town Accountant Richard Foley, Finance Committee Members Martin and McDonald and Board of Selectmen Matt Cummings. BILLS & PAYROLL The Committee signed the bills and payroll. CITZENS INPUT There was no citizen input. FY04 BUDGET Chair Griset stated that the process for this evening would be to hear from the Superintendent on the budget reductions and then School Committee and the public would ask for clarification. He stated that they would not go into detail on the prioritized list. Dr. Harutunian advised that the profit and loss statement from the Director of Food Services would be available at the end of next week. Dr. Harutunian briefly reviewed the budget process. Dr. Harutunian discussed the potential shortfalls in the FY03 budget due to a decrease in METCO funding, the repairs to the Barrows boiler, the state's inability to pay their portion of special education residential placement from April through June 30th, additional special educational costs, the maintenance account being under funded, the substitute teacher account being under funded and additional attorney fees for litigation that occurred this year. Dr. Harutunian stated that he is hoping the Finance Committee will recognize and cover the following portions of the shortfalls, the $25,400 for the boiler, the $70,000 due to state not funding special education residential placements and the $25,000 legal fees for litigation. Town Accountant Foley discussed projected revenues for the Town. Regular Session 2 January 9, 2003 Mr. McDonald stated that there was an announcement from the Governor today that he would be cutting local aid by 5% for the next two payments. Dr. Harutunian discussed the administration's recommended, prioritized reduction list. He stated that there are three break points the first one is the amount of money that will need to be reduced if there are no local aid reductions, the second one is if there is a 10% cut in local aid and the third is if there is a 20% cut in local aid. Dr. Harutunian reviewed the FY03, FY02 and FY01 staff cuts. Chair Dahl stated that the list is the Superintendent's recommendation. He stated that there would be adequate time over the next few weeks to add, subtract or re- prioritize if it is the will of the Committee to do so. Dr. Harutunian stated that items A through BK are not prioritized, as he believes that in the best -case scenario all of those items will be eliminated. He stated that items 67 through 78 represent cuts that will have to be made if the state reduces local aid by 10% and items 79 through 91 represent cuts that will have to be made in the state reduces local aid by 20 %. Dr. Harutunian stated that he will be recommending to the Committee if the minimum cuts go through that graduation requirements by dropped to the state level. Mr. Dahl asked about the reduction of athletic teams. Dr. Harutunian stated that when the justificationlimpact statements are presented to the Committee next week the teams will be named. Mr. McFadden asked for clarification on the user fee. Dr. Harutunian stated that the user fee would be $200 per sport. Mr. Russo asked for information on the state's minimum requirements for professional development. Mr. Foley stated that he would provide that information to Mr. Russo. Ms. Webb asked if the tutors serve students on special education plans. Dr. Harutunian stated that they tutor in the area of math and reading but the vast majority of students are not special education students. Mr. Twomey asked currently how many middle school science and social studies teachers do we have. Regular Session 3 January 9, 2003 Dr. Harutunian advised that we currently have total of 11 science teachers and 11 social studies teachers. Mr. Twomey asked if the revenue for all day kindergarten was low. Dr. Harutunian stated that he is still waiting to get more solid data over the next two weeks and he will come back to the Committee with a firm number. Mr. McFadden asked if there is a cap on the user fee. Dr. Harutunian advised that he is recommending a $200 per sport fee with no family cap. Cathy Martin asked how special education cuts at the high school would affect students with IEPs. Dr. Harutunian advised that the high school you increase class size from 12 students in with one teacher to 15 students with a teacher and an educational assistant. Mr. Stager asked Dr. Harutunian if he had included the savings on salary increases from the teachers being laid off. Dr. Harutunian advised that he had not because there is no money built in to cover long- term illness of staff and the cost of unemployment. Mr. Dahl asked if health insurance savings had been included in the proposed reductions. Mr. Foley stated that the adjustment for health insurance is not made because any savings seen in health insurance is offset by the cost of unemployment. A member of the audience asked if the Committee is discussing salary freezes. Chair Griset stated nothing has been taken off the table. He stated that negotiated salaries are a matter of executive session discussion. Mr. McFadden stated that the 51 teachers equates to 20% of the total. He asked if the teachers would be laid off by last in first out and if so had an adjustment been made in the tuition reimbursement account to offset younger teachers being laid off. Dr. Harutunian advised that last in first out was not necessarily the case because of specialty teaching. Ms. Webb stated that by the end of the cuts all elementary library media specialists would be eliminated. She asked if the libraries would be closed. Regular Session 4 January 9, 2003 Dr. Harutunian advised that closing the library at the high school would create an accreditation issue. He stated that teachers would still have access to the library for classes. He stated that parent volunteers would be needed to restock books. Ms. Webb asked what the impact would be on class size after eliminating elementary teachers. Dr. Harutunian stated that obviously class size would increase but it is too early for a detailed chart, as specific teachers have not been identified. Mr. Dahl asked Selectmen Cummings when the Board of Selectmen planned to make public their recommended cut list for the town. Mr. Cummings stated that the list would be available within the next week to two weeks and that the cuts would be severe. Mr. Dahl discussed the need for a motion asking the Selectmen to consider an operational override. ADJOURN At 9:15 p.m. Ms. Cavicchi moved to adiourn. Mr. McFadden seconded the motion. The vote was 6 -0 Ms. Cavicchi, Mr. Dahl, Mr. Griset, Mr. McFadden, Mr. Russo and Mr. Twomey. ectfully�/subm ed, D<. I Harry K. arutunian, Ph.D. Superintendent of Schools