The Newton Public Schools FY 10 budget could potentially gain an extra $2.1 million on top of the previously allocated $164 million, announced Mayor David Cohen on April 15. $1.7 million comes from the federal stimulus package, and $400,000 is a portion of the $1 million that Cohen borrowed from the FY 09 budget.
Two weeks ago, Cohen alerted the School Committee that in addition to the stimulus money, he would be re-paying the $1 million that he borrowed to shore up the city’s free-cash account.
On April 13, the School Committee planned to discuss bringing the finalized budget to a vote on April 15. However, the vote was postponed because Cohen did not have a final word about the status of the municipal relief fund, money granted to Newton by state legislators, which would necessitate him holding on to the borrowed $1 million.
“I cannot tell you at this point that [the relief funds are] going to happen,” Cohen said.
Susie Heyman, a School Committee member, was shocked. “We’ve had had a difficult time with the budget, but I’m still confused about what happen tonight,” she said. “Why do state matters affect the million $1 million total?”
Claire Sokoloff, vice-chair of the School Committee, was also confused. “This takes my breath away because I really thought very recently when we had this conversation in this room [that] we had a pretty clear understanding of how to proceed.
We are going to have to go back to the drawing board,” Sokoloff said.
School Committee chair Marc Laredo attempted to obtain concrete budget numbers from Cohen for over 30 minutes. Cohen, however, could not decide how much money to give
Committee members were not ready to devise a third budget plan accommodating Cohen’s possible changes. “With $1 million missing we are asking [the committee] to make a plan for the third time and not promising that it will be used. All their hard work will go to waste in some way,” student representative in the committee Ben Miller said.
After almost losing the $1 million, Heyman, Laredo and Sokoloff met with Cohen on April 14 to discuss the upcoming budget meetings.
In the meeting, Cohen announced that he planned to restore the $1 million that he owed the city, and promised to disclose the sources of the funding on April 15.
The announcement brought temporary relief to the committee members.
“I’m glad that the money is going to be a part of our budget. Now we can continue with our revised budget plans,” Laredo said.
Adding another twist to the budgetary process, on April 15, Cohen only gave Newton $400,000, due to a decrease in state funding for local communities.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the possible class restorations, but the vote did not take place due to the uncertainty of additional funding.
At the meeting, many stressed the importance of balance in determining which classes should be restored. “It’s really just a matter of trade-offs for us,” North Principal Jennifer Price said. “One of the things that I’ve really thought about is ‘how do we get to a place where we have a requirement that makes sense for kids but that doesn’t force us to cut some departments in order to support larger requirements in other departments?’”
As the discussion of balance progressed, the conversation began to move towards what exactly would have be cut back in order to ensure balance, particularly in the Wellness department.
“We have some really wonderful offerings [as Wellness electives],” South Assistant Principal Mary Scott said. “My understanding is that we will restructure the four required courses and move them so that they’re not all captured in the first and second year. We’re also going to leave some room, even with the five-semester requirement, so that kids can take electives.”
Both Price and Scott estimated that between 20 percent and 25 percent of students would participate in the electives.
With the budget vote still postponed, some Newton teachers are questioning their job security. “I know I’m the last one on the totem pole, however, I’m keeping my fingers crossed and trying not to think about [my job] because its out of my hands,” Shauna Pellauer, a new English teacher at South, said.
“The longer we hold off and don’t vote we’ll lose more young teachers,” South PTSO co-president Julie Sall said.
According to Heyman, Cohen values the talent of new teachers and wants to do anything he can to “hold onto these beautiful young teachers.” Heyman summarized the budget process as a “rollercoaster ride.”
Scott underscored the necessity of deciding on a finalized budget as soon as possible. “We [South’s administration] understand that it’s difficult to make decisions, but we are disappointed because we were anxious to get it resolved today so we can tell our department heads about the exact number of positions they would have for their staff. We don’t want the teachers to be not sure about their job security.”
The School Committee will be meeting on April 27 to attempt a final budgetary vote for FY 10.
There was one outcome of the April 15 meeting: the School Committee voted six to two to reduce the graduating requirements for Wellness from seven to five for both North and South.
