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Public invited to second public hearing on school budget

Date: 4/4/2012

April 4, 2012

By Debbie Gardner

debbieg@thereminder.com

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The public will have a second opportunity to weigh in on the town's proposed School Department budget for 2012-13 on April 9.

The public hearing is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Municipal Building, which is located on the second floor.

School Superintendent Dr. Russell Johnston told Reminder Publications that, as in past years, Mayor Gregory Neffinger requested that he prepare three different budget scenarios for the coming school year — a level funded budget, a level service budget and a budget that reflects a 5 percent reduction in spending.

"This year there's a much bigger jump from level service to level funded," Johnston said. "It reflects the end of [Federal] Education Jobs Act funding, an increase in wages. "

He said the difference between the level service budget of $38.2 million and a level funded budget is a reduction of nearly $2.8 million.

"We're already living with a reduction of $1 million [from last year]," Johnston said, indicating that to cut costs for 2011-12, his department had cut supply expenses, travel, and professional development spending. "We can't do that again. [Those areas] can't be reduced further … [cuts] go right to human resources this year."

Under the level-funded budget scenario, Johnston said the School Department would need to cut 29 teaching positions and one and a half professional staff positions.

Johnston said there are "no firm plans yet" how the level service budget would affect class sizes, but he is working "behind the scenes" with the principals of the town's schools to see where there are "natural ways to save [through retirements and program consolidations] without making an additional impact on student services."

In addition to the teacher reductions, a level service budget would also translate into reductions in administrative staff and custodians, as well as cuts in after-school buses, sports and programs.

He added that the staff cuts under the level service budget would also add $853,652 in unemployment costs to the school budget.

At the 5 percent reduction level — which Johnston said really looks more like an 8 percent cut with everything factored in — the department would need to cut an additional 20 teaching positions, among other reductions.

That scenario, he said, would leave the schools operating on a budget of approximately $31.8 million.

"Now we're up to [laying off] 50 teachers," Johnston said. "If we have to lay off that many teachers, it would get to the point where [we] would have to lay off the more expensive teachers," meaning more experienced staff would begin to feel the cuts.

That level of staff reduction "becomes a big concern for student safety and learning," Johnston said. At the 5 percent reduction, Johnston said "we would [also] have to see all of our [after-school] clubs go."

Johnston said the reduction— or possible elimination — of after-school clubs and activities is a concern to him because "those clubs are often a lifeline for many students. It's where they shine, make connections and make friends."

With many students needing extracurricular activities for college application resumes, he said this cut would have a "compounding effect" on the education of West Springfield students.

Sports too, would suffer severely under the 5 percent reduction scenario, with the virtual elimination of freshman level teams and increases in sports fees for junior varsity and varsity sports. Johnston noted the proposed reduction is sports in last year's budget process raised "a lot of concern from parents."

He said, with continued reductions in School Department revenues from all sources, it gets "harder and harder to make [budget cuts] work as time goes on. It worked last year, but there's not as much room to make reductions [through retirements and attrition] as last year."

Johnston invited all concerned residents to attend the April 9 public budget hearing.

"We certainly are encouraging families to speak out, to raise their concerns and to voice ideas about budget savings and about things that could be reduced," he said.



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