66°
NORTHBRIDGE, Mass. – The Finance Committee got its first look last night at a proposed $24.5 million school budget for fiscal year 2013, an increase of $973,475 over fiscal year 2012.
Of the total, the town will be asked to appropriate $21.3 million, $15 million expected to come from Chapter 70 state aid and $6.2 million from town coffers. The remainder will come from $1.6 million in grants and $2.1 million from the school department’s revolver fund.
Contracted salary raises account for about $500,000 of the requested increase, noted School Department’s Business Manager Melissa Walker; the rest due to new positions, out of district tuitions and transportation.
New positions include assistant principals at the Balmer and Middle Schools, a first grade teacher at the elementary school, four instructional assistants, a technology specialist and a behavior specialist at the Balmer School.
FinCom Chairman Salvatore D’Amato said the real story behind the school budget is the cost of special education.
Of the approximately 1,600 students in the district, 418 receive special education services mandated by state and federal law.
The cost of special education for fiscal year 2013 is projected to be $7.6 million, 31 percent of the total school budget. The state, however, will only pay $1.1 million of the state-mandated programs.
“Every child deserves a quality education,’’ D’Amato said, but it comes at a cost.
The budget proposal, Gorky said, is at “rock bottom.’’
“The bottom line is teachers and students need our support,’’ she said.
Gorky said administrators often hear residents fear there will be drastic cuts as there were in 2007 and 2008 when about 98 positions, including 64 teachers, were eliminated
“It is our due diligence to make sure that doesn’t happen again,’’ she said.
Can someone blow into my car starter?