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Paul
Senior Member
158 Posts |
 Posted - 05/08/2006 : 2:53:08 PM
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Layoffs and raised fees possible in school budget
by Janelle Randazza
PEABODY – With a nearly $1 million deficit from fiscal year 2006 looming over their heads, the School Committee entered into budget projections for FY07 at last week’s school committee meeting.
Mayor Michael Bonfanti announced that the school department will get a 4-1/2 percent increase over last year’s budget. Peabody has dealt with a 12 percent increase in health care costs, rising utility expenses and rapidly increasing special education costs. Combine these factors with the loss of federal assistance and $150,000 worth of Title 1 grant money, and the district was looking at an 8.73 percent increase.
As Superintendent of Schools Nadine Binkley announced plans to shave $2.1 million from the school budget, she confronted the committee with raised parking fees and athletic fees and with approximately 45 proposed layoffs for the coming year.
“I went to each of our principals and asked them to give me a list of all their staff that does not have to be there due to contractual or legal obligations,” said Binkley. “We looked at raising fees and cutting four extra-curricular activities at each of the buildings. Unfortunately, that did not bring the budget to where we needed it to be, so we had to move into cutting people,” said Binkley.
The proposal lists long-term substitutes, paraprofessionals, and numerous part-time staff members at each of the district’s ten schools.
Binkley described the budget as one that is not yet firm, but one that should let the district know where it stands in terms of where it may need to cut, and she looked to the School Committee for guidance.
“We are up against a real time crunch here,” said committee member David McGeney, as he reviewed the 2 1/2-page proposal and called for a follow-up meeting for Tuesday, May 2, after the Weekly News goes to press.
The need to cut such a drastic amount and the means by which the district may need to take to get to $2.1 million has made some committee members nervous. The city needs to hold a public hearing to vote on the budget, which is set for June. The budget needs to be in place by June 30.
“We are already two months behind schedule. There is no way we are going through a mess like last year,” said committee member Beverley Griffin Dunne, referring to last year’s budget negotiations, which resulted in this year’s $1 million deficit.
“I don’t know how we are going to resolve this year’s problem but we certainly need to learn from it,” said Dunne.
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PEABODY SCHOOLS UPDATE
