Schools Face Tough Budget for 2009

Program Cuts, Layoffs Necessary to Make Ends Meet for Schools

– Allison Goldsberry

After several years of avoiding painful budget cuts, Medford has been forced to make some tough choices for its schools as it faces a large budget shortfall for 2009.

Before school officials could even begin to piece together a budget for the next fiscal year, they had to scramble to cover a $1.2 million deficit for 2008 caused by rising health care and fuel costs as well as some unexpected expenses caused by a small fire last summer.

Mayor Michael McGlynn said the schools would have a balanced budget if not for the huge jump in fuel costs and if employee unions had agreed to a two percent increase in their health insurance.

Mayor McGlynn said the city will take a significant amount from the sale of the former Lincoln-Kennedy School to eliminate the 2008 deficit for the schools. The school, being developed into fifty housing units, recently sold for $1,560,000.

According to School Superintendent Roy Belson, rising costs and decreased local aid left the schools $3.4 million short to create a budget that would provide the same level of services for next year. The proposed $44,840,000 budget for fiscal year 2009 is $200,000 higher than the one for 2008 yet is $599,000 lower than the actual expended budget for 2008.

Starting off the fiscal year 2009 budget $3.4 million in the hole has made budget cuts unavoidable, a fate that Medford has so far been able to avoid despite losing nearly $40 million in local aid from the state over the past six years, according to the Mayor.

“We’re getting killed in local aid…eventually that’s going to catch up to you,” said McGlynn.

Superintendent Belson said this has been one of the most difficult budgets he has ever faced.

“There’s no good place to cut. There’s nothing that I cut that I wouldn’t like back,” said Belson.

Belson said the budget is not ideal but is necessary given the economic constraints the schools face.

“The budget…is not my vision for Medford but is a viable plan for the operation of our schools during this very deep fiscal crisis,” said Belson.

Indeed, there are many cuts in the budget for next year. Highlights include:

– Forty-eight staff layoffs, including three administrators, ten elementary school teachers, twelve instruction and faculty staffers, two guidance counselors, two librarians, one technology specialist, six paraprofessionals, two secretaries, three custodians, and six security guards. The net number of layoffs, exclusive of retirements, is twenty-nine

– The elimination of foreign language for sixth and seventh grade and the elimination of French as an option

– A cut of the security force at Medford High School from eight security officers to two. The school will operate with one head security officer, one security officer for the Vocational School, and one Medford Police officer assigned to the school

– Reductions for student activity stipends, assistant coaches, and kindergarten aides

– The consolidation of the English Language Arts and Social Studies departments into a Department of the Humanities, and the folding of the Fine Arts Department into the Media and Technology Department

– A reorganization of the high school administration to cover a submaster retirement that won’t be replaced. The high school will operate with its headmaster and three submasters instead of four

– The closing of the Fulton School. The four students at the school and its staff will be absorbed into the Special Education Department and the school will be sold

– Higher class sizes across the board, with an average of an additional 2.4 students per class. Class sizes will still remain within the amount required by the teachers’ contracts

– A cut in the amount spent on textbooks and instructional materials

– The elimination of one bus, which will make some routes longer

The School Committee voted to approve the budget, 5-2, with School Committee members Lena DiGiantommaso and Robert Skerry dissenting, which now heads to the City Council for final approval. The Council must approve the entire budget for the city, for both school and municipal services, before fiscal year 2008 ends on June 30.