Finance Committee Hears Differing Recommendations On Proposed School Budget

$152,000.

That’s the difference between the 2.5 percent Westford School Department increase Town Manager Jodi Ross is asking for and the 2.78 percent increase recommended by Westford School Department Superintendent Bill Olsen.

That discrepancy and a series of other issues were discussed on Thursday as the Finance Committee continued its work preparing a recommended town budget for Town Meeting in April.

Within the Fiscal Year 2017 School Department budget presented by Olsen on Thursday, enrollment projections were the major driver behind staffing recommendations.

Student populations remain near record levels at Westford Academy, with Olsen recommending another full time equivalent (FTE) position for a science teacher at Westford Academy, and an additional 0.4 FTE for a Westford Academy math teacher.

He also recommended increasing curriculum coordinator funding from 0.6 FTE to 0.8 FTE and adding a 1.0 FTE Westford Academy special education teacher, a 1.0 FTE special education assistant and 3.0 FTE contingency special education assistants, with $4,000 to supply these new teachers.

While Olsen told the Finance Committee his projections were cautious, he also noted that enrollment in the future is projected to fall, with elementary schools already beginning to a small decline. On that note, he indicated he would be removing 4.0 FTE positions from elementary schools in town.

Olsen also requested $164,400 for two additional vans and drivers for special education out-of-district transit funding, a network he says has saved over $5 million since its inception in 1985.

Much of the strain on the Westford School budget has come from an increase in mandated special education costs, which in 2014 rose to 17.6% of the entire department’s budget.

Olsen said that Westford’s schools have a moral and ethical responsibility to educate every child regardless of disability, but he also noted that Westford’s costs may be due in part to Westford’s good reputation when it comes to schools.

“We’re a victim of our own success from a financial perspective,” he said. “If I was a parent of a child needing special education services, I’d want to move to Westford myself.”

Concerns over infrastructure costs were also a topic, particularly with the new PARCC/MCAS hybrid system beginning to roll out throughout the state.

Assistant Superintendent Kerry Clery said that state officials are expected to require all standardized tests be given online by 2019. In this year’s first post-MCAS test, the Crisafulli School was able to provide an online test, but Clery is unsure if all of Westford’s schools can meet the 2019 deadline given current resources.

Town Manager Jodi Ross was empathetic to concerns presented by Olsen, but told the Finance Committee that it would become difficult to make ends meet without her 2.5 percent increase cap.

Ross told the board that the town’s other departments have been provided with only a 0.9 percent recommended increase due in large part to rising health insurance costs. She also noted that state aid is flat, free cash is down to $600,000 and other projects are coming soon such as the Westford Academy leech field, six staff contract negotiations and funding for litigation surrounding the proposed Groton Road asphalt plant.

Selectman Kelly Ross noted budgetary difficulties in recent years when Olsen used one-time funding to pay for new staff, which eventually led to underfunding teachers versus comparable school districts and a stressful 2012 teachers’ contract renegotiation.

“It’s really painful to find that $150,000 now,” said Ross. “But if you don’t do that, it just leads to a much bigger problem later.

School Committee Chairman Arthur Benoit told the board that his committee would reexamine what they could do to come in with a 2.5 percent increase for a future meeting, which is project sometime in late February.