FY13 Draft Budget Posted; Hearing Next Tuesday

The proposed FY13 district budget is now available to view on the district website. This is the first view many of us will have of the document, which the school committee has developed through one of the quietest budget seasons in quite some time.

The district again this year will utilize fellows from both Merrimack and Endicott Colleges to supplement classroom and special education teachers.

The Northshore Education Consortium's [NEC] Recovery High School program, which had been renting space in the Memorial Building for the past 5 years will be relocating in FY13 which results in a reduction of $125,000 in rental income for the District. The District continues to rent the McKeown School to the NEC, and also plans to move 4 sections of full-day Pre-K to the NEC building on Sohier Road to free up space in the elementary schools.

The FY13 Budget contains changes in staffing, operating budgets, programs and revenues. These changes are reflected below. The changes in staffing result in a total increase of 3.8 full-time equivalents (FTE).

Here are other highlights, as stated in the document:

A. Positions/Adjustments
1. At the district level (effective FTE changes = -2)

• Addition of clerical support for Business/Personnel ($20,000). 
• Add salary increases for individually contracted employees. These employees have not received raises for three years. 
• Add $50,000 back into the budget to pay a salary that was previously covered under the revolving account. 
• Remove $2500 from revenues due to loss of sales from beverage agreements. We no longer have vending machines in schools due to nutritional guidelines. 
• Cut the position of Academic Division Leader due to retirement. 
• Cut a Title I teaching position due to retirement and replaced with tutors. 

2. At the elementary level (effective FTE additions = +2.2)
 Ayers Elementary School

• Increase 1FTE in Grade 3 due to projected enrollment. 
• Decrease 1 FTE in Grade 1 due to projected enrollment. 
• Add .2 TLC teacher to support social/emotional learning. 

Centerville Elementary

• Decrease 1 FTE in Grade 1 due to projected enrollment. 
• Increase 1 FTE TLC teacher to support social/emotional learning. 
• Increase 1 FTE teacher in Grade 3 due to projected enrollment. 
• Increase 1 FTE in Full Day Kindergarten due to projected enrollment (moved from Ayers). 
• Increase 1 paraprofessional in additional Full Day Kindergarten class (Moved from Ayers). 

Cove Elementary School

• Decrease 1 FTE in Grade 2 due to projected enrollment. 
• Increase 1 FTE in Grade 3 due to projected enrollment. 
• Increase 1 FTE in Grade 5 due to projected enrollment. 
• Increase 1 FTE TLC teacher to support social/emotional learning. 
• Decrease 1 FTE paraprofessional for TLC support no longer needed. 

Hannah Elementary School

• Increase 1 FTE in Grade 3 due to projected enrollment. 
• Increase 1 FTE TLC teacher to support social/emotional learning. 
• Decreased 1 FTE paraprofessional for TLC support no longer needed. 
• Increase 1 FTE Full Day Kindergarten teacher due to projected enrollment (moved from North Beverly). 
• Increase 1 paraprofessional for additional Full Day Kindergarten class (Moved from North Beverly). 

North Beverly Elementary School

• Increase 1 FTE for TLC to support social/emotional learning. 
• Decreased 1 FTE paraprofessional for TLC support no longer needed. 
• Increase 2 Fellows to help support large class size in Grades 1 and 2. 

3. At Briscoe Middle School: (effective FTE additions = +.6 FTE)

• Decrease of .4 Reading teacher due to decrease in class size for Grade 6 Reading program.
• Increase in 1 FTE for Special Education to support social/emotional learning. 
• Decrease in Fine Arts Facilitator due to retirement and consolidation with other departments. 
• Increase a Math and Science Facilitator due to the retirement of the Academic Division Leader for Math and Science. 
• Add a special education facilitator to help address oversight of programs at the middle school. 
• Add additional teaching 6th for the SBI program due to large class size in Grade 7. 
• Increase expressive arts rotation for technology to prepare students for high school and reduce class size in expressive arts. 

4. At Beverly High School: (effective FTE additions 3 FTE)

• Increase custodial overtime to support maintaining new high school building.
• Replace the Certified Medical Assistant with an LPN due to medication administration.
• Increase 1 FTE in English to reduce class size from 30+ to 25.
• Increase 1 FTE in PE/Wellness to reduce class size from 30+ to 25.
• Increase 1 FTE in Foreign Language to add ASL to electives to support Mass Common Core requirements for all students.
• Increase teaching 6th to reduce class size.

B. Operating Budgets

• Operating budgets are based on enrollment figures for FY12.

C. Program

• Restore the TLC program at the elementary level to retain students from out-of-district placements.
• Project a 3% increase in special education collaborative tuitions.
• Increase technology expressive arts opportunities at the middle school to prepare students for high school one-to-one.
• Enhance the Foreign Language program at the high school to provide for students to choose another option to complete the Mass Common Core requirement.
• Relocate 4 Full Day Pre-K classes from Cove to Northshore Education Consortium.
• Relocate 4 sessions of Half Day Pre-K from Hannah to Cove.

D. Revenue

• Plan for an increase in General Fund Revenue from the City of $1,140,000 (2.5% increase of FY12).
• Project a 60% level of reimbursements for the Circuit Breaker program. This will result in a loss of about $100,000 in revenue due to the increase in the foundation amount upon which the reimbursement is based.
• Plan for a decrease in revenue from the Northshore Education Consortium (NEC) due to the relocation of Recovery High School ($125,000).
• Plan for an increase in revenue due to the plan design of health insurance ($100,000).
• Decrease in health insurance liability due to drop in enrollment numbers ($165,000).

The public hearing on the budget will be held next Tuesday, May 8th at 7:00 at the high school.