The budget for FY13 for Rochester Memorial School took center stage at the meeting of the Rochester School Committee on the night of Thursday, April 5. Superintendent Doug White presented the proposed budget to a crowd of teachers and parents at the Town Hall.
Because of reductions in funding from many sources due to brittle economic conditions, the Committee devised a level-funded budget proposal, which used the FY12 budget as its template. As a result of various cuts and increases, the committee is looking at an increase of $82,676, or 1.51 percent, between a perfectly level-funded budget and the current proposed plan.
In an effort to trim as many dollars from the plan as possible, the committee has proposed reduction of bus service, eliminating one school bus, saving $53,715.
“The school population is not quite as high as it was, and looking at the routes and speaking with the bus company, we can reduce the buses by one. We will be working this summer to get the new routes squared away,” said School District Business Administrator Katie Isernio.
In addition, about $50,000 will be saved because of the reduction of one teaching position, the result of an up-coming retirement.
One of the largest cuts comes from major decrease in funding in support personnel, which reduces the proposed budget by $131,203. Funding from the ED Jobs grant is not available for next year, eliminating $109,987 from the budget. As a result, the district has had to increase salary funding usually offset by ED Jobs by about $54,000.
Also, funding from the state’s Circuit Breaker program has been greatly reduced from $43,174 in FY12 to $9,000 for FY13, a cut of $34,174. The program is designed to reimburse the town for per-students for special education costs should they rise above certain levels. The law prescribes that they reimburse school systems up to 75 percent of that extra cost, but the figure has been as low as 42 percent in recent years.
These cuts come in the wake of increases elsewhere in the budget. Contracted services have increased to $117,495 for FY13, with the bulk of that because of increases in utilities and maintenance costs due to larger building space. Heat and electricity is predicted to cost almost $100,000 for the upcoming year.
The School Committee voted unanimously to accept the budget proposal for FY13.
In other business, the committee voted to approve the use of www.DonorsChoose.org as a way for teachers to raise money for supplies, projects, and educational trips. They also voted to accept Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School District into the READS Collaborative on a trial basis. READS Collaborative is a public organization made up of several area schools that works to promote special educational programs across a broad spectrum of subjects.
The committee also announced that they have narrowed the field to three candidates to replace out-going RMS principal, Jay Ryan.
“They are visiting our school next week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Parents are invited to come meet with the candidates at 8:00 am or 2:00 pm on those days,” said Chairperson Tina Rood.
The next meeting of the Rochester School Committee will be on May 3, 2012, at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.
By Eric Tripoli
Superintendent Doug White (left) and School Committee Chairperson Tina Rood (right) listen at the Rochester School Committee meeting on Thursday, April 5, 2012. The Committee held a public hearing to explain the district’s budget for FY13, which they voted unanimously to approve. Photo by Eric Trippoli