Lack of Federal Funds Will Affect Next Year's School Budget

Superintendent Charles Gobron stressed, he wasn't presenting a preliminary FY2013 school budget; he was opening up a discussion about a preliminary budget. Either way, the School Committee got a chance to take a look at some thoughts on the next fiscal year's budget plan for the Northborough schools.

Gobron outlined priorities in line with a district wide strategic plan, and approach that strives to "sustain our current staffing levels due to loss of stimulus funding" and the "ability to increase our capacity to better meet the needs of our current student population." 

An obstacle, he said, this year is overcoming a "funding cliff" that now exists due to the lack of federal funding, which for the past two years helped the schools navigate through serious budget constraints.

In FY2012, the State Fiscal Stability Fund (SFSF) in the amount of $104,565 was used to purchase technology, books and library materials.The Fund also provided $232,062 last year for a special education teacher, special education aides and instructional aides. In total, federal funding amounted to $420,785 for FY2012.

Without the funds coming in, Gobron said it will be difficult to budget for increasing demands. He outlined specific needs for FY2012: ELL demand by reclassifying tutors ($50,000); repond to increasing special education needs ($32,000), increasing special education support needs ($19,000); address growing technology compliance ($50,000) and ensure class size meets guidelines by adding three positions ($154,680).

Also, an increase in mandated reporting by the DESE requires additional resources.

"We hope to offset some of the special education costs that have occurred due to the funding cliff with increased Circuit Breaker dollars we will receive in FY2013," said Gobron in his presentation. "We cannot always control, however, the number of students whose particular needs require placement outside of the district. These placements, though often necessary, have additional budgetary considerations."

Gobron added that it's important to stay on top of the priorities for FY2013 because of the budget constraints, and that "the individual needs of our preK-8 students will continue to be our highest priority."