School Committee Subcommittee Recommends Budget with 2 Percent Increase

The School Committee will consider a fiscal 2012 budget with a 2 percent increase over the current year, but one which will reduce the staffing and programs from this year.

Thursday night, the School Committee's Budget and Finance Subcommittee discussed the budget and voted 2-1 to go with the 2 percent figure  – $34.1 million total. The budget would cut 5.2 full-time equivalent jobs.

School Committee Chairman Anthony Paolillo said that he did not think that the town could provide enough money to increase the budget by more after discussing the budget with Town Manager Michael Driscoll.

"My feeling is anything above 2 percent will be a real stretch for the town, and I'm not sure they can even get there," Paolillo said.

The one member voting against the 2 percent number was David Leon, who hoped to go even higher.

Parents at the meeting, held at the Phillips Building, also hoped to see the School Committee go for a higher budget increase. Jeremy Bell, who has children at Lowell School, said he wanted to see a budget that has no teacher layoffs.

"With the vote on the (to reject the teachers contract) Monday, it seems like the Town Council got what it wanted," Bell said. "Two percent, I don't think, is shooting high enough. You shouldn't enter negotiations at 2 percent."

School Committee member John Portz said the School Committee must deal with the fiscal realities.

"Every year we go through this," Portz said. "We try to see if we can get an amount that works for us and works for the town."

The budget does not include a possible large increase provided by the state in the form of the special education Circuit Breaker, said Superintendent Ann Koufman. The number from the Legislature may be out by the end of the month, and the amount could be as high as $400,000 – the amount in the governor's budget proposal.

If that comes through, the budget will look much better, Koufman said.

"We would be in really good shape with the circuit breaker," Koufman said.

The School Committee will also look for other areas to cut the budget, including:

• Increasing fees for sports and activities in the middle and high schools
• Increasing fees for facility rentals
• Reducing the number of people who can ride the school bus
• Contracting out custodial services

Monday at 7 p.m. the School Committee will hold the public hearing on the budget in the Watertown High School auditorium. Tuesday they have scheduled a meeting to vote on the budget.