Londonderry Schools May be Forced to Cut Staff

Unexpected reductions in state revenue have forced Londonderry school officials to push back finalizing their budget proposal while administrators look for ways to make up for the additional half-million dollar drop.

Going into the budget process this fall, Londonderry Superintendent Nate Greenberg said the district had anticipated $14.1 million in state adequacy aid for fiscal year 2014, down roughly $500,000 from the current year.

But recent numbers show that number will now likely drop by $1.1 million, an additional $629,000 unanticipated loss, Greenberg said.

"Last Thursday we received some news from the state regarding our adequacy funding, which was significantly below what we had anticipated," Greenberg told the School Board at its meeting Tuesday night. "It gave us some pause and we decided that it would be best to put off the budget presentation to November 27 to give us time to do some more reorganization in the budget."

Greenberg said the district was also bracing for $1.7 million in other downshifting from the state. The largest percentage of that comes from the elimination of a 35 percent state share in retirement costs, a reduction of $1.4 million for Londonderry.

Taken together, the downshifting costs and revenue losses from the state have created a $2.9 million budget hole going into the budget season, Greenberg said. He said those costs would account for an estimated 83 cents on the tax rate.

Prior to the recent adequacy aid numbers, Greenberg said he and his staff were already considering staff reductions and cuts to supplies and equipment.

"This will result in further reductions in staff, knowing that 80 percent of our budget is, in fact, staff-related," he said.

Greenberg said his goal is to present a budget proposal next week that would contain a growth percentage of 1 percent or less, which he said would likely amount to an increase of between $500,000 and $600,000. The current operating budget was approved at $64.7 million. The school district's contribution to the current tax rate is $12.44.

Getting down to that one-percent increase is going to require some tough decisions, Greenberg said.

"This is the thirteenth budget that we've presented since I've been here and this is without a doubt the most difficult one we've had to put together," he told the board. ".... I'd love to come here and tell you there's going to be a flat tax impact, but I just can't do it. But I think we will present to you a budget to move our district forward, but do it in a prudent manner. There's just so much revenue loss we can digest."

School Board Vice Chair Nancy Hendricks said she worried cuts could go too far.

"At what point do all of these cuts start to affect the quality of education and services we are delivering?" she said Tuesday. "Are we on the verge of starting to compromise our standards?"

School Board member John Robinson suggested that a "pay to play" model with fees for sports and other activities could save some programs on the chopping block.

Member Leitha Reilly asked district staff to also provide some information about what programs and personnel could face cuts under a zero-increase budget and a flat-tax budget. Greenberg said he would provide that information at the School Board meeting on Dec. 6.

Greenberg and his team will present their budget proposal at the School Board meeting on Nov. 27, beginning at 7 p.m.