News on school budget worsens
02.03.2006, 17:19
School officials are anticipating a $1.3 million shortfall in this year’s budget, more bad news for the district as it grapples with an even larger cash shortage predicted for next year.
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The school district, meanwhile, is about $5.7 million off target for its budget plan for next year.
The expected $1.3 million deficit this year is forcing Superintendent Christopher Martes to consider freezing parts of the overall $75 million budget to loosen suffering electricity and special education accounts.
"Right now, we haven’t announced a freeze," Martes said. "We’re closely monitoring any new purchases that anyone is sending over to us. I wouldn’t call it a freeze yet. I may be announcing something like that in the next week or two."
The troubles predicted for the rest of fiscal 2006, which ends June 30, are due to jacked-up electricity rates and greater-than-expected special education costs.
Starting today, the town is paying more than twice its previous rate for electricity. A locked-in rate of 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour expired yesterday. The town, until the end of the next fiscal year, will pay a new locked-in rate of 11 cents.
The jump in the electricity rate will cost the department an extra $300,000 this year, said David Proule, director of business operations.
"I’ve never seen in all my years...the electricity go up so quick," Proule told the School Committee last night.
The district is also likely to pay more than it expected for special education students enrolled in programs out of town.
Martes noted the economic situation could improve if good news comes from the state. The Legislature might consider sending money to towns to help defray utilities and special education costs, he said.
"This is very conservative at this point in time," he said of predicted special education numbers.
Electricity and special education costs will also strain next year’s budget, Martes said.
He told the School Committee on Feb. 7 the district would need close to $6 million in new money next year to avoid cutting services. That followed word from Mary Ellen Kelley, the town’s chief financial officer, that the schools would likely get only a $300,000 boost next year.
The net $5.7 million shortfall is the result of the electricity, special education, rising teachers’ salaries and a new school bus contract, which Proule estimates could be 10 percent to 16 percent more expensive next year.
The predicted budget gap for fiscal 2007 is the largest in years, including in fiscal 2003 and 2004, when the town voted for a Proposition 2 1/2 override and then closed Juniper Hill Elementary School to save money.