On February 26, 2008, Superintendent Wayne Ogden presented the proposed FY09 budget to the School Committee. During the presentation, Ogden explained that the school department needs a 6.7 percent budget increase to provide level service, but is slated to receive only 1.5 percent from the town. This includes the loss of about $400,000 in projected revenue from Medicaid. He also noted that Franklin spends about $2,200 less per pupil than the state average.
It’s a particularly grim budget scenario, but the numbers do not come as a surprise. It’s a far cry from the “good to great” path we have been pursuing, but when budget funds get tight in local communities, it results in these no win situations.
Ogden noted that the current state of the budget discussions means that he will have to cut 45 positions next year. At the high school, 15 teaching positions and one administrative job will be eliminated to save $850,000. The three middle schools are expected to make $660,000 worth of cuts by eliminating 12.5 instructional positions and by reducing supply expenditures and extracurricular stipends. At the elementary school level, 15 positions are slated to be cut to save $675,000.
In past years, the school department was able to cut supplies and other things that stayed away from the classroom. But those things are so low that the only cuts we could make at this point were to personnel, which represents 80 percent of our budget.
The Superintendent’s budget also calls for $174,178 in savings in instructional services and $231,679 in pupil personnel services. He has also proposed increasing pay-to-ride bus fees by $100, from $225 to $325, and eliminating the late bus, which would save a total of $417,000.
All of the budget documents and presentation materials can be viewed by clicking here.
For those of you who missed the meeting, the presentation can be viewed online. It is broken up into multiple parts and each section of video is under 10 minutes long. To view the presentation, click on any of the subject matter links below:
The Milford Daily News report on the presentation can be viewed by clicking here. The Boston Globe report on the meeting can be viewed by clicking here.
