LONGMEADOW – Superintendent of Schools Marie Doyle presented a long list of staffing cuts that would need be needed in order to for the district to fund free full-day kindergarten without additional revenue from the town.  

Doyle also brought forward three tiered approaches for kindergarten during the School Committee’s Feb. 1 meeting. Tier one entailed fully funding the kindergarten program, tier two would reduce the current kindergarten tuition of $2,750 down to $1,250 and tier three would also be a reduction, bringing the tuition cost to $2,000.

If tier one were approved by the School Committee one library aide at Longmeadow High School (LHS), an LHS teacher position, a middle school media specialist, a middle school literacy specialist, a 0.2 full-time equivalent (FTE) grade 5 health teacher and that curriculum would be cut as well as instrumental music for grades 4 and 5.

Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Thomas Mazza said the district would need an additional $277,740 from the town in order to avoid these cuts while implementing free full-day kindergarten in FY17.   

Second tier budget reductions would include a LHS library aide position, a middle school media specialist, a 0.2 FTE elementary health teacher, and a 0.3 FTE grade 4 orchestra teaching position. The district would need an additional $155,806 to avoid these cuts.

The third tier staff reductions would include the LHS library aide position and a 0.2 FTE elementary health teacher and curriculum.

All of the tiers also include reductions to other line items such as staff development, technology and supplies.  

Doyle said the proposed general fund budget for FY17 would be $33.1 million.

The town is currently requesting the district increase its budget by $808,000, but negotiations between the district and town have yet to be finalized.

“I think the question is do we want the town telling us how much the budget will be or do we want to drive that?” Doyle said. “I think, based on the conversation [and] in my own opinion, they’ll come back with little to nothing.”

School Committee Chair Janet Robinson said she and Doyle would be negotiating on behalf of the school district and would aim to “push back” against the town in order to receive an increase in funds. The maximum in additional revenue the town could grant the district is $446,000.

Mazza said the town is also facing budget woes in FY17 – it currently has a deficit of $627,000.

School Committee member Russell Dupere said he believes the town is willing to work with the district to improve its budget.  

He added he wouldn’t likely support the third tier approach because the district would not receive an additional $1.1 million in Chapter 70 money from the state the following year if the School Committee voted to approve that tier.

Doyle said the fiscal year 2017 (FY17) budget without any of the tiered approaches for paying for the district’s kindergarten program also includes staffing cuts.

She added budget cuts due to declines in enrollment include four Williams Middle School teachers, a teacher from Blueberry Hill Elementary School, a 0.6 FTE special education teacher position, a 0.5 FTE kindergarten teacher at Center Elementary School, a 0.5 FTE kindergarten assistant at Center, and three district special education assistants.

Other cuts in the FY17 school budget include two middle school library assistant positions, she noted.

“When you talk about a level service budget – for many years – we were given increases of $300,000 when we really needed $1 million for a level service budget,” Doyle said. “It’s catching up with us now. During my first several years, our increases were minimal.”

Despite a long list of reductions, the budget also includes new additions such as a 0.2 FTE health teacher in grade 5, a 0.6 FTE foreign language teaching position at the middle school level, and a media/library specialist at the middle school level.

Doyle said if the district utilizes tiered approaches to fund full-day kindergarten or decrease the tuition rate for the program, most of the additions would be scrapped.

She noted other cost increases for the district include step pay, transportation services, cost of living increases, special education evaluations and services as well as salary advancements for continued education.

The School Committee is slated to host its public forum for the FY17 budget on Feb. 8 and take a vote on Feb. 10.

In other business, the committee unanimously voted to approve Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea’s contract to become head of Longmeadow Public Schools.

Robinson said the contract is for three years, from July 1 to June 30, 2019, and the starting salary is $163,500. O’Shea’s salary for his second and third years would see increases. O’Shea would also receive 20 days of vacation each year, which has been approved by both parties.

Doyle’s initial contract in 2010 was $155,000. She received a new contract with a base salary of $163,663 in 2013.

She added as long as School Committee members complete the Attorney General’s online Open Meeting Law course by Feb. 29, the Open Meeting Law violation submitted by resident and Springfield-based attorney Scott Foster would be withdrawn.

“At this point we are able to sign a contract without the caveat of Open Meeting Law violation complaints waiting to be resolved pending [the Attorney General’s] approval,” Robinson said.

She noted the signed contract would now be presented to O’Shea for his signature.

School Committee member Michelle Grodsky and School Committee Vice Chair Michael Clark were absent from the meeting.