LONGMEADOW – The Select Board voted 4 to 1 at its March 21 meeting to approve the $62.3 million fiscal year 2017 (FY17) town budget, but chose not to fully fund free full-day kindergarten.  

The school district needs to find approximately $125,000 in its budget in order to implement the zero tuition kindergarten program.

The School Committee previously voted at its Feb. 11 meeting to request close to $1 million in increased funding for FY17. The town’s counter offer is $125,000 less than what the School Committee requested.

School Committee Chair Janet Robinson stated during the resident comment portion of the meeting her committee has yet to meet to discuss the selectmen’s offer. The School Committee would weigh the board’s decision at its March 28 meeting.

The final FY17 town budget would be approved during the May 10 Annual Town Meeting. The board’s proposed budget could be amended by residents on the Town Meeting floor.

Robinson told Reminder Publications two options were proposed by Superintendent of Schools Marie Doyle at the committee’s previous meeting. The first is to keep the kindergarten tuition or reduce it and the second would entail cutting three teaching positions at Williams Middle School.

“In terms of what we cut, I don’t know at this point,” she explained. “Those were the two proposals made, but members are talking about looking at other items; they want to go through the line items of the budget.”

The district would also face cuts to staff and programs regardless of whether free full-day kindergarten passes.

She added there are currently 148 students enrolled in the district’s kindergarten program, 14 of which are in the half-day program.  

Selectman Alex Grant, who voted against the board’s proposed budget, said during a March 17 budget forum he is in favor of funding free full-day kindergarten.

He added the town currently has a “two tiered” system in regards to the kindergarten program.

“For a long time we didn’t have full-day kindergarten, but for a very few kids,” Grant noted. “We [had] free full-day kindergarten that was available by lottery. One of the things they had to do was to make sure that the full-day kids didn’t do any more than the half-day kids because they didn’t want to have a two-tiered system. They didn’t want to have deliberate different education.

He continued, “The thing is you can’t force someone to pay for school. So that’s the reason why we have a half day program, which actually costs more.”

Grant said he believes money flagged for Other Post Employment Benefit (OPEB) costs could be used to fund free full-day kindergarten. Throughout the country OPEB is a 30-year unfunded liability.

He compared funding OPEB to “putting a spoonful of water into the ocean” and said he believes the OPEB contribution is a “symbolic increase.”

 Selectman Marie Angelides disagreed with Grant’s statement during the budget forum, noting that OPEB costs are not symbolic.

“These are people,” she asserted. “We have made promises … We are going to have to pay 50 percent of [town employee] health care costs for the rest of their lives.”

Town Manager Stephen Crane outlined budgets for other town departments as well. Public Safety accounts for $4.8 million of the FY17 budget. $8.8 million is designated for capital and public works. Community services would be given $1.5 million. The general government budget is $1.4 million and employee benefits represents $8.3 million of the budget.

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