Class size, electives, and help with math are targeted
The school department is trying to fix three problem areas at the schools with its proposed budget for next year, Superintendent Tom Jefferson explained at the school budget hearing at Town Hall Monday night. The proposed 2008 fiscal year basic school budget, up 4.7 percent from this year, totals $10.39 million.
The weak areas are the increased size of some Bromfield classes; the small range of electives at Bromfield, especially for less academically minded students, and a lack of staff to help students who are having trouble learning, Jefferson said. To reach these goals, the budget calls for hiring two new secondary school math or science teachers and two elementary math tutors. That would reduce class sizes at Bromfield, especially at the middle school level, and allow more classes to be offered. The tutors would help struggling math learners at the elementary school, just as slow readers have tradition-ally been helped. In addition, the budget calls for hefty increases in electricity, fuel oil, and bus transportation line items, to reflect the surge in energy costs, Jefferson said.
—Superintendent Tom Jefferson
This proposed school budget is what the Finance Committee and selectmen recommend. It will be included with the rest of the omnibus budget, which requires the voters to pass a $650,000 override at Annual Town Meeting and at the polls the following Tuesday. In addition, the school board would like an additional $113,500, funded by a second override, to pay for five items they feel the schools should have, but can’t pay for otherwise. This enhanced school budget would allow for a third new math or science teacher at Bromfield ($60,000), for maintaining the sixth bus route at the elementary school ($10,000), for hiring an additional math intervention tutor at the elementary school ($15,000), for hiring a part-time out-of-district coordinator to help oversee special education placements ($12,500), and for Bromfield to join the Virtual High School program so students could choose courses to take from hundreds of online electives ($16,000).
Even if both overrides pass, several areas of the budget will still be underfunded, Jefferson said. The schools’ original budget request called for more money for textbooks, maintenance, kindergarten aides, and teacher training, which all had to be cut to meet budget constraints. Furthermore, if neither override is passed, the schools would have to lay off a number of teachers at both schools, increasing class sizes dramatically, because there is no other place to look for cost savings at this point, he warned. “We don’t have a cushion,” he said.
How it’s been done
Harvard has run top-notch schools with amazingly lean school budgets, Jefferson noted. The average per-pupil costs are below the state average, and significantly below most high-performing districts. Many costs have been shifted from the taxpayers to parents over the last decade, with bus fees and an athletic program that is now paid for entirely by user fees. In addition, parents work hard to raise money for the schools, bringing in over $100,000 to pay for such basic items as computers and textbooks. Jefferson also praised the school board for working hard to bring in other sources of revenue, such as the $445,000 brought in for educating 89 choice students, as well as funds from Devens students, the Community Education program, and various grants.
However, state money has been cut in the last decade, with the state now paying only about 15 percent of Harvard’s school budget, Jefferson complained. Because of these cuts, Harvard has over the last few years had to reduce teachers to the point where Bromfield’s class sizes are just too large and the range of classes offered is too small.
“We’re down one science teacher, almost two math teachers. Kids take multiple math and science classes—there are more math students than total kids in the school,” Jefferson said. Particularly in the middle school, math classes have gotten too big, he said. The lack of teachers also makes it hard to meet the needs of all students at Bromfield, he noted, especially the students who “aren’t on a heavily academic path.” The elementary school also plans to put in place an intervention program to help students who are having difficulties in math, and needs to hire several math tutors to make it work, Jefferson said. Even in Harvard, “not all kids learn easily.”
Super pitches second override
Jefferson made a brief pitch for passing the higher, second override, running through the benefits of the five items it would fund. The schools added a sixth elementary bus this fall, because with five, buses were overcrowded and some children faced very long bus rides each day. However, this sixth bus will have to be cut if the second tier override fails, he said. The extra math teacher and tutor are needed to get the Bromfield math classes down to an optimum size and to ensure there is help for all the weaker math students. The special education coordinator would allow the director of the program, Charles Horn, to use his time more effectively. Horn currently spends about 30 percent of his time traveling to out-of-district schools to oversee the programs that some Harvard SPED students attend, Jefferson said.
The Virtual High School program would allow Bromfield students to take excellent elective courses offered online, that Bromfield could never offer, he said. “We’re a small school; it’s one of our strengths and weaknesses. This would allow our kids to take many more courses.”
Even with a 4.7 percent increase, the proposed budget will not include money for any cost-of-living raises for teachers that will be needed when the stalled teacher union contract is finally settled. For every 1 percent increase in teacher pay, the budget has to go up an additional $55,000. School Committee Chairwoman Willie Wickman said that several departments have unresolved negotiations, and the boards will determine later where the funds for salary increases resulting from contract settlements will come from.
