School board OKs school budget

Residents will experience a slightly reduced sticker shock when they review the school budget on Town Meeting Day after the School Board cut the proposed increase by $911,877 Thursday night.

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School board OKs school budget
By Josh O'Gorman Herald Staff - Published: January 19, 2008

SPRINGFIELD — Residents will experience a slightly reduced sticker shock when they review the school budget on Town Meeting Day after the School Board cut the proposed increase by $911,877 Thursday night.

By a vote of 3 to 2, the School Board approved a proposed budget of $23,762,823 for fiscal year 2009, an increase of $1,163,564 or 5.15 percent over the current budget of $22,599,259.

For property owners, the budget represents an increase of one-half of 1 cent per $100 of assessed property value.

Board members Judy Edwards and Jeanice Garfield, who voted against the budget, made it clear that they opposed the budget not because of what it contained but because of what had been left out.

The main point of contention was the elimination of a proposed elementary level world language program. The proposed program, which carried a price tag of $93,605, would have been used to hire a teacher and pay for supplies to teach foreign languages to pupils in grades three through five.

"We need to be sure that our youngsters are well-prepared for the changes happening in the world," Garfield said in support of the program.

Edwards agreed, saying, "This is not the same world we started with."

Board member James Ball said he thought improvements could be made to the world language program at the middle and high school levels that would be less costly, such as having students study a foreign language for three trimesters in a row rather than just two.

"I may not be forward thinking on this and I know that Springfield is a small town and there's a big world out there with people speaking many languages, but I would not support world languages at the elementary level," Ball said.

Ball was joined by board members Larry Kraft and Samuel Coleman in voting down an amended budget that included the world language program.

While the world language program was the most contentious budget issue, a reduction of $531,500 in capital projects made up the most of the overall cut, including a $190,000 cut from a project to replace the heating system at Riverside Middle School.

The board also discussed which capital projects should be listed as separate items on the warrant. Steven Hier, business manager for the school district, said voters approved a separate warrant item in 2007 to fund the first phase of the Riverside Middle School heating project.

Hier said the project had to be listed as a separate item because the district hoped to receive state aid for the project, but with the state legislature putting a freeze on state aid Hier said it was not necessary to list the item separately.

The board voted to list two warrant items separately, including $180,000 to replace the gymnasium bleachers at the Riverside Middle School. Hier said the bleachers, which like the gymnasium were built in 1952, do not meet current safety standards.

The board also approved a second warrant item for $1.8 million for plumbing repairs. Hier said the money was the continuation of a $32.8 million bond project for elementary school improvements approved by voters in November 2006.

Hier said the expenditure may put the district over the excess spending threshold, which is 125 percent of the average pupil cost. If that threshold is exceeded, Hier said, residents will be taxed at a double rate for the amount exceeded.

Because the plumbing project is an extension of the bond approved prior to the State Legislature's aid freeze, the project may be grandfathered and not be subject to the excess spending threshold. Hier said he expects to have an answer back from the state prior to Town Meeting Day in March.

Ball expressed hope this year's budget would be met with greater approval than last year's, when voters twice rejected the budget before giving final approval.

"I think this is the fairest budget we've presented to the voters in my term, and it's important that this passes on the first go," Ball said. http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801190353