Proposed cut would eliminate Gateway program

Springfield School Superintendent Zachary McLaughlin announced this week that he was proposing the closure of the Gateway Collaborative as a cost-savings move, and the elimination of 11 jobs as a result.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20151119/NEWS02/151129999

Published November 19, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Proposed cut would eliminate Gateway program By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER SPRINGFIELD — Springfield School Superintendent Zachary McLaughlin announced this week that he was proposing the closure of the Gateway Collaborative as a cost-savings move, and the elimination of 11 jobs as a result. McLaughlin told Springfield Select Board members Monday night that with the Gateway cuts and other cost savings, he was proposing a 2016-17 budget that was actually down $5,000, to $28.9 million. The school district is expecting a drop of 14 students next year. The Gateway program, which is currently located in a wing of Riverside Middle School, serves students who can’t function well in a traditional classroom. It is a kindergarten through Grade 12 program, although McLaughlin said no kindergarten children were in this year’s program, but a first-grader was. The operating budget for Gateway is $720,000, and he said other neighboring school districts sent students, although those numbers had dropped. He said tuition for the program is $45,000 a year. He said currently Gateway serves Springfield students “almost exclusively.” “It’s an expensive program per kid,” McLaughlin said. Ten children are currently in the program, as the district has been moving students out of the program back to regular classrooms. McLaughlin said that the jobs lost include those of Director Nancy Wiese, four teachers, a nurse, a social worker and four para-educators. He said other schools in the district would have to increase funding to absorb the students, and he said it was likely some of the students would end up in out-of-district placements. McLaughlin handed out binders containing his proposed budget, which will be reviewed by budget committee members and the School Board in the next month, with individual meetings with school principals. According to the proposed budget, the capital plan for the town’s schools would see the biggest increase; McLaughlin has proposed spending $578,100 on capital projects, a $40,000 increase over the current budget of $538,100. District-wide services — which include health insurance — also showed an increase of 1.8 percent, or $79,629. Special education also showed a 3 percent increase, or $165,330, from $5.5 million to $5.7 million. But McLaughlin cautioned that much of the school district’s special education costs are offset by federal and state grants. McLaughlin said his goal was to avoid the so-called “soft cap” in Act 46, which results in what many call double taxation. He said it was more like a “hard cap.” Mike Griffin, chairman of the school’s budget committee, said his five-member committee would be working to learn as much as they can about the schools and budgets. Other committee members include Hugh Putnam, Bill Sheldon, Brenda Richardson, Pam Young and Griffin. Jeanice Garfield, chairwoman of the Springfield School Board, said that the committee was essential in educating the public about the schools and the spending plan. “When we resurrected the budget committee, Mike was one of the first members,” she said.