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Superintendent’s
Introductory Message
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“Today, the
defining skills of the previous era—the ‘left brain’ capabilities that powered
the Information Age—are necessary but no longer sufficient. And the capabilities we once disdained or
once thought frivolous—the ‘right-brain’ qualities of inventiveness, empathy,
joyfulness, and meaning—increasingly will determine who flourishes and who
flounders. For individuals, families,
and organizations, professional success and personal fulfillment now require a
whole new mind.”
Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind: Why
Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
The School Committee’s budget is far more than just numbers;
it is the financial representation of the education this community provides its
children to prepare them for post-high school education and training, career
choices, the world of work, citizenship, and pursuit of individual
interests. It signifies the values,
goals, and decisions of the many people who have been involved in the process
over time. This year, as in preceding
years, requirements, needs, and priorities were examined. Our goal setting and budget development
processes centered on providing high quality educational, co-curricular, and
support programs for our students. We
want Masco graduates to have the best possible opportunities for success in an
increasingly complex and competitive world, to live their lives responsibly and
ethically, and to find meaning and happiness personally and
professionally. At the same time, we
continued to give serious weight to the financial status of the three
towns.
We worked diligently
to meet the Finance Committees’ 4 % cap, a significant decrease from the three
previous fiscal years. To accomplish
this, we had to compromise the quality of education by increasing class size and
eliminating, or beginning the phase-out of some course offerings. Contractual obligations related to health
benefits, retirement contributions for current employees and retirees, and
movement on salary guides for teachers and department heads (“steps and columns”)
equals 67 % of the 4 % increase in the operational budget. This does not include any cost of living
increase for employees; we currently are in negotiations with all five employee
bargaining units. Other obligations
including building and grounds, transportation, and special education represent
56 % of the 4 % cap. As one can see,
this took us well above the cap and necessitated cuts in order to meet the
cap. It also meant not honoring
legitimate requests for increasing faculty and staff to meet the needs of
increasing enrollment and replacing outmoded instructional materials and
equipment. In order to meet the cap in
prior years, we outsourced cleaning and food services and restructured a number
of departments to cut jobs and save money.
In some cases, we brought about needed improvements, for which we are
extremely proud, and in others, we actually cut too much. We have no more “rabbits to pull out of
hats,” and the cuts in this budget are beginning to damage the educational
program. In the end, tough
choices were made, which do not quite balance equally the interests of our
students, staff, and parents with those of the municipalities and
taxpayers. We are concerned that our
important educational mission is being sacrificed to our fiscal responsibilities.
Early this past fall, the School Committee
established its budget process and calendar (See “Budget Calendar – FY 2009” on
page 6.), and the administrators began the development of budget requests. The School Committee required principals, department
heads, and central office administrators to analyze financial data from the
recent past, present, and immediate future to justify budget requests. The requests were presented to the
Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer, and the accompanying
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Superintendent’s
Introductory Message - Continued
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budget is the result
of that work over the past four months.
A brief overview of this budget will be presented to the School
Committee and public on February 13, and the public will be invited at that
time to provide input in advance of the School Committee’s budget
deliberations, which will conclude on or before March 12. The School Committee will vote to certify the
final budget for submission to the Towns either on March 5, or March 12.
The 2008-2009 budget is less than a level service budget because it
includes decreases in faculty and staff and the elimination and phasing-out of
programs.
Nonetheless, we will continue our efforts to address not only students’
academic needs but also their social and emotional wellbeing, their engagement
in their own learning, state and federal requirements as measured by the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), and ongoing efforts to
bring about program improvements and overall efficiencies. While we do not believe it is an adequate
budget, we did our best to fulfill our mission while being good partners with
the Towns and their other departments in a difficult financial environment.
The total Operations
and Management (O&M) budget proposed for 2008-2009 is $24,805,341, which is
a 4 % increase over this year’s budget.
This budget meets the Towns’ 4 % budget cap and assumes a small increase
in funding of Chapter 70 aid and a reduction in regional school transportation
reimbursement, about which we are questioning our legislators, and is adjusted
for slight changes in other revenues. As
mentioned earlier, major factors affecting the budget include contractual
obligations to active employees (but not counting a cost of living increase),
benefits for retirees, transportation, special education, instructional
materials, and other obligations.
STUDENT
POPULATION (See pages 12 & 13.)
The overall increase
in student population in the 2008-2009 school year is projected to be 62
students, or a 3.1 % increase, with the largest seventh grade class ever coming
to Masco (40 more students at the Middle School, or a 5.7 % increase; 22
students at the High school, or a 1.6 % increase). (See “District Enrollment History and Projections”
on page 12.) Since 1998, the number of
students increased by 35 % (and 58 % since 1996). Staffing had not been keeping pace with that
growth, and class size in some subject areas had grown to unacceptable
numbers. Cuts in staff made in 2003-2004
(40 employees in all, including 13.88 teachers) further contributed to this
problem. With the past three budgets, we
had been making positive strides in addressing this issue, particularly in
maintaining class size in core courses and reducing class size in elective
courses, while also increasing the variety of offerings. However, this budget is losing ground only
recently regained, particularly at the Middle School. For example, the average class size overall
at the Middle School will increase from 22.5 students this year to 27.1 next
year, while the High School will remain stable at 23.8, though individual class
sizes will differ depending on student sign-ups and the master schedule. Student-to-staff ratios in
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Superintendent’s
Introductory Message - Continued
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DISTRICT
STAFFING (See page 14.)
The FY09 budget includes a decrease in
faculty/staff of 1.13 %, which represents 2.67 full-time positions. In order to meet the Towns’ 4 % budget cap,
we are eliminating one foreign language teacher associated with the phase-out
of the German program, and one music teacher related to the elimination of
General Music in the Middle School. In
addition, we are reducing special education tutor time by .07, and MIS
Department staffing by .2. We no longer
need the one-to-one nurse assigned to a student because the student will be
graduating in June. A new student moved
into the District this year, which required hiring a special education teacher,
funded out of a grant. The position will
be needed next year, too, and will continue to be grant-funded. Because of a large incoming 7th
grade class, with an accompanying large number of special education students,
we need to restore a .6 Speech and Language Pathologist position, and transfer
a tutor from the High School to the Middle School.
DISTRICT
INCOME AND EXPENSES (See page 15.)
Preliminary state aid
figures proposed by the Governor include a small increase of $118,873 in state
aid to education (Chapter 70) and a significant reduction of $22,914 in
regional school transportation reimbursement.
(See page 15.) With regard to the
latter, we have contacted our legislators to ask why our reimbursement is being
reduced when our expenses are going up.
This budget assumes a continuation of user fees for student parking,
transcripts, athletics, rentals, and co-curricular activities. Based on a multi-year history of athletic
costs and fees, the fee structure was adjusted in FY07 to reflect greater
congruence between the fees charged and the associated costs of the
program. Despite an increase in costs in
both FY08 and FY09, the fees have not been increased. The fees directly fund a half-time athletic
director. Other athletic expenses,
including but not limited to coach/advisor stipends, uniforms and equipment,
game officials, transportation, rental fees (ice rink, pool, mountain time for
skiing, etc.), secretary time, etc. are funded partially through transfers from
the athletic revolving fund into the District budget. (For more information on fees, see the Fee
Schedule in Appendix A.)
This proposed budget shows a 4 % increase over the FY08 Operations and
Maintenance (O&M) budget. The
largest increases appear in contractual obligations to employees, retiree
benefits, special education, transportation, instructional materials, and other
obligations. Blue Cross/Blue Shield has informed the
District that our health insurance premiums will increase by 5.7 %, while
dental will go up 4.22 % and Medex, .37 %.
Though health insurance is increasing at a faster rate than revenue/aid,
District efforts to contain or reduce costs have helped some.
We think it is
important to note that we benefit from many partnerships, which have enabled us
to make significant improvements that would otherwise not have been financially
possible. Light
Up Masco, the group that raised funds privately to revitalize our athletic
complex, recently donated money and equipment to convert our weight room into a
fitness center for use by our PE classes and athletic teams. Over the course of the past three years, in
partnership with Masco, they installed lights on
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Superintendent’s
Introductory Message - Continued
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Roberts Field,
replaced bleachers (now compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act),
and constructed a new concession stand with press box above, accessible by both
stairs and lift.
Another partner,
WHAT THE
BUDGET PAYS FOR
Education,
Staff, and Facilities
Only a small
proportion of the annual school budget is discretionary. Most of the budget is either contracted or
mandated.
Education
The
Salaries
Altogether, the costs
associated with salaries, benefits, and taxes of active employees account for 70
% of the O&M budget. FY08 is the
last year of three-year contracts with all five unions, and negotiations for
successor agreements currently are underway.
This budget does not include cost of living allowances for any
bargaining group.
Facilities
To keep cuts away from
the classroom, the School Committee has outsourced food services and cleaning
services (while retaining maintenance and grounds-keeping services
in-district), and reorganized a number of departments, resulting in the
elimination of jobs. This budget
reflects a 11.3 % increase in the contract for cleaning services.
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Superintendent’s
Introductory Message - Continued
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SUMMARY
This was a difficult
budget to put together as we tried diligently to meet an even lower cap (4 %)
set
by the three
Towns. In order to meet the cap for FY09, we have proposed cuts in the academic
program and a significant increase in class size at the Middle School. We already have outsourced services, cut as
many non-faculty positions as feasible, secured concessions from our unions,
implemented programs to reduce utility consumption, charged substantial fees to
our parents, and partnered with community members, higher education, and
business to contain costs while improving quality. We have no more “rabbits to pull out of
hats.” As noted above, the major
factors affecting the budget include contractual obligations to active
employees, benefits for retirees, transportation, special education,
instructional materials, and other obligations.
Of course, there also are the unfunded mandates imposed upon us by the
state and federal government. Despite the challenges, we nonetheless have
proposed improvements to the Middle and High School programs that will not
require additional staff. We ask for
fair consideration of this budget by the School Committee, Towns, and voters. Thank you.
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Enrollment History and
Projection
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The enrollment data for kindergarten
through grade 12 for the years 1998 through 2003 were obtained from the annual
enrollment projection report prepared by NESDEC. The enrollment projection for October 2008
was based on the NESDEC report but adjusted to account for changes that have
occurred since the report was prepared. This data also includes special
education students who are in out-of-district placements. The district will
receive its largest class from the Elementary District in September of 2008.
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Enrollment Distribution by
Town
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Boxford
continues to provide the largest population of students to Masconomet. In FY04,
Boxford sent 268 more students to Masco then Middleton, and 296 more than
Topsfield. Between FY04 and FY08, Boxford’s enrollment has increased by 4%,
while Topsfield and Middleton have increased by 18 % and 23%,
respectively. In FY08, Boxford sent 28 fewer
students than they did in the previous year, and the other two towns sent a few
more students (18 and 7 respectively). The impact this enrollment shift has had
on the assessments can be seen on the second chart below. Boxford’s percentage
has declined 4.3 % in six years, while Middleton’s has increased by 2.6%, and
Topsfield’s has increased by 1.6%. In FY09, Boxford’s percentage will decrease
by .75 %, Middleton’s will increase by .19 %, and Topsfield’s will increase by
.56 %.
* October 1 enrollment
of the current year is used to calculate the assessments for the up-coming year.
District Staffing Profile
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General Fund Income & Expense Summary
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General Fund Income &
Expense Summary - Charts
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where the money comes from
Where the money goes
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General Fund Expenses by
D.O.E. Cost Categories
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The State
Department of Education specifies the
criteria for reporting various functional categories of school
expenditures for the purpose of comparing school districts' spending. The
graph above compares Masconomet Regional School District's spending for
FY02, FY03, FY04, FY05, FY06, and FY07, approved spending for FY08, and proposed
spending for FY09 using these categories: Administration: Costs
associated with providing general direction, execution, and control of the
affairs of the school district Instructional
Services:
Instructional activities that
involve teaching students, supervising staff, and developing and utilizing
curriculum materials and related services Other
School Services:
Services provided for
students other than
instructional services including health services,
transportation, food services, athletics, and student activities Operation
& Maintenance of Plant:
Costs associated with
maintaining and operating
the physical plant, the grounds, the network, and related equipment Fixed
charges: Costs for employee retirement,
contributions for early retirement, insurance, employee unemployment, FICA,
workers' compensation, and debt service
