WESTFIELD – A review of the Westfield School Committee’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2015 was winding down at last night’s finance subcommittee meeting when Westfield Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion put her foot down.
As subcommittee chairman Kevin Sullivan moved to adjourn the meeting, stating that the committee “had plans to cut what it needed to cut” from the proposed $57.6 million budget, Scallion spoke up.
“We’re not cutting anything. We’re going to do the right thing and pass this budget and let the City Council listen to the taxpayers about what kind of school district we want,” she said. “Because it’s going to transfer into… what kind of citizens do we want in this community in 20 years? Do we want self-sufficient young people, who are independent and able to have a job that they can support themselves? Have social skills and emotional competency that can function in our community and be the leaders in the community, as we all get older and want effective leadership?”
Her statement followed an hour-long read-through of the budget, in which everything from personnel to classroom supplies were discussed at every school in the district.
“Yes, it’s all about 21st century, yes, it’s all about STEM, but it’s also about that whole child that’s hitting our preschool with all kinds of needs,” Scallion said. “So I just can’t back down and say there’s room to cut, folks. I’m not even going to pretend there is.”
“Anything we do to this budget is going to hurt,” she said, adding that she has already had to begrudgingly turn down the additional $6.5 million in programs requested by the district’s principals.
“I say we let the chips fall where they’re going to fall and I think our City Council is elected to wrestle with this,” Scallion said.
“If we give them (the City Council) a reason to use the knife, they’re going to go more than $1.9 (million) and we’re going to be in bigger trouble,” Kevin Sullivan said.
Committee member Cindy Sullivan questioned whether it would be fair to hand the City Council an unaltered budget, to which Scallion reiterated that no new initiatives are being put forth on her part.
“I feel like it’s already cut,” she said. “The $6.5 million, I’m not bringing one single initiative over from the principal’s list. Our kids are competing against the rest of the world, so the question is, what do we want from our school district?”
Scallion referenced the town of Shrewsbury, which is currently pursuing a Proposition 2 1/2 budget override of $13 million, and while she said she knows such a number is unfeasible in Westfield, she believes the current budget proposal is as bare-bones as it can get.
“I’m not disagreeing with you. What I’m saying is, if we don’t cut anything and give it to the City Council, we could be in bigger trouble,” Cindy Sullivan said.
Ward 2 City Councilor and educator Ralph Figy was in attendance, and reminded the subcommittee that many current members of the City Council ran on platforms of reducing taxes.
“There is no easy answer here. If local aid would continue to increase, which it hasn’t, we wouldn’t be having this discussion,” he said. “Local aid is still where it was five years ago.”
“We were to have received a $2 million tech bond four years ago, before I arrived, following a secondary tech bond,” Scallion said. “The equipment purchased with the secondary tech bond is now obsolete. I spin most things in a very positive manner, but I can’t back down this time. We now need to replace that equipment.”
“We knew what the answer was because we went through a huge recession,” said Cindy Sullivan. “The reason we are where we are is because we’ve had to cut the budget every year.”
“The money was never there,” Kevin Sullivan said of an elementary tech bond. “When you start bonding, maybe some of the bond gets retired and the City Council can do some things. And that’s a conversation to have now where hopefully the economy is coming around.”
“The bond rating for the city is at 2.5 percent. This is the time to do the right thing for the future of the city.” Scallion said. “We’re just recovering from the past 40 years.”
Scallion used the continued ascendance of one district elementary school, which has an interactive whiteboard in every classroom due to the efforts of a Parent Teacher Organization, as an example of what efforts the district must make for all students.
“(That) is not an appropriate way to fund technology in one school, but we have proof that that kind of technology really supports student learning,” she said, referencing a fellow superintendent who refused to allow their district to operate like that. “They said ‘that will not happen in my school district. I won’t have the haves and have-nots. It’s up to the community to determine that every kid in the city has the same advantages in a public school setting’.”
Scallion stated that she wanted to see an interactive whiteboard in every classroom in the city, calling it a “basic teaching supply,” along with a companion tablet or computer.
Cindy Sullivan restated her belief that the level-funded budget proposal would be slashed if it showed up on the City Council’s table unaltered, which prompted a recollection from Scallion of last summer, when the City Council cut $720,000 from the district the night before it’s layoff deadline.
“I will never forget June 14,” she said. “We don’t play political chess with kids in this city. That has to be non-negotiable. We are the school department and it is our job to lobby.”
Scallion said that she has additional contingency plans, which Cindy Sullivan said should be brought forth.
“I think you need to put that in here, a $60-plus million budget and then say ‘this is what we’re asking for.’ Put it here and give it to them and then we can say ‘we cut $6 million from the budget’,” she said.
Kevin Sullivan agreed, adding that they should pursue a tech bond to help secure additional funding, but again warned against the current budget.
“Handing them a budget that the Mayor has told us already is $1.9 million over I think is a problem, because either way it’s going to come back to you and you’re going to have to cut it,” he said. “There’s a couple of them (city coucilors) every year who want to cut more anyways, but we have the support of some people who have been friends of the school system.”
He concluded the meeting by saying that the issue would be brought back up at next Monday’s full School Committee meeting, at which time Westfield Mayor and School Committee Chair Daniel M. Knapik will be able to bring forth the latest projected numbers from the state, and that the subcommittee will meet again “in a couple weeks.”
“We’ve brought two numbers forward – the principals’ initiatives, and the level service budget, which is $59 something (million). She (Cindy Sullivan) wants to see that one number combined,” Scallion said after the meeting. “(It’s) a good strategy because it gives us a little time to see what the state numbers are going to be, and it gives us time to see what the mayor’s budget will be. Time is a good thing at this point.”
“We realize the constraints the city has, but as Superintendent, I’ve got to push educational mission of this city,” she said. “These kids are going to be the ones that’ll be paying taxes someday, so I want to know that the students who are graduating from our schools can be competitive. A tier-two school district isn’t good enough. It’s not what I aspire to as a school system.”
