WESTFIELD – At Wednesday’s School Committee Finance Sub-Committee, members pored line by line through the Westfield Public School’s FY17 budget, which was presented at a public hearing last Monday.
“I think we went through the review in more detail than we have in the past. It was nice to have the questions asked,” said Ronald Rix, WPS Director of Business Services.
RON RIX
The $59,625,602 budget that was presented on Monday was billed as “level service” with no new positions or programs, but with $1,749,602 in increases to fixed costs, the same amount it came in over last year’s approved budget.
Rix said the Finance Sub-Committee, which is chaired by Kevin Sullivan, told administrators on Wednesday that $1.75 million was too much of an increase, although there was no consensus at the meeting on how much was too much, according to Rix.
Now school administrators are going over the budget, to see where they can naturally lower it.
“We don’t’ know what our increases in state aid will be,” Rix said, referring to the Chapter 70 aid, the major program of state aid to public elementary and secondary schools.
The possible range is from $20 per student, the figure in the Governor’s budget, to $55 per student in the House budget. The budget is currently being debated in the Senate. No Chapter 70 aid has yet been included in the FY17 budget, according to Rix.
Also, he said the district is still waiting for the retirement of 15 people to finalize.
“Do we fill all the retirements?” Rix asked. The level service budget that was originally presented included no new staff, however they will have the 15 open positions to look at.
He said for example, the Westfield Technical Academy needs another Aviation Maintenance Technology instructor, which is not in the budget as presented. He said the district could possibly not fill a retiring position, if the numbers of students don’t require it, and transfer that opening to the AMT.
“We haven’t made any of those decisions yet,” Rix said. Hiring generally takes place between now and June 15, and the administration is two to three weeks ahead, he added. “The later we go, we don’t get the best staff, and they’re usually more expensive.”
Rix said the Finance Sub-Committee is meeting again at 6:30 on Monday prior to the School Committee meeting, at which time he hopes the administration be given a target number to work with.
