WESTFIELD – The Westfield Public School District presented a first look at the FY17 budget at a public hearing Monday night at South Middle School. Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion said the nearly $60 million budget has been a work in progress since February.
“This is my fifth and final budget, and we’ve faced cuts every year,” Scallion said.
“I’m very excited the next leader comes in from the ranks,” she added, referring to the recent hiring of Stefan Czaporowski, principal of Westfield Technical Academy, as the new superintendent. She said he came to the district offices last week during school vacation to go over the budget with them.
Business Manager Ron Rix then presented a broad overview to the School Committee and school district personnel who comprised most of the audience at the hearing. He said the $59,625,602 the district is requesting is a level service budget, with no new initiatives but a focus on “deepening what we’re doing.”
However, it is not a level-funded budget due to increases in fixed costs for 2017 of $1,749,602, the amount over last year’s approved budget of $57,876,000, and represents a 2.9% increase.
DR. SUZANNE SCALLION
The biggest increases are in negotiated steps and longevity and in severance, as well as in circuit breaker funds for special education and out of district special education services. The district is anticipating $106,542 savings in transportation from the new bus contract in 2017, as well as $221,000 in personnel savings to help offset some of the increases.
Another uncertainty is in the amount of Chapter 70 aid Westfield will receive from the state. The Governor’s budget contained a figure of $20 per student, or $110,080 for Westfield. The House budget raised that figure to $55 per student, for a total of $302,720 to the district, and the Senate has yet to vote. Rix said the final amount of aid will be somewhere in that range.
Broken down, the new budget has the same ratio of 80.1% for personnel, and 19.9 for expenses.
Rix said the priorities for the district in 2017 include continued academic growth at all levels, professional development, maintaining class sizes, technology integrated learning, project/problem based learning, and continued support of the social and emotional needs of students.
A line-item budget will go to the School Committee Finance Sub-Committee at its meeting Wednesday at 6:30 in the City Council chambers, then to the School Committee for a vote on Monday, May 2.
The School Committee will then send it to the Mayor, who will present it to the City Council for a first look on May 5. Rix said it usually takes a month after that to be approved. He said the district is a month ahead of last year’s schedule, when the city budget was approved on June 30, two hours before a midnight deadline, and included a $400,000 cut to the school district budget.
