Sue Flicop

Below is a very general update on last night’s FY10 School Budget presentation.  [Go to Articles & Other Links for to connect to the budget.]  For those of you who are looking at the budget, the Introduction and Overview section provide a good summary. In particular, pages 30 – 34 give specific numbers related to all the changes from last year. You can find the specifics in the Budget Programs & Adjustments section.

Regarding wages next year, the Superintendent announced that he, the Central Staff, and all 21 principals have agreed to a wage freeze for FY10. In addition, the Superintendent has built the NPS budget with the assumption that there would be a wage freeze for all NPS employees. This is still under negotiation, but the budget is crafted with a zero increased in COLA (cost of living adjustment). [NOTE: a 1 % increase in COLA means $1.1 to $1.2 million in the budget.] Regular step increases are included in the budget, as they are legally required according to current contracts. Finally, there is no assumption of money from the federal stimulus plan.

Looking at the elementary school section of the budget (where enrollment is expected to be almost flat next year), there is a decrease of 5.5 FTEs (Full-Time Equivalents), which would lead to fewer classes and larger class sizes. There would be 1.5 FTE reserve teachers, which are assigned as the actual student enrollment numbers become clear later in the spring/summer. The number of math coaches is increased by 2.5 FTEs, and the elementary schools will share 3 new social worker positions.

During the discussion of the elementary section, members of the School Committee requested to see a class size array, which would predict what class sizes will be at each school next year based on projected enrollments. The discussion also focused on the math coaches, with the Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education, the Math Curriculum Coordinator, and two elementary school principals asserting that the coaches have been successful and that there is data to support their statement. Finally, there was the suggestion of adding a Chief Operating Officer or Chief Efficiency Officer to the staff, although there is no money allocated for this.

Regarding the middle schools (where enrollment is expected to increase by 88 students), there is an increase of 1 FTE teacher and .5 reserve teacher in the NPS budget. Even with this additional staff, the increase in students leads to larger team sizes and more 2-person teams. These teams mean teachers will be teaching outside of their content area. This trade-off between class size and teachers teaching within their content area was specifically identified and discussed by the School Committee.

The discussion about the high school changes will be continued at Monday’s meeting. Overall, the high schools, which will see an enrollment decline of 85 students across the two schools, would lose 14.4 FTEs in the NPS budget. This reduction comes from a variety of areas, including 6 FTE from the reduction in the number of students, 1 FTE reduction in guidance counseling, 3 FTEs from having fewer under-enrolled electives, 2.9 FTEs from a reduction in the PE requirement, 2 FTEs by capping the number of blocks in which a student can enroll at 26 (from 28). This is offset by an increase of .5 FTE in reserve teachers.

Overall, the budget proposes reducing the number of blocks that high school students can enroll in, and fewer elective course offerings as those classes with small enrollments are cut. These high school changes require a change in the cut-off number for under-enrolled electives from 15 to 18. So any class that has fewer than 18 students enrolled (across both schools), would be cancelled. This created quite a bit of discussion last night and the possibility that there might be some discretion used regarding the cut-off number in different areas of the curriculum (i.e. some music and computer classes).

About reducing the PE requirements from 7 semesters to 5, information was presented that many of our surrounding communities require only 4 or 5 semesters. The state mandate is 4 semesters. NPS is exploring the possibility of participation in after-school sports as one way to satisfy the requirements. This would allow some students to use their blocks on other courses.

Reducing the number of blocks the high school students can take led to a discussion of “unintended consequences” on curriculum and on the amount of free time students would have (and how to fill that void). More information was requested regarding the number of students taking specific numbers of blocks.

The use of online courses was briefly mentioned as a way to provide breadth of programming. Currently, some students take advanced math courses online at their own expense. The cost for NPS to do this is expensive right now, though NPS is exploring the possibilities for the following year.