Sue Flicop

There were some positive changes made tonight–clearly the Superintendent and the School Committee were being receptive to feedback from parents.  The changes affect the proposals for the high schools–specifically, there will be no reduction in the maximum number of blocks a high school student can take, and the savings from changes in the PE requirements might be achieved differently.  But it’s not clear how.  I came out of tonight’s School Committee meeting more confused about the budget than when I went in.

It is clear that cuts will be made at the high schools–the budget still calls for a reduction of 13.9 FTEs from the high schools, and that didn’t change tonight.  But what these cuts mean to the high school students wasn’t specified, and probably won’t be known for a little while. I’m fine with the principals having the flexibility to respond to the students’ preferences, but I do hope that parents will get a chance to respond before everything is finalized and when the impact of the cuts is known.

Another example of incomplete information concerns fee increases.  The School Committee feels it can find an additional $40,000 from increasing the Use of School Building fees. I’ve heard them mention focusing on C permits–those for organizations either for-profit or from outside Newton. The budget also contains a $40 increase per student for transportation fees.   As I’ve written before, I feel that we need a full analysis of these fees followed by public discussion. Unfortunately, we’ve reached the point where a decision needs to be made without either of these happening.