2007-03-01-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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March 1, 2007 There was general discussion of whether more detailed examination of SPED statistics, including historical data predating the tracking tool, would yield better projections of future costs. Alan commented that certainly it will be useful to obtain overall statistics but it only takes the placement of a few students in expensive programs to have a large impact on the budget. Tom continues to work on SPED records and said that he could use some assistance. Alan Levine, Pam Hoffman and Mike Kennealy volunteered to help in this effort. There were suggestions for factors to review in the FY 2008 SPED cost projections. Tom reported that Sen. Havern has mentioned that the State legislature may consider legislation to reimburse towns for some portion of SPED transportation costs, which in Lexington currently total about $1M per year. The SPED circuit breaker program does not currently reimburse any transportation costs. The current estimate for circuit breaker reimbursement in FY 2008 is now about $2,069,000. This is lower than the number in the Superintendent’s recommended budget book and does not anticipate either extraordinary relief from the state (available only if special education costs exceed the prior year by more than 25%) or additional circuit breaker reimbursement resulting from better accounting of in-house costs. The net increase in SPED costs for FY 2008 after circuit breaker reimbursements will likely be something over $1.5M. Budget Summit 4. 3. At 7:25 the meeting moved to Cary Hall to participate in a Budget Collaboration/Summit meeting. That meeting commenced at 7:40 PM. The Board of Selectmen will publish minutes of the summit meeting. A few items are worth noting here. First, the Governor’s proposed FY 2008 budget was released and suggests that Lexington’s state aid may increase by something over $300K. Some $280K of that increase is Chapter 70 aid, i.e., an increase of $50 per student, and $30K is in lottery aid. The Town Manager is skeptical that the lottery aid will materialize, but may consider building the increase in Chap. 70 aid into the Town’s budget. It could cover the present gap between the amount in the recommended budget for Minuteman Science- Tech. High School (about $1M) and the amount that Minuteman is now expected to request ($1.236M). The budget schedule was discussed. The operating budget will not be final until mid- March at the earliest because the School Committee does not expect to vote on their budget until March 13. Thus it will likely be useful to begin discussions of CPA and non-General Fund enterprise capital requests at Town Meeting before the General Fund articles are discussed. Funding of the school capital requests was discussed. The need for estimates of cost savings from energy efficiency improvements was highlighted. The possible use of some of the funds presently planned to be put into the Stabilization Fund was mentioned. - 2 -