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03/14/2019 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee(AC) March 14, 2019 Place and Time: Parker Room, Town Office Building, 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; John Bartenstein; Ellen Basch; Eric Michelson; Richard Neumeier;Nick Nichols; Lily Manhua Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff,Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: None Other Attendees: Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent, Lexington Public Schools (LPS); Peter Rowe, Interim Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, LPS; Kate Colburn, Vice Chair, Lexington School Committee; Deepika Sawhney, Lexington School Committee The meeting was called to order at 7:45 p.m. Discussion with School Department staff and School Committee regarding the FY2020 School Budget Mr. Rowe reviewed the FY2020 LPS budget, including new growth revenue allocations, net revenue growth, a summary of staff changes, a summary of budget growth, and enrollment adjusted cost growth in similar communities. Details were clarified during the discussion. Comments included the following: • Funds that are not used are turned back to the Town; $1.2 million was returned for FY2018. • The Special Education Stabilization Fund has $1.88 million in it to serve as a buffer against extenuating circumstances; to date, the School Department has not requested a withdrawal from it. • Enrollment projections are created using the industry standard Cohort Survival method modified so that kindergarten enrollments are based on the most recent 5-year average kindergarten enrollment rather than on births of Lexington residents. • Of the 48 staff positions requested for FY2020, only 22 were approved during the school department's budget process. • At the high school level, there is an effort to minimize expenses that could best be pursued as part of or after the building of a new high school. That said, current requests for technology-related capital projects are expected to have "aged out"before a new high school is built; it is not prudent to postpone such projects. • The high school heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems are very old. It isn't clear whether they can last until a new high school is built. • The new Lexington Children's Place is scheduled to open in September 2019,providing additional space at Harrington Elementary School. The new Maria Hastings Elementary School is scheduled to open in February 2020. Redistricting is being considered for FY2021. Appropriation Committee (AC)Report to the Annual Town Meeting (ATM) The following articles were reviewed/discussed, adding votes where appropriate and determining this Committee's support for including some items on a Consent Agenda, as proposed by the Board of Selectmen (BoS) and supported by the Capital Expenditures Committee. 1