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EDUCATION
<br />School Committee
<br />Expenditures
<br />Operating Expenses
<br />FY07
<br />FY06
<br />$631662112111-
<br />$7110361577
<br />Personnel
<br />864.51 FTEs
<br />8 78.0 7 FTEs
<br />EY07 amount lower due to reclassification of Employee
<br />Benefits to Shared Expenses.
<br />ROLE: To hire, supervise and evaluate the Superintendent of
<br />Schools; to develop school policies; to approve operating
<br />and capital budgets for the schools; to advocate for school
<br />concerns to other town officials, boards, and the communi-
<br />ty; to act as liaison between the School Department and the
<br />community; to govern Lexington Public Schools in areas not
<br />governed by state or federal law.
<br />ELECTED to 3 -year terms: Chair Tom Diaz, Vice Chair Tom
<br />Griffiths, Helen Cohen, Ravi Sakhuja, Margaret Coppe; one -
<br />year term, Student Representative Gabe Schonfeld.
<br />Since July 1, 2005, Dr. Paul Ash, has served as Superintendent
<br />of the Lexington public schools. He is the chief executive con-
<br />tinuing our tradition of excellent public education. As shown
<br />in his report, Lexington students continue to achieve at some
<br />of the best levels in the state, and the staff also are working to
<br />provide better assistance for struggling students.
<br />School Policies
<br />The 2007 -2008 school year began before Labor Day, imple-
<br />menting a 2006 vote by the School Committee. In May,
<br />voted unanimously to eliminate the use of weighted grade -
<br />point averages on high school report cards, beginning with
<br />the class of 2009.
<br />Operating Budget
<br />The school department finished fiscal year 2007 with
<br />unspent funds of more than $464,000. This included salaries
<br />and wages not paid, facilities funds not used, and over
<br />$271,000 in out of district special education funds that were
<br />not needed. At the Special Town Meeting in November
<br />2006, while seeking a supplemental appropriation, the
<br />school department had pledged to return any unspent special
<br />education funds to the Town. After closing FY07, the school
<br />department returned not only the $271,000 but all
<br />$464,000 to the Town.
<br />In 2007, voters approved an operating override for the
<br />schools by 54.1% to 45.7 %. The vote added $3.98 million
<br />to the school budget for fiscal year 2008. Inflation of other
<br />costs prevented restoration of most programs lost in 2006.
<br />However, more teachers were hired to reduce some class
<br />sizes, ninth grade teaming was restored for English and
<br />social studies, and high school honors physics was returned
<br />to six sessions per week, as had pertained to all science
<br />courses before the 2006 defeat.
<br />In 2007, increases in state aid continued to be vitally impor-
<br />tant to education. Members of the School Committee, along
<br />with other activists in the community and throughout the
<br />state, continued to lobby the state legislature to restore
<br />Chapter 70 and METCO aid. Although the legislature did
<br />not complete the state FY07 budget until the town's budget
<br />had already been voted, these efforts resulted in increased
<br />FY07 aid of over $800,000 to Lexington's schools, money
<br />that began arriving after the opening of school in September
<br />2006. In 2007, the governor's budget was presented early in
<br />the year, and legislative resolutions on local aid enabled the
<br />Town government to plan for significant increases for FY08.
<br />As a result, in April, the School Committee was able to
<br />remove $640,000 of education programs from the cut list,
<br />protecting them from a possible override failure.
<br />New Special Education Programs
<br />For the 2007 -2008 school year, the Superintendent started
<br />five new in -house programs to improve education for our
<br />special needs students. The administration is improving the
<br />quality of in -house special education services, both for the
<br />benefit of the students and to reduce the budgetary impact
<br />of fluctuating out -of- district costs. These programs have
<br />been successful so far in 2007 -2008, and more are proposed,
<br />particularly at the elementary level, in 2008 -2009.
<br />Financial Review Subcommittee
<br />The School Committee appointed a subcommittee to review
<br />the schools' financial operations, including financial and sta-
<br />tistical reporting, and to make recommendations concerning
<br />the adequacy and appropriateness of the financial opera-
<br />tions, as well as suggested improvements. The committee is
<br />chaired by two citizens with financial expertise, Jennifer
<br />Hewitt and Bob Boudreau. The School Committee represen-
<br />tatives are Tom Griffiths and Ravi Sakhuja.
<br />Transportation
<br />In the FY08 budget, the School Committee changed bus
<br />transportation to a "fee for service" program, so that non -
<br />mandated school busing is supported entirely by user fees.
<br />This unfortunately has resulted in a significant increase in bus
<br />fees, from $400 per rider to $550, and thus a likely increase
<br />in the number of parents driving children to and from school.
<br />Redistricting
<br />The School Department redrew the district lines for
<br />Lexington's six elementary schools. The technical work was
<br />done by a committee working with and advising the
<br />Superintendent. The committee was made up of two parent
<br />continued on next page
<br />Page 46 2007 Annual Report, Town of Lexington
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