2010-02-17-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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February 17, 2010 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee February 17, 2010 Place and time: Town Office Building, Room 111, 7:30 p.m. Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), Glenn Parker (Vice - Chair), John Bartenstein (Vice Chair and Secretary), Rick Eurich, Mollie Garberg, Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson, Joe Pato, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non - voting) Also present: Dr. Paul Ash, Superintendent, and Mary Ellen Dunn, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Business The meeting was called to order at 7:34 p.m. 1. School Budget. Dr. Ash briefed this Committee on the major items related to the proposed FY2011 budget for the schools. The School Committee requested that two budgets be prepared — the first was a level service budget that replicates the current level of services and meets legal requirements. The second budget, the so- called "recommended budget," includes programmatic changes recommended by the Superintendent under the constraint that the total spending not exceed that of the level service budget. The bulk of the blue budget book reflects the level service budget. The blue book also includes a section on the recommended budget towards the back. In the recommended budget there are approximately $500,000 in each of program additions and reductions (primarily the elimination of FY2010 vacant positions). One of the additions relates to the reestablishment of the Educational Technology Department which was eliminated in July, 2005, shortly after Dr. Ash started working in Lexington. A vacant Deputy Superintendent position was converted into a position of Director of Education Technology and Assessment, and the latter was filled in July, 2009. This position is proposed to be continued in FY 2011 and, in addition, the plan is to hire two instructors for the elementary schools, one for the middle schools and one for the high school. The technology employees will consult and collaborate with teachers to assist them in improving the effectiveness of the use of technology, i.e., computers and software, in their instruction. The second program improvement is to add a K -5 math specialist and thereby increase the number to seven. The new math specialist would work with classroom teachers as a coach to upgrade their skills to enable them to be better math teachers while the other specialists would continue to work directly with students. Dr. Ash briefly spoke about the three -year financial projection which projects annual increases in expenditures (exclusive of COLA) of between 2.6% and 2.8% (see the memo from Mary Ellen Dunn dated January 26, 20 10) and anticipates revenue offsets including American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funding (which does not -I -