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March 1, 2007 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee March 1, 2007 Place and time: Room 111, Town Office Building, 6:00 p.m. Members present: Alan Levine (Chair), Deborah Brown (Vice-Chair), John Bartenstein (Secretary), Rod Cole, Rick Eurich, Pam Hoffman, David Kanter, Mike Kennealy, Eric Michelson Also present: Tom Diaz (School Committee) A meeting of the Appropriation Committee was held prior to Budget Collaboration- Summit Meeting 4. The meeting was called to order at 6:13 PM. Reports of Other Meetings. 1. Alan Levine noted that he and David Kanter had attended a meeting of the Permanent Building Committee on February 27 during which planning for the new DPW facilities was discussed at length. Because time was short, Alan gave only a brief report on that meeting. Special Education Budgeting Issues. 2. Tom Diaz reported on the outlook for special education (SPED) finances for FY 2008. He distributed a handout that was based on a report to the School Committee that summarized some of the SPED information. He indicated that there are two positive factors influencing the budgeting of SPED costs in FY 2008. The first is that the school administration has a new tool for tracking out-of- district students and the associated costs which should enable firmer budget estimates than in the past. The second is that the administration proposed and the School Committee approved (last November) the creation of three new in-house programs for FY 2008 to serve SPED students who might otherwise require out-of-district placements. One of the main focal points of the new programs is services for students with autism or related conditions. These programs will cost about $500K and are projected to save about $1,400K in outside tuition and transportation costs to the Town. The Superintendent’s recommended FY2008 budget factors in the projected net cost savings of $900K (the numbers here do not factor in the anticipated reduction in circuit breaker reimbursements). On the negative side, Tom said that even after any savings that might be realized from the new in-house programs, SPED costs are projected to increase. In particular, there are 8 to 12 students in the school system at present who are likely to be placed out-of-district next year. The net number of out-of-district placements will increase by about three, and program costs will also be higher. Overall, SPED costs are projected to increase about $2M from FY 2007 to FY 2008. Last year, the projected cost increase (FY 2006 to FY 2007) was about $1M, and the actual increase after supplemental special education funds were appropriated at last fall’s special town meeting was closer to $2M. - 1 -