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01/30/2020 AC Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) January 30, 2020 Place and Time: Cary Memorial Building, Hudson Room, 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; John Bartenstein; Lily Manhua Yan; Meg Muckenhoupt; Nick Nichols; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Members)Absent: Eric Michelson Other Attendees: Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent of Lexington Public Schools (LPS); David Coelho, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, LPS; Kathleen Lenihan, School Committee; Deepika Sawhney, School Committee The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. Announcements and Liaison Reports Ms. Kosnoff reported the following: • The Town will be selling approximately $9 million in bonds on Wednesday. • The FY2021 Recommended Budget and Financing Plan (Brown Book)is expected to be completed by tomorrow for inclusion in the Select Board's packets for their meeting on Monday evening. • The Budget Summit scheduled for next Thursday may be cancelled. LPS Budget for FY2021 Using this Committee's written questions, which had been submitted to Dr. Hackett prior to the meeting, the initial focus of the discussion was on special education (SPED), its costs, and the staffing audit that is going to be conducted. Dr. Hackett's comments regarding the audit included, but were not limited to, the following: • Staff members are exploring potential vendors to conduct the SPED staffing audit. • The selected consultant will look at programs nationwide as well as comparable communities in the Lexington area. • The goal is to have the audit completed in late spring. • It is anticipated that the audit will include recommendations for using staff more effectively and efficiently; there are some indications that in some cases students may perform better with lower adult/student ratios than with the current ratios. • It is anticipated that there will be some staffing changes, but it isn't clear that this will result in cost savings. • Implementation of program or staffing changes will be complicated and take time, but conversations have been initiated. It will be easier to make changes for new students than to change the accommodations of current students. • In addition to the families that are impacted, there are staff and union considerations. Dr. Hackett's comments regarding SPED programs in general included, but were not limited to, the following: • There often is value in having special needs children spend part of their school day in a general education (Gen Ed) classroom rather than all day in a SPED classroom. 1