2012-02-08-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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February 8, 2012 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee Meeting February 8, 2012 Time and location: Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; John Bartenstein, Vice Chair and Secretary; Joe Pato, Vice Chair; Robert Cohen; Mollie Garberg; Alan Levine; Eric Michelson; Richard Neumeier; and Jonina Schonfeld Others in Attendance: Theo Kalivas, Budget Officer; Mary Ann Stewart and Alessandro Alessandrini (School Committee), Dr. Paul Ash (Superintendent); Mary Ellen Dunn (Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Business); George Burnell and Deb Manger (Board of Selectmen); David Kanter and William Hurley (Capital Expenditures Committee). The meeting was called to order at 7:36 p.m. Richard Neumeier agreed to take the minutes. 1. FY13 School Budget The principal focus of the meeting was a review of the FY13 school budget including, in particular, the impact of proposed fee reductions for all -day kindergarten, music instruction, and Estabrook bus transportation (next two years only). The meeting began with an overview of selected budget issues by Superintendent Ash. Among other things, Dr. Ash reported that the school facilities occupy about 1 million square feet out of 1.1 million square feet of property owned by the town. Recently, the school negotiated a contract for natural gas for $800,000 to $850,000 in the next three years at a price worth approximately 50% of the current cost of oil. Approximately 80% of the operating budget is spent on labor. The school system has a young staff with a majority of its employees having ten or less years of seniority. Dr. Ash explained that there is a need for additional capital items including four additional classrooms in the high school (at a cost of approximately $400,000) and some other smaller items. Special education costs to the town have been going down. This is in part due to the fact that the level of state circuit breaker reimbursement has increased and is back to 65 %. In addition, the School Department has a financial officer assigned just to special education issues. As a result, all expenditures have been reviewed to determine whether reimbursement from the State can be obtained. In the past year, a significant amount of money has been reimbursed by the state. Under the circuit breaker arrangement, if the school spends more than four times the foundational number (that is, more than about $38,000) for any student receiving special education services, the state provides reimbursement. In addition, there is a new autism program at Diamond which has helped to reduce the number of out -of- district placements. Dr. Ash recommended that the $1,075 full -day kindergarten fee be eliminated (only one child in the system is at half -day, for which there is no charge). The cost of this that cannot otherwise be absorbed in the school budget is anticipated to be $150,000. The state will provide reimbursement for kindergarten education only if there is no fee. - 1 -