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Home My WebLink About2014-01-30-AC-min 2014-01-30 Minutes Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee January 30, 2014 Place and trmeS Parker Room, Town Office Building, 7 30 p.m Members present. John Bartenstem, Vice Chair and Secretary; Mollie Garberg; Alan Levine, Susan McLeish, Eric Michelson, Rob Addelson (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent Glenn Parker, Chair, Robert Cohen, Richard Neumeier, Jonma Schonfeld Others Present Mary Ellen Dunn, Assistant Supenntendent, Lexington Public Schools (LPS), Ian Dailey, Budget Officer, LPS, Margaret Coppe, Chair, Lexington School Committee The meeting was called to order at 7 37 p.m. 1 Minutes. A motion was made and seconded to accept the January 23, 2014 minutes with minor edits presented by Mr Levine The motion passed. VOTE 5-0 2. Discussion of School Department FY2015 Budget. Ms Dunn gave a presentation based on slides that are available on the School Department's website httn.//lps.lexinwtonma or /cros/lib2/MA01001631/Centricity/Domain/365/FY 15.BudNet Sunt.Pre sentation.2014-01-07 pdf The current Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 budget request represents a 6 82% increase above the FY2014 budget request. In the Town Manager's revenue allocation model for FY 2015, the schools were allocated a 7 63% increase The School Committee is still deliberating on the school budget and will hold a public hearing on the budget on Saturday, February 1, 2014 Input from that meeting will be discussed at the School Committee's February 4th meeting, and the School Committee plans to vote on a final budget on February 11`h Mr Addelson noted that any available funds not used by either the School Department or on the municipal side are likely to be put into the Capital Project/Debt Service Stabilization Fund. Those funds would not be earmarked. Ms Dunn identified the School Department's three main goals, plans to achieve those goals include additional staff as well as program and administrative changes, as follows • Advance academic excellence Includes overhauling the evaluation of teachers to meet state requirements, curriculum reviews to prepare for changes in the state testing program, expanding the special education Intensive Learning Program into the High School, and expanding technical and instructional support. • Promote social and emotional wellness Includes expanding the Therapeutic Learning Programs for special needs students with emotional or behavioral needs, and increasing social worker availability • Ensure infrastructure that supports school and distnct needs Includes reorganizing various administrative structures and improving communications with school and distnct constituencies During the discussion, Ms Dunn added, usually in response to questions, that 1 2014-01-30 Minutes • The number of special needs students is growing at the youngest levels • The number of homeless children has increased to about 30, only partially because some homeless families have been placed at the Bedford Street hotel • The time it takes to evaluate a teacher is increasing because of new state standards • The budget includes a new Director of Planning and Assessment, who will provide technical support for data collection and analysis The person will have an advanced degree • The Department of Student Services will be reorganized with new department names • The major budget drivers are legal requirements, enrollment increases, contractual increases, and program improvements • Staff profiling is not currently available but an effort will be made to compile this data. • Most of the structure is now in place for tracking staff positions, the next step is to train staff in how to make a staffing request. • Budget administrators are being reminded that the approved budget book controls where and how much money is spent. • There isn't a separate line item for energy planning and training. • In recent years, safety and security demands have changed significantly; the School Department, Police Department, and Fire Department meet annually with their cassis teams to maintain formalized and coordinated emergency response measures Developing those measures took more time than is now required to update and maintain them • School bus usage has been increasing annually since 2012 when the bus fee, if one signed up early, was reduced to $300 There are continued efforts to offer expanded after-school transportation programs at the elementary schools The Lexpress/School Bus Flexpass is very helpful for middle and high school students Unfortunately, traffic around the schools is still an issue, probably because of increased enrollment and because of the inefficient traffic patterns on school property • The cost of eliminating the school bus fee would be $700,000 to $800,000 and it isn't clear that this would eliminate the traffic problems One bus costs $128,000 a year • The buses are essentially full, ridership data will be presented to Town Meeting. • Collecting overdue fees from parents can sometimes be challenging; small claims court is one option. Students are not allowed on the bus if they haven't paid, students can't participate in their high school graduation if all fees aren't paid. • The School Department has requested funding for two new capital projects Traffic mitigation design, Bndge Elementary School and Lexington High School (LHS) will be addressed first. . Replacement of defibrillators, they have reached their eight year life span. • There are a couple of errors in the budget book. middle school fees will not be increased, and a figure in the text is not consistent with some information in a table • There are plans to close out the Avalon Fund. • The Financial Assistance Fund is only used for athletic activities and pre-school transportation. • Per-pupil costs were calculated in 2009 based on a methodology that included supplies and instructional material The methodology could be used again. • New bids for the LHS modular buildings are expected on February 11`h 2 2014-01-30 Minutes • There is a reasonable chance that Fiske Elementary School will need two additional classrooms for the next school year A long term plan needs to be developed before a short term approach is pursued. Re-distnctmg after Estabrook Elementary School opens is a possibility, but Estabrook is likely to be impacted by an increase in house sales in that distract tnggered by the new school building. • Creating enrollment projections is challenging. Birth rates are no longer considered a reliable predictor 3 Report(s) to the Upcoming Annual and Special Town Meetings. Mr Bartenstein commented on Mr Parker's wntmg and review assignments for the report(s), as compared to the 2013 assignments He prefers to keep some of the components that he had previously prepared because he has a working knowledge of them It was agreed to make some changes and to discuss this further at the next meeting. 4 Liaison Reports. In response to a question, Mr Addelson explained that it was ongmally hoped that the new Community Center would be open before the Cary Memonal Building was closed for renovations because the Recreation Department uses the Cary Memorial Building for program and storage space There are recommendations to expand the Phase 1 renovations to incorporate additional elements Mr Addelson did not believe there would be a negative impact on the availability of Community Preservation Act funds resulting from these changes, but there could be a delay in the opening of the Community Center until well after the Cary project is undertaken. One solution is to delay the Cary Memorial Building project. Karen Simmons, Director, Recreation Department, is explonng alternatives for her needs In response to a question, Mr Addelson said that there is nothing to preclude fund raising from pnvate sources to support the Community Center 5 Next Meetings and Next Steps. Dr Edward Bouquillon, Superintendent of Minuteman Regional Technical High School, has been invited to make a presentation on proposed changes to the Regional Agreement. If he is unable to attend next week, the meeting currently scheduled for Thursday, February 6 may be cancelled. Jill Hai, Chair, Capital Expenditures Committee, will be asked if there are capital projects that are of particular concern, perhaps she can attend a future Appropriation Committee meeting. Ms Garberg will review the School Department's capital projects for anything that needs further discussion by this Committee It was noted that the largest CPA-eligible project is the Cary Memorial Building, which has already been discussed. The meeting was adjourned at 9 37 p.m A list of documents and other exhibits used at the meeting are set forth below Respectfully submitted, Sara Arnold Recording Secretary Approved February 20, 2014 3 2014-01-30 Minutes Exhibits 1 Meeting Agenda posted by John Bartenstem, Vice Chair and Secretary 2 Supenntendent's Recommended 2014-2015 Budget; Lexington Public Schools, January 27, 2014 (PowerPoint) 3 Fiscal Year 2015 Supenntendent of Schools Level Service and Recommended Budget; Paul B Ash, Supenntendent of Schools, January 7, 2014 (Budget Book) 4