F&O liveblog

Transportation:
students who reside less than two miles from the school they attend (as discussed in August; referred back to subcommittee)
List is of places that have bus transportation that are closer than two miles
Question of whether there are places that DPW action could resolve the safety issue (largely, not)
Secondary students are not required to be bussed, but we do, thus all the buses are on the road already, and so this costs nothing extra.
Security cameras
list of current cameras, compiling list of upgrades
notes made of schools that have cameras only at the front door; considering recommended upgrades, as needed by principals

FY11 Budget
final numbers

Foley says this is when we "make glowing comments about..our administration"
"finish the race with the least amount of gas in the tank"
any money left reverts back to the city
of $260 million, $7392 was left at the end
0.0028 percent was left to revert to the city
"the intent is to spend it on education..."
Foley points out that you can't carry over money from one year to the next
all funds go through the city auditor
now that the line is drawn under FY11, is there anything we need to switch for FY12?
it informs the first quarter report

Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement 54
is being implemented by the city auditor
(if we were a regional district, it would apply to us)
the independent auditor last year recommended to the city that they implement it going forward, which they are

FY12 first quarter report
vacancies and attrition in IAs, custodians, and non-instructional support: positive balances, being filled
charter schools assessment was larger than the state budget projection (done at the end of the process, after our budget is done): it's about $770,000 greater than we anticipated
state level funded charter account: nine new schools opened
Worcester underfunded by about $500,000 in terms of reimbursement
reducing budget very soon, after the city sets the tax rate
utilities: saving us $225,000 this year (good contract!); nearly a million dollar saved next year!
part of student supplies budget frozen; hopeful we won't need to touch that
transportation: we had to add three special ed buses for door-to-door service
workers compensation is traditional underfunded (as it is this year)
additional transportation provided for School-aged Mothers at Creamer (recommended transfer)
item asking about hiring IAs for kindergartens over 20
we have about 65 IAs or so; 90 or so Ks; we'd need about 20 more IAs to do that
administration does not feel that we're at place where we can fund that at this point
we have an interm principal at Clark Street (so administration is running over)
health insurance changes have continued, so we've got $170,000 projected there

North High rental fees
balance of a fair rate that doesn't overuse the building
capture usage (including utilities), plus long-term use of building
using Worcester Tech model
any rental of the school is retained by the school in a revolving fund
specific to North High

Statements of Interests to MSBA
Note that eleven projects are being submitted under the traditional renovation/replace projects
Nelson Place has ALREADY BEEN SUBMITTED
in many cases, we are submitting for work that we're already been done, or is planned short-term
Plus 21 schools being recommended for Green Repair (windows, roofs, boilers)
Allen notes that you cannot be on both Green Repair and major renovation (so if there's a choice, it's going on renovation)
in some cases, submitting for reimbursement for work already done
Worcester is an 80% reimbursement district
Note that each must be voted individually

And so they are...