Joint F&O/Education meeting : budget

Foley: "at a point where we haven't been for several years: above the net school spending floor"
talk in the future about moving it forward as we can
Allen: dollars appropriated last week
$172,000 was the remaining gap at the time
"these numbers changed based on a number of variables"
gap earlier this month was $40,000 under NSS
full $172,000 was recommended and approved
now $130,000 above NSS
provided three teaching positions "that were really needed to address class size and teacher load" at the secondary level
final charter school reimbursement numbers were lower from the state (that usually means we have to reduce our budget); city manager using last year's reimbursement to hold budget harmless for the second year in a row: "Small but significant victories in keeping teachers in the classroom"
sequestration hitting our grants assumed full 8.5% cut; came in with less of a cut, so added 7 teachers
"some relatively good news on our budget since the City Council last heard it in June"
14 new positions hired since June
Foley points out the $400,000 increase in city administration charged against WPS
Allen: increase across city departments; biggest increase in IT
sitting with DESE on what level of expenses should be counted against NSS
direct expenses for those departments plus share of city budget increasing
O'Brien: discussion of our long-term strategy to some target above foundation