Budget at CPPAC

I'm not going to liveblog the entire budget presentation as you had that here. You can also see that presentation here.

Posting as we go

Allen: show what the budget looks like at this time, but no recommendations at this time; those will come over the next month or so

total revenue exceeding current year for the first time in 20 years
currently funding for circuit breaker projected to be 70% for FY15
don't know yet what the level for charter school reimbursement will be, as seven schools are being considered for this coming year by the BoE, and every school added makes the reimbursement smaller

city still below Net School Spending by about $2 million
enrollment still exceeds when we closed eight schools; "people always ask 'are you going to close schools?' I don't know how we can..."
1% is $3.3 million when we look at inflation; it's averaged just over 2% for the past several years, but is 0.86% for FY15

required city contribution for FY15 $96,374,700
required spending thus $2 million more than the minimum all state aid money
Required Net School Spending increase of  $5.1 million
note further that if city does not increase other local contribution, the city will be under Net School Spending by $3 million

General fund budget projected to be $303,363,646 for FY15
noted here by the group that Worcester is unusual in being under net school spending, that most communities are above by 15%, statewide on average
and if you were there: it's Lynn that's well below (at 8.6% below) for this year. Lowell is 2.7%
bit of discussion here on McKinney-Vento being slated to become a competitive grant for next year WHICH IS INSANE (I know, I said that already. But it is.)

Note also that while School Redesign Grants for Chandler and Union Hill are going away, the costs continue; while RTTT is going away, a number of those costs are continuing as well

workers' compensation "can't really be in a situation where we hope it will be enough to get us through" thus needs to be appropriately funded for next year

what do principals think we need to ADD for next year?
117 additional positions includes 16 elementary teachers (class size), 11 secondary teachers (course selection and offerings), 14 student support positions, 5 special education teachers, 9 ELL teachers, 19 instructional assistants,19 tutor positions, 6 school- based clerical, 2 school nurses, 6 assistant principals, 4 additional instructional coaches, 3 credit recovery computer lab staff, 2 school safety, and 1 wrap around coordinator.
which would total $6.3 million
We need new elementary textbooks which is $2 million; plus need $400,00 for secondary textbooks

and that's over and above the $11.7 million we need to fund the same thing that we are doing this year
Plus here are the things you can't do if you fund right at foundation:
Elementary Assistant Principals  $  900,000
Kindergarten IA’s       $  750,000
School Safety Equipment    $  500,000
Playground Maintenance    $  500,000
School Furniture       $  500,000
Wireless Technology      $  500,000
Total Additional Needs:     $3,650,000


Balancing just the $11.7 million would require 200 positions cut
Note that this is just the calculation; that won't be the recommendation.

also note that not everything is on here...Facilities does not increase, for example

query around class size for next year
query around community donations for things like furniture

Were the city to fund the $11.7 million (which is what we need "to open the doors"), that would be about 3% over net school spending
Were the city to fund the full $27 million, that would be about 8% over net school spending

oh, and the presentation has now opened the FY15 folder here on the Worcester Public Schools website under Finance and Operations and FY15!