What the School Committee is reviewing is the line item budget, which is online here. Personally, I'm keeping the Table of Contents, which is hyperlinked, opened and jumping from there.
The order in which it is suggested that they review accounts is here (which this year is the order in which the budget book is arranged, non-salary, then salary accounts).
Posting as we go once we start, which clearly isn't yet, as no one is here:
Showing posts with label out of state travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label out of state travel. Show all posts
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Budget hearing: account by account
posting as we go
Boone: figures identified in this document were approved by City Council, thus gives us a starting point
Monfredo: money we received is still a $2.1 million deficit that needs to be made up
Boone: FY15 meets minimum, FY14 balance
Allen notes that the number is on page 375 of the budget
Boone: figures identified in this document were approved by City Council, thus gives us a starting point
Monfredo: money we received is still a $2.1 million deficit that needs to be made up
Boone: FY15 meets minimum, FY14 balance
Allen notes that the number is on page 375 of the budget
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Educational support; printing and postage; out of state travel
Colorio: credit recovery lab:got moved to this account?
Allen: for clarity
works at North High
Biancheria: compares to North High's line item
change in salary from last year to this: decrease in salary
Allen: not the same person
Boone: moved the location of this person's pay to educational support
Allen: there was a retirement
move happened last year; change was noted in quarterly reports
Printing and postage approved
In-state travel approved
Out-of-state travel
Biancheria: zero to $5,000
grants no longer covering the expense
Boone: was not zero; it was reflected in a grant budget
being reflected in an operations budget
Biancheria: tax-based dollars of $5000
Luster: "happy to have the opportunity to discuss the Worcester Public Schools teacher recruitment program"
plan to attend a job fair in Chicago: to benefit from loss of teaching positions there
3 to 4 out of state fairs for national recruitment
Biancheria: Chicago an excellent location to begin the process
"don't have an issue with recruitment"
"also reads staff development" ('though that line item is set at zero)
Luster: "can barely manage our recruitment efforts with $5000"
Allen: staff development and personnel office both are in here, but none of the money is for staff development (which it says in line B)
Colorio: how many teachers are recruited this way?
Petty suggests "success rate": getting a report
O'Connell: recruitment trips out of grant funds?
Allen: Title IIA funds used for recruitment
O'Connell: still have Title IIA funds available? still exists but in a reduced form
Allen: 8% reduction, as across the board
Allen: for clarity
works at North High
Biancheria: compares to North High's line item
change in salary from last year to this: decrease in salary
Allen: not the same person
Boone: moved the location of this person's pay to educational support
Allen: there was a retirement
move happened last year; change was noted in quarterly reports
Printing and postage approved
In-state travel approved
Out-of-state travel
Biancheria: zero to $5,000
grants no longer covering the expense
Boone: was not zero; it was reflected in a grant budget
being reflected in an operations budget
Biancheria: tax-based dollars of $5000
Luster: "happy to have the opportunity to discuss the Worcester Public Schools teacher recruitment program"
plan to attend a job fair in Chicago: to benefit from loss of teaching positions there
3 to 4 out of state fairs for national recruitment
Biancheria: Chicago an excellent location to begin the process
"don't have an issue with recruitment"
"also reads staff development" ('though that line item is set at zero)
Luster: "can barely manage our recruitment efforts with $5000"
Allen: staff development and personnel office both are in here, but none of the money is for staff development (which it says in line B)
Colorio: how many teachers are recruited this way?
Petty suggests "success rate": getting a report
O'Connell: recruitment trips out of grant funds?
Allen: Title IIA funds used for recruitment
O'Connell: still have Title IIA funds available? still exists but in a reduced form
Allen: 8% reduction, as across the board
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Denver: Worcester's on the list
And per my post on the Labor-Management Jamboree in Denver, Worcester is on the list.
Heading there from Massachusetts February 15-16 are:
Heading there from Massachusetts February 15-16 are:
- MA Barnstable Public Schools
- MA Boston Public Schools
- MA Dennis-Yarmouth Reg. School District
- MA Fall River Public Schools
- MA Quaboag Regional School District
- MA Springfield Public Schools
- MA Swampscott
- MA Wakefield Public Schools
- MA West Springfield
- MA Worcester Public Schools
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
On the Council agenda
Expect some mentions of the school department at tonight's Council meeting; several agenda items specifically reference the school department:
Thursday, December 30, 2010
A bit on the travel funds
..per the article regarding the use of WPS funds for traveling, for those wondering.
The Focus on Results conference in Boston was funded from professional development funds. There is no specific budget line-item for PD--it's funded from a variety of grant sources, including the much-discussed Commissioner's district funds.
The recruiting trip cited to San Diego was funded through our federal Title I grant. Worcester receives (for FY11) about $11 million in federal funds for our low-income schools.
And, yes, I believe that more will be coming on this.
The Focus on Results conference in Boston was funded from professional development funds. There is no specific budget line-item for PD--it's funded from a variety of grant sources, including the much-discussed Commissioner's district funds.
The recruiting trip cited to San Diego was funded through our federal Title I grant. Worcester receives (for FY11) about $11 million in federal funds for our low-income schools.
And, yes, I believe that more will be coming on this.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
How about a little online research, Mr. K?
Sorry: between sick kids and Christmas, I'm a bit behind on my newspaper reading. This is from Sunday's paper. And sorry the budget links don't go straight to the page; the budget doesn't allow for that.
In a rather rich irony, it appears that Nick Kotsopoulos in his Sunday column lauding the city's transparency in putting the checkbook up online, neglected to do much WPS online research for the rest of his column. In saying, for example, this:
which shows a zeroed-out Worcester Public Schools out-of-state travel account. (There is out-of-state travel, but it is always required and thus covered by grants; aka: we have to send people as a condition of the grant, and the grant pays for it.)
As for WPS in-state travel (page 107), it was funded by city funds at $81,619 for FY11. There's a couple of things in this that you might not expect. For example, itinerant teachers (teachers who teach in more than one building) are paid 50 (now, as of last week, 51) cents a mile in their travel between or among schools. That's not exactly a jet-set expense, but it's a real one. This also covers in-state conferences (including one I went to; the Mass Association of School Committee conference in Hyannis came out of this account), which means that it covers a lot of mileage (and probably some Pike tolls), but not a lot of hotel rooms.
As both the city budget and the WPS budget are up online, a minute or two to check accounts would have cleared this up, but I suppose that would have made for a less-dramatic column.
In a rather rich irony, it appears that Nick Kotsopoulos in his Sunday column lauding the city's transparency in putting the checkbook up online, neglected to do much WPS online research for the rest of his column. In saying, for example, this:
Believe me, there is some eye-opening stuff in the travel account alone....he never bothered to check this (page 86):
Based on a quick perusal of that account, it does not look as though any of the public school or municipal employees who attend out-of-state conferences, workshops, seminars etc. are staying at Econo Lodges or other discount hotels in their travels.
which shows a zeroed-out Worcester Public Schools out-of-state travel account. (There is out-of-state travel, but it is always required and thus covered by grants; aka: we have to send people as a condition of the grant, and the grant pays for it.)
As for WPS in-state travel (page 107), it was funded by city funds at $81,619 for FY11. There's a couple of things in this that you might not expect. For example, itinerant teachers (teachers who teach in more than one building) are paid 50 (now, as of last week, 51) cents a mile in their travel between or among schools. That's not exactly a jet-set expense, but it's a real one. This also covers in-state conferences (including one I went to; the Mass Association of School Committee conference in Hyannis came out of this account), which means that it covers a lot of mileage (and probably some Pike tolls), but not a lot of hotel rooms.
As both the city budget and the WPS budget are up online, a minute or two to check accounts would have cleared this up, but I suppose that would have made for a less-dramatic column.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Field trips
Currently field trip policy says students cannot travel outside the state, says the Mayor. Students do travel out of the state on field trips...revisiting the policy.
Mullaney reminds us that we've had discussions within the recent past, and that legal counsel has recommended that we not allow foreign field trips.
Mullaney asserts that it has nothing to do with September 2001.
Monfredo and O'Connell rise to defend the notion of foreign travel for students, as surrounding districts do.
(note that the policy is not in the handbook; you can get a copy through the Quadrant Managers' office, apparently)
Biancheria gets up to question that we have teachers taking kids on trips outside of school coverage.
Luster speaks of teachers asking that the policy be reconsidered.
It's being sent to TLSS for consideration.
Mullaney reminds us that we've had discussions within the recent past, and that legal counsel has recommended that we not allow foreign field trips.
Mullaney asserts that it has nothing to do with September 2001.
Monfredo and O'Connell rise to defend the notion of foreign travel for students, as surrounding districts do.
(note that the policy is not in the handbook; you can get a copy through the Quadrant Managers' office, apparently)
Biancheria gets up to question that we have teachers taking kids on trips outside of school coverage.
Luster speaks of teachers asking that the policy be reconsidered.
It's being sent to TLSS for consideration.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)