Comments on: Fed $ means no Prop 2 1/2 override this year

By: bloggingbelmont

bloggingbelmont — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:50:50 +0000

Hey all. I was out of town and not at the WC meeting where this was discussed (in my new capacity as a School Committee member). Speaking as Paul the blogger here, and not Paul the School Committee member (let alone “The School Committee” itself), I think the reason we don't know is that the fine details of what will be restored are still “to be determined” and the SC will be working to nail that down in the weeks ahead. My understanding from that meeting was that the initial, back of the envelope, estimate given was that around half the stimulus money will be used to restore most of the professional positions. The other half will be put towards long-term investments like textbooks, equipment and classroom supplies. Again, there will likely be more changes before this is all said and done as the town and SC work to back out as many of the tiered cuts as possible.

By: bloggingbelmont

bloggingbelmont — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:50:50 +0000

By: Kimberly becker

Kimberly becker — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:21:21 +0000

I don't think they know exactly what is being put back in yet- I do know that the teachers and guidance counselors will be saved. We will be paying for all after school programs that our kids participate in- not the full cost- but some portion of it.
I agree that it is sad that we once fought for better pay and a more significant bump in funding each year, and now we are happy to only being cut a small amount. The climate in the town is not friendly to increased funding of school though. I believe that we are very lucky that the Warrant Committee saw fit to not cut money to the schools in lieu of the stimulus package funds.

By: HMD

HMD — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:14:00 +0000

Re cuts: If you go to the Belmont schools website, there is a pull down menu for the school committee. They list public documents. I found this worksheet that list the tiers to be cut : http://www.belmont.k12.ma.us/uploads/docs/publi… (sorry, I don't know how to put it in as a link). This dates from 3/17, I don't know if things have been moved around.

By: JAM

JAM — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:09:52 +0000

I feel like over the years our expectations have changed so much – now people are feeling relief that the cuts will be “only” so much, whereas a few years ago people we up in arms about things that will surely be cut this year. I know times are bad all over, but for a town of Belmont's caliber to be losing all the things the schools are losing is really awful. I too, don't have a good sense of what the town is cutting, but I'm sure there are things there that we don't want to see happen either

By: ritabutz

ritabutz — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:30:14 +0000

I watched the most recent School Committee and Warrant Committee meetings online, but I can't figure out from them what has been put back into the School budget. Can anyone tell me where I can view documents with the list of tiers from the School Committee? In particular, I am interested in knowing if there will be libraries in the elementary schools next year. Thank you for your reporting!

By: Kimberly becker

Kimberly becker — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:07:17 +0000

I was at the Warrant Committee meeting last Wednesday, and with the exception of the lack of transparency on the Town side (Tom Younger seems to be unwilling to give a straight answer when asked for a tiered cut list), I believe that this was the most unified, thoughtfull effort from the School Committee, Warrant COmmittee and Selectmen that I have ever seen! Thankfully, the stimulus money has saved our butts this year, as free cash has done in the past. The school committee talked a lot about changing the structural way they do business for the future, recognizing that the next 10 yrs will be tough and we can't do things the way we have been any more.